Dear Friends,

This week’s joyful Epiphany readings (links below) continue to explore the great ‘revelation’ theme of this season.

The prophet Isaiah gives us the image of God rejoicing over his people in the same way a bride and bridegroom reveal and celebrate their love for one another.  It is a fitting pairing for this week’s Gospel passage which recalls the first miracle which Jesus performed at a wedding feast in Cana. By turning lots of water into lots of wine, Jesus revealed his miraculous powers to his disciples and they in turn confirmed their faith in him.

Have you ever wondered why this household held so much water in the first place? We are told, ‘standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons’ (John 2:6). All this water would be used for ritual washing which had nothing to do with bodily hygiene and everything to do with making ‘dirty’ humans spiritually clean enough to enter into the presence of God. Lots of water and lots of washing had become a sign of a sort of moral purity, and then a substitute for moral purity. The religious people who would wash obsessively in this water could look down on the supposedly immoral people around them.

So, Jesus found himself attending a wedding in a very religious household in which 120 to 180 gallons of water had been stored just to make a few people feel worthy to talk to God and more pure than their neighbours. This is the setting (what sounds like a fairly sober and stuffy wedding celebration) in which Jesus takes this water and changes it into the finest wine. He sits among those who are misguidedly searching for God in rules and empty religious ritual… and proceeds to start a party!

Later in the Gospels we learn that Jesus loved to celebrate with the outcasts, telling them that God loves them, and that unselfish love for others is at the heart of true morality. No wonder that Jesus would be called ‘a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners’! (Matthew 11:19).

He reveals himself as the one who takes our water for purification and turns it into the wine of acceptance, celebration and love. In our lives and in our worship we should respond accordingly to the one who lavishes such love on us.

Yours in Christ,

Ian

Worship this Sunday

Sunday 19th January 2025

The Second Sunday of Epiphany

REGIL St James

8.30am Holy Communion (BCP)

BISHOP SUTTON Holy Trinity

10.30am Eucharist

CHEW STOKE St Andrew

6.30pm Evensong

Next Sunday: Sunday 26th January 2025

The Third Sunday of Epiphany

9.00am Morning Worship (Felton); 10.30am Morning Worship (Bishop Sutton); 11.00am Eucharist (Winford);

6.30pm Evensong (Nempnett Thrubwell & Stowey)

Readings & Collect

Isaiah 62: 1-5

1 Corinthians 12: 1-11

John 2: 1-11

Almighty God,

in Christ you make all things new:

transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace,

and in the renewal of our lives

make known your heavenly glory;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

For your prayers

We pray for our WORLD … give thanks that through Jesus, life and light, forgiveness and grace have pierced the darkness of our world …  for the people of Los Angeles … for the people of Ukraine and Russia and for the Middle East … that the ceasefire will be implemented and will hold, that hostages will be freed and the displaced able to return home;

… for the CHURCH throughout the world and for each other in these parishes … that the Holy Spirit will unite us in worship, prayer and fellowship, nourish us with truth and strengthen us as witnesses to Christ in our daily lives;

… for our COMMUNITES and for all who work and live within them … give us such love for you that we may offer our time and talents in the service of others;

…for those in SPECIAL NEED, especially those facing ill-health or personal tragedy … give them encouragement and give grace and patience to all who bring care and healing;

… for THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED, among them Ian and Margaret … grant us with them and with all the saints a place at that heavenly banquet and a share in your eternal Kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Contact

Revd Dr Ian Mills, Rector & Area Dean

The Rectory

4 Parsonage Lane

Winford

BS40 8DG

Telephone: (01275) 474504

chewvalleywest@gmail.com

Revd Fran Smettem, Curate

Telephone: (01934) 340682

curatechewvalleywest@gmail.com