Today's passages to me seem to all be connected by the concept of time, talent and treasure, a concept I was introduced to many years ago. One of the hallmarks of this idea is that everything we have is from God and that we are really only stewards of everything we are graced with. We really do not own anything. Not houses, not things, not kids or even spouse. At the same time we need to realize that whatever we are graced with gives us a unique responsibility to maintain and build the kingdom of God.
This resonated with me because I had always held this concept in my heart, long before someone had solidified the ideas and packaged into a program of church renewal. When my spouse showed an interest and talent for the medical field I did everything I could to encourage and nurture that gift from God. I always believed that to not cooperate with your gifts was a form of sin. If God gives you a gift / talent, you should use it to best of your ability. The community thus gained a talented practitioner whose talents worked on cancer patients and affected the lives of many thousands of people in a most positive, professional and loving way.
I was quite amused to read the passage of the wedding feast at Cana. We recall it most perhaps for Jesus turning water into wine. This did not happen though until a need was identified and pointed out by Jesus' mother, Mary. Further, Jesus responds by saying ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?' Women were considered chattel in that time and society. But a Jewish mother being who she is called to be, you find Mary as much as telling Jesus, 'you know who you are just do what I'm telling you to do'. I can even imagine Mary perhaps giving Jesus a gentle swat on his holy behind to drive the point home. The video of this in my mind is amusing.
The bottom line though, as with Jesus' entire life, is to be fully human and to be everything he was incarnated to be. And Jesus does it perfectly for our benefit.
Do we cooperate with all we are meant to be? Do we nurture our talents and gifts? Do we appreciate them and the source? There is a strain of Christianity these days which is has some silly name like 'wealth theology'. The notion that wealth is a sign you are blessed by God. That might not be too bad (except that the converse is totally false) except it also seems to be accompanied by an arrogance and snootiness that does not call you to use that gift to help your fellow man at all. It even seems to encourage the incredible idea that it is by our own hands that you were graced. It actually makes a God out of money and people. I cannot think of a much worse bastardization of the Jesus' Gospel message.
So the questions remain. In our journey to wholeness, to be a human fully alive and engaged, cooperating with the gifts and talents God has graced us with, how are you doing?
John 2:1-12
This resonated with me because I had always held this concept in my heart, long before someone had solidified the ideas and packaged into a program of church renewal. When my spouse showed an interest and talent for the medical field I did everything I could to encourage and nurture that gift from God. I always believed that to not cooperate with your gifts was a form of sin. If God gives you a gift / talent, you should use it to best of your ability. The community thus gained a talented practitioner whose talents worked on cancer patients and affected the lives of many thousands of people in a most positive, professional and loving way.
I was quite amused to read the passage of the wedding feast at Cana. We recall it most perhaps for Jesus turning water into wine. This did not happen though until a need was identified and pointed out by Jesus' mother, Mary. Further, Jesus responds by saying ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?' Women were considered chattel in that time and society. But a Jewish mother being who she is called to be, you find Mary as much as telling Jesus, 'you know who you are just do what I'm telling you to do'. I can even imagine Mary perhaps giving Jesus a gentle swat on his holy behind to drive the point home. The video of this in my mind is amusing.
The bottom line though, as with Jesus' entire life, is to be fully human and to be everything he was incarnated to be. And Jesus does it perfectly for our benefit.
Do we cooperate with all we are meant to be? Do we nurture our talents and gifts? Do we appreciate them and the source? There is a strain of Christianity these days which is has some silly name like 'wealth theology'. The notion that wealth is a sign you are blessed by God. That might not be too bad (except that the converse is totally false) except it also seems to be accompanied by an arrogance and snootiness that does not call you to use that gift to help your fellow man at all. It even seems to encourage the incredible idea that it is by our own hands that you were graced. It actually makes a God out of money and people. I cannot think of a much worse bastardization of the Jesus' Gospel message.
So the questions remain. In our journey to wholeness, to be a human fully alive and engaged, cooperating with the gifts and talents God has graced us with, how are you doing?
John 2:1-12
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. 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 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.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
1After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there for a few days.
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