Hi everyone,
So we’re a day away from school finally starting again after the winter break. Normally the kids get two weeks off, but because of these COVID numbers they were given an extra week to give time for the administration to plan and adapt their daily practices to help keep everyone safe. I do trust that our kids’ school at least do what what is best for the whole community, and I believe that they have everyone’s, especially the kids, best interests at heart in their planning.
However, that doesn’t mean that the kids aren’t sad to go back to school. But don’t get me wrong, they like school. They like their friends. And they even like their teachers. It’s just that staying home and playing on their screens all day is a lot more fun (for them at least, being a parent and trying to get them to get off the screen and down for dinner can be a chore some days). So that’s it, party’s over.
Or is it?
I mean, just because one thing ends, in this case winter break, doesn’t mean that there is no more fun that can be had. Just because things shift with the seasons and the natural passage of time, doesn’t mean that things only go downhill. Just because the source of joy and happiness seems to be running out, doesn’t mean that joy and happiness cannot be found anywhere else in life.
I know, literally no one even insinuated any of that, but sometimes it feels like we like to live that way. But I’m just saying that we can adapt. Like we have been doing over the past 20 whatever months of the pandemic, we should to adapt. For the sake of our own sane minds, we need to adapt.
Here are the readings for next week:
Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 36:5-10
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
John 2:1-11
I always found it a bit interesting how there is even a story of Jesus turning water into wine in our bibles. I mean, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and even raising the dead? Sure, I can buy that. But helping some drunk people get even more drunk? I’m just not sure.
But then I think about what a “wedding feast” even means in our bibles. It does quite literally mean “wedding feast,” but there is more to it as well. It symbolizes the relationship that we have with God. It represents the love that God graciously gives to us all. It reminds us that God’s presence with and around us isn’t something will go away, but something that will remain throughout our lives and always.
And so thinking about Jesus turning water into wine at this wedding feast sort of changes the meaning for me. As John describes it as a “sign,” I can see that Jesus is pointing us the joy that is found in God’s grace. Even though we might not see the joy or recognise it or even know what it looks like, it is there found in unexpected places, surprising us when we feel like all is lost, discovered in the most ordinary places like a jug of water.
May this joy and grace found in the ordinary and extraordinary fill you with peace and love, even throughout this pandemic and always! Thanks be to God!
Have a great week, everyone!
Photo by Myriam Zilles on Unsplash