Worship Service at Church of the Dawntreader Thursday January 17, 2013 10:00 a.m. SLT
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
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    Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
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"New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989,
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved." Designated by the initials, (NRSV).

Invocation:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen
Confession and Absolution
We come before you, our Loving Father, Mother God, confessing most of all our need of you.
We confess that we have not always acknowledged just how much we depend on you.
We confess that we have not always loved you with all our heart, soul and mind.
We have not always loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We ask that you will forgive us and grant us your strength to conform more fully to your loving will for us.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Amen.
In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is my privilege to declare to you and to myself, the entire
forgiveness of all our sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen

Prayer of the Day
Let us pray.
Lord God, source of every blessing, you showed forth your glory and led many to faith by the works of your Son,
who brought gladness and salvation to his people. Transform us by the Spirit of his love, that we may find our life together in him,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen

First Lesson: Isaiah 62: 1 - 5 (NRSV)
1 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
until her vindication shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning torch.
2 The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will give.
3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the LORD delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your builder marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
Here ends the First Lesson

Psalm Psalm 96: 1 - 3, 7 - 10 (NRSV)
1 O sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples.
7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9 Worship the LORD in holy splendor;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, "The LORD is king!
The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.
He will judge the peoples with equity."
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 12: 1 - 11 (NRSV)
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters,
I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were
pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.
3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the
Spirit of God ever says "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say
"Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. 4 Now there are varieties
of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services,
but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is
the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given
the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given
through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the
utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another
faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one
Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to
another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of
tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are
activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one
individually just as the Spirit chooses.
Here ends the Second Lesson.

Gospel Lesson: John 2: 1 - 11 (NRSV)
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Ca'na of
Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples
had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the
mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." 4 And Jesus said to
her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not
yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells
you." 6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish
rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus
said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to
the brim. 8 He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the
chief steward." So they took it. 9 When the steward tasted the water
that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the
servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the
bridegroom 10 and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first,
and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you
have kept the good wine until now." 11 Jesus did this, the first of
his signs, in Ca'na of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his
disciples believed in him. 12 After this he went down to Caper'naum
with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained
there a few days.
Here end the Readings from Holy Scripture.

 - Sermon -

Our gospel lesson for this week tells the beautiful story of the first miracle performed by our Lord in His ministry.
It includes a delightful view of the very familiar relationship within the family of Jesus.
He and His Mother interacted in a way that informs us about relationships,
not only between one Jewish Son and His Jewish Mother long ago and far away
but also about their relationship to this very day
and even our own relationships with our dear ones.
It is no accident that these signs of love and intercession took place in His first miracle,
and that the first miracle took place in a wedding festival.
Now, in ancient Galilee,
a wedding was a really big event.
It might last three days,
with lots of food and wine provided for everyone.
The families, friends, and loved ones of everyone involved would have a wonderful time together,
celebrating the establishment of a new household.
Everyone involved wanted the event to take place in the best way possible.
In those days as it is to this very day,
there seems to have been an unwritten rule
that something has to go wrong at every wedding.
So much planning, so many emotions, such complex interactions of all kinds of people
seem to indicate that something has to go wrong.
It has certainly been my experience.
It may not take place in the wedding service itself.
It may involve the planning, the rehearsal, one of the dinners of celebration, the wedding service, or the reception.
Certainly whatever goes wrong does not have to be a disaster,
but if everyone is prepared for the reality,
no one will be surprised, and everyone can move on from there, making the best of whatever situation has presented itself.
The most perfect wedding I have ever presided at
had a near disaster at the rehearsal dinner.
A restaurant had closed its doors to the public in favor of the rehearsal dinner,
and the guests all had the opportunity to choose one of several entrees to eat.
As the food was being served, a server dropped an entire tray of food down the back of one of the guests.
There was hot food, so I know it hurt.
I was seated next to the young woman who was unfortunate enough to have the food fall on her.
Fortunately, she was not injured at all.
In addition, she herself had worked as a waitress, so she was most gracious and understanding.
I turned to the bride, who was seated on the other side of me, and said, "Well, now we know!"
(I had explained to her that we had to be prepared for something to go wrong!)
She said, "Oh! Do you think that will count?"
I laughed and said, "I think that is plenty!"
Sure enough, the rest of the wedding and reception were absolutely flawless.
A chamber music group provided procession, special music and recessional.
As a special blessing, I think,
when the bride and groom were kneeling for the final prayers,
a ray of light shone through the church windows and illuminated the bride in a way I had never seen before,
and I have never seen anything quite like it since.
Anyway, the thing to remember is one of Murphy's laws.
If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong,
and that especially applies to weddings.
At the wedding at Cana in Galilee,
what went wrong was that the wine gave out.
That would have been a serious disaster.
People still wanted more to drink,
and there was no more wine.
Mary, the Mother of our Lord must have been close to the family.
In any case, she had compassion on them.
She knew very well that Jesus could do something to help.
She went to Him and reported the problem.
He reminded her that His time had not yet come.
He had not yet been revealed as Lord and Christ.
Yet she knew that He could help.
So she did a perfect passive aggressive turn about on Him.
She said nothing more to Him;
she said to the servants, "Do whatever He tells you."
The ball was now in His court.
He almost had to do something!
So He turned water into wine.
It was not only ordinary wine,
it was the best wine that was served at that wedding!
Most of the people there did not know what had happened.
They knew only that they did not run out of wine,
and in the event, that was a very good thing.
The disciples knew.
Jesus' family knew, especially His Mother,
and they believed in Him.
Now we see a lot of important principles in this story.
Our families can sometimes be a source of frustration to us.
Something often can and does go wrong.
That does not mean we don't love each other.
Best of all,
God can change the unexpected circumstances of life into wonderful examples of grace at work.
After all, God makes wine every day!
The processes of photosynthesis and fermentation
change water into wine very slowly.
On this particular day,
at the request of His Mother,
our Lord did what God does very quickly,
and it was a sign to us.
Mothers who are passive aggressive with their sons may irritate them,
but the grace of God is still revealed.
Best of all, the Mother of Jesus here showed herself to be an effective intercessor with her Son,
and millions of Christians through the ages have taken deep comfort in this fact.
Our own families are imperfect examples of love and grace,
but they are ours, and our learning to deal with them prepares us for God's gifts to us in this world and the next.
Amen.

Prayer of the People
Please type your spontaneous petitions in chat.
Each prepared petition is intended to remind us of the things we need to pray about,
so a brief pause will be provided for us to pray our own petitions,
either sharing them in the chat window
or praying them in our own hearts.

Loving God, we pray for each other, for those who depend upon us for prayer, and for all people according to their needs.
We ask that your healing power may prevail in our lives.
We pray that those in positions of public trust may be worthy of that trust as they act as stewards of power and wealth
for the benefit of all.
We pray that conflicts may be resolved in the context of relationships,
so that violence of thought word and deed may be diminished all through our world.
We ask your blessing for all who bear witness to the Gospel, so that relationships with you may be deepened for all people.
All these things, and whatever else you see that we need, we ask that you will grant for the sake of your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whose name we pray.
Amen.
Our Lord's Prayer
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 sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever,
Amen.
Benediction
May the Lord bless us and keep us.
May the Lord make His face to shine upon us and be gracious to us.
May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, and give us peace.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen +