Prayers

Scripture

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you , and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

Oh God, hold me in the palm of your hand. I pray that you will mold me into what you want me to be. May I joyfully fill the role you have given to me and feel your peace deep in my soul, today and always,

I pray that those of us so afflicted may know you, Lord Christ, and that your Holy Spirit may be strong in us, to give us comfort in the inconvenience, the frustration, and often the embarrassment we might suffer. Heal us, where it is your will, Lord; and for those of us who cannot be healed, let us know with complete confidence that we are truly whole. Bring to all of your children full comprehension of the freedom and joy that await us, after the short trial of this life is ended, and we all come to perfection together.

Dear heavenly Father, my thoughts and prayers are with all who have lost the use of their body or mind, in some important way: those of us who cannot move, those who cannot walk, who cannot see or hear, whose minds are not clear: for all of us who have lost some function that others of us take for granted. And I count myself among them, for who among us will not face such tribulations as we grow older?

Heavenly Father, let me live this day as the gift it is, for You have truly blessed me to live it. And if I may suffer, I will carry with me the certainty that one day I will see You face to face, a day when all things will become clear and my pain will be made whole through the grace of Christ, my God. Blessed be you, oh Lord my God, and blessed be the day you have given me.

I'm tired and so weary But I must go along Till the Lord comes and calls, calls me away. Well the morning's so bright And the lamb is the light And the night, night is as fair as the day. Chorus : There will be peace in the valley for me, some day. There will be peace in the valley for me, oh Lord I pray. There'll be no sadness, no sorrow No trouble, trouble I see There will be peace in the valley for me. Well the bear will be gentle And the wolves will be tame, And the lion shall lay down by the lamb. And the beasts from the wild Shall be led by a child, And I'll be changed, changed from this creature That I am.

For “Oldies Saturday” we have something extra special: Elvis and the Jordanaires performing “Peace in the Valley” on the Ed Sullivan Show. It’s a 1937 song written by Thomas A. Dorsey (the “grandfather of black gospel”) for Mahalia Jackson.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Big Ideas

“I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.” ~ Psalm 131:1

John 2:1-11 (KJV)

nd the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.

3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

6 And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. 7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.

9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

Notes on the Scripture

The Wedding at Cana (3) - Revelation and Replacement

The difficulty in discussing the Wedding at Cana is not a lack of detail, but rather, an embarrassment of riches. John packs a multitude of his theological concepts into this one story. The most important of these, however, is not hidden in symbolism, but stated outright in the final verse. It was the beginning of the signs of Jesus’ divinity, given to us immediately at the beginning of Chapter 2; whereas, in the Synoptics, public knowledge of the divinity of Christ is a game of hide and seek that continues until the final chapters. The purpose of the miracle is to make his glory manifest, which is to say, it shows that He is divine; and the disciples believe in Him because they have seen him do it.

One way of seeing the degree of John's focus is to look at what is missing from John. There are no full-fledged parables, which so dominate the other gospels, and little specific teaching: no Sermon on the Mount, no Lord’s Prayer. It is not that John thinks these unimportant; rather, they had already been written down.

John, after working for decades establishing churches, apparently saw an insufficient appreciation and understanding about the importance of Christ as God, and he wanted to bolster our understanding of the importance of His divinity (and that of the Holy Spirit) in our ability to know God.

So, we can now ask, how does this incident reveal His glory? One important aspect of Jesus’ existence is that He will replace the institutions of Judaism. Our relationship with God will change from legal ritual to a direct and immediate relationship with a living being, a flesh-and-blood man and later, a living Spirit. The stone jars are special vessels used in Jewish purification rites; and they hold water, with which the purification is effected. But there will now be no need for literal water; Christ’s blood will cleanse humanity of its sins once and for all. The wine will replace the water as the agent of purification. As he will tell the woman at the well:

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him . . . “Where do you get that living water? Our father Jacob . . . gave us the well and drank from it himself, . . .

“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.” ( John 4:10-14

We are mixing our metaphors a bit, but the common point in both incidents is that literal water, as known to the Jews, has been superseded. Notice that the well in the quote is the actual well of Jacob, which is to say, Israel.

We recreate the revelation of God today, for we are still baptized with water, as our symbolic understanding that God will now accomplish a process that began with the Jews. Christ did not abolish the Law: he fulfilled it. (Matthew 5:17)

The symbolism gets a bit confusing, because although we use water as a symbol of purification, just as the Hebrews did under the Law, the water of our baptism is a “new and improved” product. Christ changed the water of baptism, from something temporary to something permanent. But it wouldn’t make for much of a show if He had changed water into water!

So the first symbolic motif of the Wedding miracle is the motif of replacement, which will continue throughout the fourth gospel. The water of purification from sin is made effective by the symbolic blood of Christ; the drinking water of Jacob’s well, which slakes thirst only for a little while, is replaced by the spiritual water given by Christ, which will satisfy forever.

All the religious institutions, feasts, and customs of Judaism have been replaced; they are not needed to communicate with God, because God Himself has come. He is standing right there, “in the flesh,” before the wedding guests.

“Pray For Your Enemies”