CALL TO WORSHIP
Together, we gather to be present to the God who is already present to us.
However you are joining us, we encourage you to participate in the work of God today as He speaks and leads us. Wherever you are, God is already present and at work all around us. Let’s join Him!
OUR SCRIPTURE READING
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
John 2:1-11 NIV
KEY THOUGHT
“When we become aware that we do not have to escape our pains, but that we can mobilize them into a common search for life, those very pains are transformed from expressions of despair into signs of hope…A Christian community is therefore a healing community not because wounds are cured and pains are alleviated, but because wounds and pains become openings or occasions for a new vision. Mutual confession then becomes a mutual deepening of hope, and sharing weakness becomes a reminder to one and all of the coming strength.”
Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Healer
QUESTIONS AND PRACTICES
COMMUNITY QUESTIONS
What is keeping you from experiencing the joy of Jesus?
What might it look like to experience kingdom joy?
How might that joy manifesting in my life lead to kingdom impact around me?
PRACTICES
The Bible tells us that in the presence of God, there is the “fullness of joy.” This week, slow down and practice being fully present to the presence of God through stillness, silence, and prayer. Listen as least as much as you speak. Pray the words of David from Psalm 51: “Restore the me the joy of my salvation.”
NEXT STEPS AND RESOURCES
