St. Julian’s Table

I was asked by a couple different friends for a recording of this song last week. The chorus and verse structure of this song came to me in a dream some years a...go, not long after attending a Black Southern Baptist church on Martin Luther King Day. It made a big impression on me. I got the sense that these were people who were treated like nobodies most of the week holding a sacred gathering where everybody was a somebody. They dressed their best, sounded their voices with grace and glory and cheered each other on toward a truer existence on a higher plane. Later that week I dreamed of an African-American youth choir on stage in an old theatre, singing "I am...and I am...and in this place I know I am loved." See more

t's easy to see Jesus' miracle of turning water into wine as an impressive party trick. No wonder he attracted followers so quickly: Free drinks all around! (See John 2:1-12) For those of us with uptight backgrounds, it is good news that Jesus and his friends knew how to have a good time. But there is much more going on. Notice this: the six stone jars are vessels for a religious rite of purification. They are empty, depleted.... Can we see in this miracle a symbolic foreshadowing of Jesus' mission: Inheriting a religion concerned with the problem of impurity, a religion that is running dry, a religion that Jesus does not smash or discard, but fills with new life? Can we see Jesus' repurposing his religious inheritance into a spirituality that meets a deeply human thirst instead of fussing over the problem of human filth? When we have approached the table of Jesus, how many of us have been trained to ask ourselves: Where am I dirty, instead of Where am I thirsty? What difference might this make in our worship? Jesus is not unconcerned with cleansing and self-criticism. But he reverses the sequence of purification and moral growth. Most simply put: In Jesus, contact with an overflowing, divine love begins the adventure of discipleship. The full-to-the-brim outpouring of grace is not an exclusive prize reserved for the few spiritual heroes who get all their moral and ritual ablutions just right. The Gospel starts with a party with excellent, free wine for all! I long for the day when we can celebrate the banquet of Jesus in person, with physical bread and wine. We will have to feed on the story a little longer. Tomorrow's service will be online-only again. Liturgy link: Water into Wine Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89804115417 Meeting ID: 898 0411 5417 Passcode: 168528