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John 2:1-11

Jesus Turns Water Into Wine

January 16, 2022

Second Sunday after Epiphany

Lectionary Year C

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ASK (a.k.a The On-Ramp)

Good morning!
I have a question for you: Have you ever received a gift that you couldn’t figure out how to use?
[Pause to see if anyone has an example, then continue with…] Like maybe your first bicycle? A set of Lego bricks? Maybe a video game or other toy? Maybe even your first pair of shoes that had shoelaces?
What happened? Did you finally look at the instructions or have someone show you how to use it?
Or maybe you’ve seen this happen with someone else – like maybe your mom or dad didn’t know how to use their phone a certain way, so you helped them figure out how to use it?

In other words, sometimes we have these things, but we don’t quite know how to use them in the best way.

TELL (a.k.a. The Freeway)

We see this happen in the Jesus story that we just heard today.
The story starts out with a problem: A wedding party has run out of wine.
This is embarrassing, but it’s also a safety issue.
Wine was usually safer to drink than water in those days.
At first, this idea of water not being safe is something we might not understand very well because we have lots of water we can safely use.

But there is some water that we don’t often use for drinking. And that’s water from a shower [show picture from PDF where it looks like the word “Shower” is coming out of a showerhead]

The water Jesus told the servants to get was a lot like getting used water from the bath/shower.
Yuck, right? You don't want to drink that, do you? Especially if it’s someone else’s shower water!
But what happens in the story is that, as Jesus pays attention to God, God helps Jesus to see how this gift of water could be more than just bath water.
So Jesus took the water that wasn’t super safe or clean to drink…
…and with God's help turned it into something that everyone could drink safely.
[Turn picture upside down – it will now say “wine” and will be pouring into a cup – help the kids see what happens as you turn the picture upside down]

SHARE the Good News (a.k.a. The Destination)

What we see in today’s story, then, is that because Jesus was paying attention to God, God helped Jesus know how to use the gifts that were already there to be used.
Today’s story can help us remember that not only has God given us many gifts…
…but, as we pay attention to God, God will help us see how to use those gifts better than we ever could do so on our own.
And, when we use those gifts in the ways God shows us, we are able to better share those gifts with the people around us….
…just like Jesus did in today’s story.

That’s the Good News for today. Let’s pray.

CLOSING Prayer

This is a repeat-after-me prayer.

Dear God,
Dear God,

We thank you for your gifts…

…and for Jesus…

…who shows us…

…how to pay attention to you…

…so we can better use your gifts…

…and share them with others.

Thank you and amen

Originally posted January 13, 2013

Updated on December 20, 2021

Written and edited by Nathanael Vissia

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