Transformation

Beloved Brothers and Sisters,

I share with you and image and a poem:

If Jesus Could

By Tom Lane

If Jesus could transform

common water into wedding wine,

spit and dirt into new sight,

troubled sea into a pathway,

well water into living water,

Could Christ transform

the waters of my life,

shallow, murky, polluted,

stagnant, sour,

into a shower of blessing?

Yes! Jesus indeed can and does do this very thing!  Jesus is always immersed in the work of transformation ---again and again and again.  That’s what salvation really is.  It is the transformation of difficulty and alienation and pain into workableness and communion and blessing.  This not to say that pain or difficulty disappears.  But it is to say that it is transformed to be a source, perhaps even a deep well, of God’s goodness and grace in our lives, and so too in the lives of our communities.

Have you noticed how Jesus’ works of transformation are not works that start with something brand new, but rather work with the very things that are already there?  Think of Jesus’ transformation of the water into wine at the wedding at Cana.  Think of the feeding of the multitudes, starting only with a few fish and a few loaves of bread.  Think of the spit and the dirt that brought new sight.  Think of your own lives.

Go ahead, take some time…….reflect…….notice……pray.  Where has God brought transformation, salvation, into your life?  What does it feel like?  What do you notice?  What surprises you?  What sustains you?  How has this experience, how does this experience, continue to touch you?  Is it nurturing the growth of a special ministry in your life?

It’s usually those rough places in our lives, isn’t it, that we experience the most transformation.  Jesus loves those rough places. Just loves them.  They are right where he wants to be.  They are right where he is.

As always, you are so very much in my heart and my prayers.

With love and celebration for the gift of you and God as one,

Julia

P.S.  Did you notice Mary in the icon?  We'll talk about her on Sunday.  What do you think is going on?