THIS SUNDAY: The Community of Pilgrims Presbyterian Fellowship, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, 4 pm, Second Sunday after Epiphany. If you have any questions, or are interested in a conversation, contact Pastor Brett Webb-Mitchell (919) 444-9111; brettwebbmitchell@gmail.com and visit www.communityofpilgrims.com.
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Dear Community of Pilgrims!
There is no doubt that our national weather pattern is all scrambled up around the country. The east coast is experiencing extremely frigid temperatures and the threat of snow, while the Pacific NW is experiencing mild temperatures and sunny days! In December! Wherever you may be, our prayers for surviving the weather pattern over your area, or enjoy!
The Scripture focus this week is John 2:1-11. A wedding feast in Cana. Working with Christian on our wedding, this passage beheld new meaning in my life because of the new context, namely our wedding. I’ve never read it before while preparing for my wedding. And the story reminded me that we still have to figure out which wine and beer will be at the wedding. This is the first sign of who Jesus is and what he, and he alone, can do, showing off a little bit of who and whose he is as he single-handedly changes the water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana. Like many biblical commentators noted, the Gospel writer John calls this the first sign, not the first miracle, that Jesus performed. It is a sign that points to so many profound and liberating things about the God whom Jesus reveals to us. And what does it reveal? It reveals the delight in and concern for our own personal life and loves, attested by Jesus’ presence at the wedding feast in the first place. It reveals Jesus’ abundant generosity of heart in more than meeting our needs in the midst of everyday life. Jesus takes the water that was in the large clay jars for outward purity and ritual cleaning, to a transformation of inward joy, symbolized by the wine, shared by the bridal party with all who had come to the wedding. And how good was the quality of the wine? The best! Most importantly this sign of turning water into wine points to the gift of Jesus, God’s child, and Jesus’ own blood, given once and for all on the cross, which we receive in Holy Communion: The wine reminds us of the blood shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. “Every time you drink of it, do this in remembrance of me.” Join us this Sunday, in this season of Epiphany, as we enjoy the gifts of God for the people of God, namely the gift of Jesus! And now, on to ordering wine for our wedding.
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Events!
Jan. 16, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom!
Jan. 23, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom!
Jan. 30, 4 pm, Gather and Devotion on Zoom!
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Prayers of Celebration and Concern
We pray to the Creator of all creation:
· Katie, Karen's daughter who has COVID and for the family.
· Parker, Brett's son who has COVID and is stranded in Barbados.
· Thanksgiving that Kathy's daughter Mariko has recovered from recent COVID.
· Carl and Barbara Bankus after Carl suffered another stroke while in California.
· For Lorinda's friend Connie in Montana who has moved to a residential care facility where she will learn to walk again.
· Thanksgiving that Lorinda's friend Louise is doing much better.
· Allen, Patty's brother, who has COPD and is not able to take care of himself or others.
· Roxanne's foster nephew Jason who has not been able to get his CT scheduled.
· Scott who is in the Mayo Clinic.
· Brett’s friend Phil Culbertson who is now in hospice with kidney failure.
· Linda's brother who is living independently in a facility in Bethany but now they are in lock down.
· Vaccines, booster, and new treatments to address COVID.
· People in Kazakhstan and Belarus as they fight for freedom from authoritarian rule, as well as the people of Ukraine.
· Democracy in our own country.
· Passage of federal voting rights legislation.
· Linda's granddaughter Eliza who has fully recovered from COVID and now not sure when school will resume.
· People in Denver and Boulder Colorado following last week's brutal wildfire.
· Merrick Garland's leadership of the DOJ and its commitment to defend our democracy.
· Three days of sunshine during the weekend in Portland.
· People in Afghanistan facing mass starvation and people in Myanmar where fighting continues.
· Our deeply fractured country.
“God, in your love, attend our prayers…”
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Poem
Epiphany at Cana
Here’s an epiphany to have and hold,
A truth that you can taste upon the tongue,
No distant shrines and canopies of gold
Or ladders to be clambered rung by rung,
But here and now, amidst your daily living,
Where you can taste and touch and feel and see,
The spring of love, the fount of all forgiving,
Flows when you need it, rich, abundant, free.
Better than waters of some outer weeping,
That leave you still with all your hidden sin,
Here is a vintage richer for the keeping
That works its transformation from within.
‘What price?’ you ask me, as we raise the glass,
‘It cost our Savior everything he has.’
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Buen Camino! Pastors Brett & Karen Cornwell Fortlander.