Week Two

Part 2: Acquainted with grief…

Read John 2: 1-12

Jesus was acquainted with grief but he was on first name terms with feasting and friendship and festivity! His public ministry that we hear about in the gospels was only a few years and much of that largely consisted of hanging out with people informally — grabbing a bite, telling stories, travelling. He was not aloof or above the crowd. As we see in this reading he was happy to roll his sleeves up and take a role in the hospitality.

Why does Jesus’s mother make a point of telling him about the wine and why does he rebuff her and yet do something about it anyway? Was this totally ‘a thing’ that Jesus was known to do? Do you think he did similar things at other times in his life?

For a man that knew the sorrow that lay ahead how did he manage to exude such liveliness, humour and enthusiasm?

Read Psalm 126

Sometimes our bittersweet tears can lead to something new. Like unassuming seeds that grow into something wonderful and beautiful to reap.

What are the tears of 2020 that can be planted in 2021 and harvested in the decade ahead? Through all the upheaval and turmoil what can we learn from the heartache of last year and use to work towards a better future?

Read John 16: 16-22

In the first three verses the phrase ‘little while’ (in NRSVA translation) is used six times!

Our lives are lived in little whiles. Little whiles of coming and going; this thing and then the next. Our days and years have rise and fall, presence and absence, distance and reunion. Jesus reassures us that through pain and difficulty that new life can and will be found. There will be weeping. And then, then there will be rejoicing.

Why do we go through sorrow to get to the joy? Why is life difficult? Why isn’t there just a shortcut to joy? — As a group you don’t have to come up with definitive answers. These are big questions and you may, like the disciples, just want to repeat and puzzle for a little while…