Mary attempted to avert a situation that was about to become seriously embarrassing. Embarrassing for the bridegroom, the host, who might look stingy, or poor at planning. But also potentially embarrassing for the guests. Traditionally, as wedding celebrations could extend for several days, it was expected that wedding guests would supply some wine. Who knows whether or not the disciples were part of the problem?

That Mary noticed, and expected Jesus to do something, implies he was a senior male at the proceedings. The wedding was in Galilee, in Jesus’ home district. Joseph may have been dead, as no mention is made of him. So Jesus would have been the head of his branch of the family.
“My time has not yet come” …. “My time has not yet come.”

What was this time that he considered or maybe just hoped had not yet come? In John 12:27 Jesus predicts his death, and says “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? “Father save me from this hour?” No it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, Glorify your name.” Jesus knew the moment he performed the first of his miraculous signs, which would show who he really was, he was on an unstoppable trajectory to crucifixion. Humanly speaking, that must have filled him with horror. “My time has not yet come.”

Mama knew differently! No Middle Eastern man is master in his own home when Mama is present. Mary knew His time had come and carried on regardless. “Waiter! Do whatever he tells you.”

As always in John’s gospel, the story and its details point beyond themselves to the person of Jesus as the son of God. This story starts, “On the third day a wedding took place.” The third day is of course also highly symbolic, foreshadowing the resurrection when God’s name was glorified.

Also, Jesus often uses the example of a wedding feast as an analogy for the Kingdom of Heaven, and describes himself as the bridegroom at that feast. This is what we together can look forward to. In heaven we won’t be sitting on hard pews in a chilly church but enjoying a great celebration with each other. I can see some of you are not sure how much fun that will be. Have confidence that your resurrection selves will be tuned to enjoy everyone’s company.

Back to Cana. In the lobby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding about 100 litres. Now in John, these stone water jars are symbolic of the Old Covenant. Jews had to be ritually clean before eating and stone was deemed not to transmit impurities, unlike earthenware which might have to be smashed if it became contaminated.

“Do whatever he tells you.”
“Fill ’em up.” “Yes Sir.”
Let’s just think about the quantities here. As the invitations were extended to Jesus’ disciples, this was a big do, and will have spread over several evenings. Perhaps the whole village of Cana was invited? Maybe 150 people? A litre per head? They had possibly consumed 150 litres of wine. A prudent person, considering people had probably drunk quite enough already, might consider another glass or two more than sufficient. Jesus created 4-5 times what they had already drunk!

Jesus displayed an undeserved, extraordinary generosity. That is a definition of Grace. As John says in his prologue, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” We are pivoting here from the Old Covenant of Moses to the New Covenant of Jesus.

“Now draw some out and take it to the Toast Master.” He tasted it, called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the best wine first and then the plonk after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
“Yes. Right.” Goodness knows what the bridegroom thought.
Jesus is not into plonk. Think Chateau Lafitte Grand Cru. – Those of you who know more about wine than I do can supply your own year.
So here is Jesus, saving host and guests from embarrassment, triggering the journey which will take him to the cross, and showing how he, the true vine whose father is the gardener overlays the old law of Moses of ritual washing and temporary purification with a New Covenant, full of grace.

And what grace. Grace that multiplies five-fold, with exceptional quality, and tactfully done.
“This was the first of his miraculous signs”. “He thus revealed his glory and his disciples put their faith in him.”

Jesus shows us what grace is – undeserved, exceptional generosity and he asks us, if we have faith in him, if we profess to love him, to do the same. It is worth spending a little time trying to recognise God’s grace towards each of us. Maybe in our life opportunities, our being born in a free country, our health, our families, our education, our resources – many thing over which we have had no input or influence. We should love Him because he first loved us. It is just so easy to take our circumstances for granted, not realising that they are gifts and that we are very lucky.

So what can we do? Perhaps this week each of us can find an opportunity to exhibit some of that undeserved, unlimited generosity, which never embarrasses its recipient. Grace. Maybe, in the time we give someone whose company may not be all that congenial to us? Not just sufficient time but a generous amount of time.

Maybe in the attention we pay to someone. Really listening to what they have to say. Perhaps someone close to us, where we think we know what they are going to say and we would normally switch onto auto-pilot. This time, really listening to the meaning behind the familiar words.

Or a financial opportunity might arise where we can be joyfully and tactfully generous – so that our right hand doesn’t know what our left hand is doing. Not like those celebrities who feign coyness when interviewed about their charity work, while making sure it is part of their public relations briefing. After all, our Offertory prayer declares that the money in the collection is a token of the fact that all that we have actually belongs to God – “Of your own do we give you.” I wonder if I always believe that? I am sure I don’t always act as if I do.

So, this week, let’s see if each of us can demonstrate our thankfulness to God for his abounding grace by offering to someone, literally or metaphorically, not a glass or two of plonk but a magnum of Chateau Lafitte.

Let us pray:
Sonia Falaschi-Ray

10.30am     Buckland   United Benefice Holy Communion

Thursday   2^nd Feb

10.30am   Barley   Holy Communion – Margaret House

Sunday  5^th Feb  
9.00am  Reed   Parish Communion (said)
 10.30am   Barley Parish Communion
10.30am Barkway  First Sunday Service

Sunday 12^th Feb
10.30am  Barley United Benefice Holy Communion                                        

Sunday  19^th Feb
10.30am Reed Parish Communion + Baptism
10.30am Barley The People’s Service
6.00pm Barkway BCP Evensong

Wednesday 22^nd Feb  
8.00pm Reed   Ash Wednesday service

Sunday 26^th Feb 
9.00am Barley Parish Communion
10.30am Barkway Parish Communion
10.30am Reed  Morning Worship

Sunday   4^th March 
9.00am Reed Parish Communion (said)
10.30am  Barle  Parish Communion
10.30am   Barkway  First Sunday Service 

Morning prayer:

Barley – Wednesday (8.15 to 8.45am) & Saturday (9 to 9.30am)
Reed – Thursday (8.30am)
Barkway – suspended until further notice

In the beginning God. Trinitarian God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God whose very nature is love, relationship, mutuality, grace. God, wholly complete within himself, decided to create a universe. A universe where one day creatures would develop who could share in his companionship. Who could join the heavenly party. Scientists estimate that our universe was formed some 13.7 billion years ago. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Its physical properties included the potential for mass and the force of gravity. Gravity enables the mass to coalesce into substantial solids. ‘Something’ rather than ‘nothing’. The size of our universe is currently estimated as being 93 billion light years across. Until recently these billion sizes were almost impossible for us to imagine, but now, when the Ministry of Defence overspends £3.1 billion in just one year (on left-handed-bullets or whatever), and we are committing trillions to save the Euro, we are beginning to get the hang of them. So God created this huge and expanding universe, maybe for many reasons, but I believe one of them was to give him creatures to love. To make a people for his own possession. Love can only be offered freely, it cannot be coerced or it ceases to be love. If we are to have the capacity freely to love, alas that comes with the shadow side of being able freely to hate. The capacity for turning away from God and abusing our planet, its livestock and our fellow man is an inescapable converse of our capacity freely to love. So, on this planet at least, God had to contend with a fallen world. One where selfishness, envy, greed, pride, lust for power and exploitation can hold sway.

Are there other planets which harbour life as we would recognise it? Given the vast expanse of the universe it would seem arrogant to think that we are alone. That God created the entire universe just to end up with us! Obviously I have no idea, but the thought that we might be God’s sole end-game is truly awesome. An interesting book by John Gribbin has just been published called Alone in the Universe: Why our planet is unique. A New Scientist Magazine review states, “Chapter by chapter he [Gribbin] describes how we are anything but an ordinary intelligence, living on an ordinary planet, around an ordinary star in an ordinary galaxy. Instead our existence relies on a series of remarkable cosmic coincidences. Our solar system for example formed at a very fortuitous time and place within the Milky Way. Had it formed earlier or farther away from the galactic centre, it would not have had the supply of elements needed to build our rocky planet, or the reserves of metals our technological civilisation needs. Had it formed closer to the galactic centre, where the density of stars is greatest, our planet would likely have been sterilised by a gamma ray burst, or a star exploding or even a blast from the supermassive black hole that lies at the heart of our galaxy.” Our home is just the right distance from the sun for liquid water and we are sheltered now from large asteroid impacts.

God spoke the universe into existence and has probably nurtured it ever since. He had material creation operate according to physical laws, so that an identical set of circumstances would produce the same result. Without this, the universe would not function as it does and there could be no science if things turned out differently each time. Morally, once he had gathered up the Israelites and rescued them from servitude he, through Moses, gave them the 10 commandments, the Law. However we, his people, have this fatal flaw which threatens to spoil his handiwork. Yes we are capable of loving God and our neighbour, but sinning is such fun! God spoke creation into being – The Word was with God and the Word was God. He gave Moses the words of the law. But as the seed that falls among thorns fails to flourish, so the word of God is choked by the lure of wealth and the worries of the world. As God’s physical laws must produce the same result each time or the penalty is chaos, so God’s moral laws come with a penalty for breaching them. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. So to rescue us the Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

As Hitler’s armies rolled across Europe, the French, Jewish theologian and intellectual, Simone Weil, fled France to join the Free French in London. Her only written legacy as a Jew who followed Jesus Christ was some scattered notes and detailed journals of her pilgrimage towards God. As recorded by Philip Yancey in his book What is so amazing about Grace? “Weil concluded that two great forces rule the universe: gravity and grace. Gravity causes one body to attract other bodies so that it continually enlarges by absorbing more and more of the universe into itself. Something like this same force operates in human beings. We too want to expand, to acquire, to swell in significance. The desire to ‘be as gods’ after all led Adam and Eve to rebel. Emotionally, Weil concluded, we humans operate by laws as fixed as Newton’s. All the natural movements of the soul are controlled by laws analogous to those of physical gravity. Grace is the only exception. Most of us remain trapped in the gravitational field of self-love, and thus we fill up all the fissures through which [God’s] Grace might pass.”

Grace could be described as un-deserved, exuberant generosity. That sort of generosity which at the wedding feast at Cana creates gallons of wine so a bridegroom should not be embarrassed. Not just a few flasks, but probably far more than they had started with and of much better quality. Mind you, when his mother prompted him, Jesus wasn’t too sure of his timing, but have you ever tried arguing with a Jewish mama?

Grace, that generosity which turns five loaves and two fish into meals for 5000 families with 12 baskets left over. Generosity, which looks past professions of prostitution, enemy collaborator and Roman Centurion to heal the hungry human being underneath. Grace, which caused Jesus to hang around in bars being disapproved of by the religious authorities, because it was in bars and on the streets that he found those who recognised their need of grace. It’s only when we are real with God, when we come to him empty-handed and open hearted that his grace can find those fissures through which to infuse us. Infused with grace. What can that enable us to do? Love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be.

Grace, that generosity with which Jesus emptied himself of his divinity, in order to be born into a modest family, away from home, no crib for a bed. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. That is us. So this Christmas let us marvel once again at a God who brought the universe into being, created a people for his own possession and saved us from the consequences of our sin by joining us in Bethlehem, living a life of grace and truth and conquering death by dying for us, so that we may finally join the heavenly party.

Let us pray:
Heavenly Father. Thank you for having the Grace to come down to us, as one of us, and show through a life of grace and truth the true nature of God. Help us to open our hearts and minds to your wonderful gift of grace, so that it can flow through us to offer hope to a troubled world. Lord I ask you to come by your spirit now and pour grace into those here who ask for it.

Sonia Falaschi-Ray

If only! If only we had access to more time, the type of time we could use just as we liked; time without any interruptions, commitments or distractions, but we know that we are all given the same number of hours in the day and that, whatever our age or stage in life, we all have responsibilities and calls on our time.

Every 1st January I choose a verse or passage from the Bible as a guiding theme to begin the New Year. I base my choice on what I think I need to concentrate on or learn more about, or perhaps something to inspire me to pursue my goals with greater dedication and diligence.

This year, because of feeling so ‘behind’ with things, I think I’ll try to find a verse that will help to keep me on track, especially when outside influences press in on me and threaten to deflect or derail me from the path I believe I am called to follow. However, I will also try to remember that part of living is to be open to divine interruptions, serendipitous happenstances and unexpected events. My well-intentioned discipline needs to be tempered with the acknowledgement that I will most certainly end up taking detours – detours that may be still be on the path, if only I could see things from a different perspective. So my New Year’s wish for myself, and for you, is that you will be able to accomplish the things that are truly most important – and that along the way you will also take time to dance, explore, get lost – and, above all, enjoy the people and places you encounter as you walk along your path!

Christina Rees

The protesters outside St Paul’s Cathedral (St Paul, ironically, was a tent maker) have raised the profile of widespread public disquiet at the discrepancy between very high City and large company Directors’ salaries and those of the rest of the workforce. They are especially bitter about bankers’ pay, given that they blame them for the financial difficulties we find ourselves in. They have a point, even though their demands and proposed solutions seem somewhat incoherent. However, I think that anger at pay differentials is actually something of a sideshow to the malaise which is much more widespread in our society.

We are surrounded by marketing, advertising and media campaigns pushing the message that we will be happier and more fulfilled if we just buy the latest thing. From an advert saying, “Are you embarrassed by your mobile phone?” to credit card Access once claiming, it “Takes the waiting out of wanting”, they push the message that you must have the latest thing and you must have it now! The latest thing, now, does fill that ‘need’ gap for just long enough for us to fall for the same trick time after time. However, it is an empty promise. Things will never satisfy. It is in our relationships with others and our environment and most of all with God that contentment lies.

As the Christmas spending spree comes upon us we could consider Jesus’ words, “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”. Treasure in heaven; that comes from giving our time, energy and love to friends, family and those around us; to caring for our environment and to building a relationship with God, by praying, reading the Bible and asking Him to give us His peace, which passes all understanding, and which will satisfy us long after our gadgets have gone to landfill.

Merry Christmas and Many Blessings

Sonia Falaschi-Ray

This is the 20th anniversary of the foundation of The Trust and over that period over £3m has been provided in grants towards the cost of church repairs. It is therefore pleasing to report that Barkway (Nicholas Tufton (riding for the 20th consecutive year), Graham Penning, Celia Van der Heijden, Andrew Murphy, Gerald Morris and Vincent Styles) raised the incredible sum of £3,068, which will surely be a record that will be hard to beat for several years to come! Reed, under the able direction of Liz Jakeman, fielded 24 participants to raise £1,442. Last, but not least, Barley made £235 and Barkway Chapel £205, which all went towards the grand total of £4,950, which included Gift Aid.

We thank all who made this such a successful event and helped through generous sponsorship. The Trust are on target to raise over £100,000 with half the net amount raised being paid straight back to our churches and the other half retained by the Trust to make grants towards the cost of church repairs.

Nicholas Tufton (Buntingford Deanery Organiser)

Children are beginning to get excited as they see pictures of idyllic Christmas scenes on television and rows of enticing, new, must-have toys stacked along the aisles of supermarkets. Parents are feeling even more pressured as they juggle work, the extra shopping and all the planning and preparations for the coming holiday season. Is it the turn to visit your parents or mine? What should we do about the pets/the presents/Great Aunt Emily? How will we manage to pay for everything..?

November: a time of preparation, anticipation and reflection. Many of us will attend the Remembrance Day Service in our parish church. In the two minutes of silence we will give thanks for our freedom and remember the sacrifice of those who lost their lives fighting for it. We will also remember the loved ones we have lost, those family members and friends who are no longer here, but who still fill our hearts and minds. We will look into the eyes of those sitting near us and perhaps catch a glimpse of a still raw grief, an enduring love for someone lost to them, a wrestling with the recognition of their own mortality.

In the Christian calendar, November is the start of Advent, a time for pausing and preparing for the coming of Jesus, not as the baby in the manger, but as the longed for Messiah, the bringer of truth, light and love, the Prince of Peace: the One who can save us from evil, the One who can save us from ourselves.

My prayer for you – for us all – is that in the midst of our busyness we will take the time to check our bearings, re-calibrate our focus and direction, reconnect with what matters most to us and listen to the urgings of our hearts and souls. If we manage to do that, we may be better able to approach the preparations for Christmas with genuine excitement and joy.

Christina Rees

All profits from running the market will go to Barley Church (and you will also be supporting FOBS, Save the Children and Khandel light, who will be there).

Can we take criticism? Can we offer it? Will we become wiser, or just get cross? Will we offer a rebuke kindly, or just avoid confrontation?

At stake here is reconciliation.  Many of us are keen to avoid conflict at almost any cost.  However, this is neither healthy nor helpful.  We may think it is forgiving, but if misunderstanding or real hurt aren’t resolved, there can be no real forgiveness, and resentment may fester.  If someone has been offensive, aggressive, bullying, immoral or dishonest, papering over the cracks won’t achieve reconciliation.  The evil has to be confronted and hopefully resolved.  Relationships can be strengthened from this process; sometimes they are of a higher quality than before.

Jesus offers us a path to conflict resolution. He recommends that, if someone sins against you, you should go and point it out in private. If they listen to you, you can be reconciled. You need to have a sufficiently open mind to see that there may be two sides to the issue and that you yourself might not have been entirely blameless.  However, don’t sweep the problem under the carpet, hoping it will go away.  It will only fester and bottled-up rage may erupt unexpectedly.  There again, the person who has behaved badly might feel utterly justified in acting as they did, seeing no need to apologise or change.  So, if a one-to-one meeting doesn’t work, Jesus suggests going with a couple of others. This of course is a reality check for both sides.  Is either of you being unreasonable or unrealistic?  A third-party opinion can clarify matters.  This still may not work.  In fact the offender may feel they are being got-at and dig their heels in.  But it is only fair to try.  Reconciliation isn’t always easy, but it’s always worth it.

So, if our bad behaviour is pointed out, are we wise enough to become wiser? Or shall we just get cross?  If another has harmed us, will we have the courage to confront them? Or just harbour resentment?  Bearing a grudge is like taking poison and hoping the other person drops dead!

Many blessings
Sonia Falaschi-Ray

* Distilled from several proverbs