Brunswick E-Bulletin – September 23, 2020

by | Sep 23, 2020 | beb

After this Sunday’s Worship Service at the Hollywood Drive-In (worship starts at 1:30pm) we will all have an opportunity to say goodbye and good luck to Henry… Click Title above to read the entire newsletter

Brunswick E-Bulletin – September 18, 2020

by | Sep 18, 2020 | beb

Pastor’s Corner
This Sunday, we continue exploring what the gospel of Jesus, according to his beloved friend, John, tells us about faith, and how we are to live into it. We are at the beginning of the book, just after Jesus is baptized by his cousin, John, just as Jesus is gathering some brand new friends around him. The incomplete merry band has taken a break from the worries of the world and are marking the creation of a new family at a wedding.

There is food, there is wine, and then, there is no wine. But, there is plenty of water. And so, at the urging of his mother, Mary, Jesus enacts his first public miracle. A lot of well water becomes the finest vintage wine. Crisis averted.

It is an interesting development, turning regular water into superior wine. Both are necessary for life, yet the wine is safer to drink and is the beverage of choice for celebrations. And, as Jesus only produces exceptional quality, this wine is quickly considered a sign of high hospitality: usually, the best is offered first.

As has been the case since the beginning of time, this is true for us, as well. How many of us lay out for our guests the tastiest food, the cheeriest drinks, the most attractive table settings, first? How many of us offer the best of our very selves, happy to greet our friends, putting on our best manners, behaving ourselves as best we can, early in the party? How many of us wind up with a disheveled looking table, and even more disheveled looking appearance, as the get-together wears on and on? Old slights, long-held grudges, anger at who-even-remembers-what, working their way through our determined expressions we are fighting to keep intact, poisoning the party in the process?

Jesus says, even the most bedraggled of tables, the most dour of gatherings, may be transformed into something beautiful. All you have to do is join me, follow me, learn from me, be healed by me. And, then, love me and serve me, as you love and serve each other. In that way, you, too, may be transformed by the wine you drink as you remember me.

Let’s pray: Loving Jesus, thank you for your promise and invitation to make us whole. Thank you for your kindness and compassion which removes our pain and heals our hurts. Thank you for the miracle you are, and for your ever-present miracles which give us a glimpse of you, every moment of every day. Help us to see, help us to believe, help us to be transformed. Amen.

Pastor Kim Jackson