Members of the Synod School marvel at Jesus’ extravagance at the wedding celebration at Cana
3 September 2024
As flugelhorn player Michael Hartwell looks on, Rev. Katie Styrt delivers a sermon during Thursday worship at Synod School. (Photo by Kim Coulter)
One of the preachers at this year’s synod school, the Reverend Katie Styrt, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Milan, Illinois, called John’s account of the wedding at Cana “the kind of miracle that is inconsistent with good housekeeping principles. I don’t know of any church that has given away 180 gallons of wine in recent memory. That’s about 908 bottles. That’s not affordable for anyone.”
This is not a life-or-death miracle, she said. “Jesus turns water into wine because the wedding party has no wine. Jesus provides the very best wine simply because he can. Jesus gives more than we can imagine and probably more than we can recommend.”
Even as followers of Jesus, we may not be able to perform miracles like this one or feed thousands with just five loaves and two fish, but we can give blood and visit the sick. “We take care of each other and we can make a little fuss over some of God’s children every now and then because that’s what Jesus did,” Styrt said.
Sarah Penn
Imagine what would happen if we “made a fuss over everyone and were recklessly generous with our church budgets,” she said. “Jesus is more generous than we can imagine, and we can do that too. Spoil a child of God who isn’t normally spoiled. Pull out all the stops to throw a fancy baby shower for a pregnant teenager who was kicked out of the house.”
“There are so many ways the church can live like Jesus,” she said. “One way is to give freely.”
“My salary comes from the church and I understand why it’s scary to spend our savings,” she said. Still, we can take a lesson from Jesus’ extravagance: “Nobody needed that much wine, but he kept the party going anyway.”
Earlier, Sara Penn, children’s activities coordinator at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Iowa City, Iowa, told the children at the Synod School about the problems the wedding party had in Cana. “They only had water. That can be pretty boring. What would you prefer?”
Rev. Brian Entz and Rev. Gina Meester lead the communion service. (Photo by Susan Barnes)
“Chocolate milk,” said a child.
“Mountain Dew,” said another.
“Let’s say you ran out of Mountain Dew and all you had was water,” Penn said. “Would you be worried that no one at your party would have fun?”
“There is always something to eat,” a third child told her.
“In today’s story, Jesus was in the kitchen talking to the people helping with the party,” Penn told the children. “He said, ‘Don’t worry, guys. I’ll get it done.’ He did something amazing, but only the people in the kitchen knew what he had done.”
Penn swore the children to secrecy and asked the adults to avert their eyes. Then she performed a miracle of her own: she poured one glass of water into another and drew murmurs from the children as the water changed color as it ran into the second glass. Then she handed out party hats and asked the children to give a hat to an adult and tell him what the children had just experienced.
“Tonight is Holy Communion. Jesus Christ is our host, and we know that he is a good host,” said Styrt, shortly before the approximately 540 people shared bread and cup. “Let us remember this evening the joy that he wants to share with us and the joy that we can share with one another. Amen.”
Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service
Today’s focus: Synod School remembers wedding celebration in Cana
Let us pray together for:
Employees of the PC(USA) agencies
Vaughn Ratliff, HR Specialist, Human Resources, Administrative Service Group (A Corp)
Rebecca Rayner, Senior Paralegal, Legal Services, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Let us pray
Merciful God, we love you, we adore you, we praise you. We abide in you so that we may live fruitfully; in the wisdom of fearing and knowing you, we live in peace. Amen.
