Brown's Daily Word 1-31-11

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for all the days that the Lord gives us on earth to worship Him, to witness for Him, to serve Him, and to enjoy His grace in superabundance. Praise the Lord, for the He blesses us in our gatherings for worship. The Saturday Evening worship was great blessing. Our daughter Laureen, a gifted musician, led in the worship music. We are blessed to have both a grand piano and a grand organ at the First UMC. I was scheduled to preach at the Saturday evening service, but people began to give testimonies and praises spontaneously. I did not have any time for preaching. There was an altar call, and people came forward to be anointed with oil and to be prayed for. Jesus meets His people through the power of the Holy Spirit.
I preached from John 2 yesterday, deviating from the lectionary passage. My wife told me later, that I preach every year from John 2. In fact, I love to preach from John 2. The Gospel of John is full of symbolism and allegory. The story opens with the words: “On the third day. . . .” The story here is heavy with allegory in which John may have been alluding to Jesus’ resurrection after three days. John is preparing us for what he is building up to throughout his Gospel, that Jesus Christ would be buried, and on the third day he would show up, having risen from the dead. He would then make preparations for the great wedding feast of the Lamb of God, when he would gather together all who would be his guests into the Kingdom of God. Jesus’ first sign would point to his final sign by which he would show his glory.
After Jesus and his disciples arrived at the wedding, Jesus’ mother approached him and said, “They have no more wine.” Mary expected Him to do something wonderful. Thus, even over His reluctance to start His ministry before its time, she told the servants: “Do whatever he tells you.”
Miracles can happen in any situation. Jesus cares about our everyday needs. Jesus’ mother knew that He cared about people. He still cares about all our needs, not just our spiritual needs. He cares about people being unnecessarily embarrassed. He cares about people enjoying themselves. I am certain that Jesus is the kind of guest you want at your party. He knows how to celebrate. In fact, in the New Testament, we often see him at parties to which he has been invited, and he is always the life of the party. He is always in the celebratory mood. His detractors called him a “glutton and drunkard” (Matthew 11:19). No one ever accused Jesus of promoting a dour, rigid, emotion-stifling religion — just the opposite is true.
Wherever Jesus went there was life and joy. He stated that His life mission was, as He said, that His joy might be in us and that our joy might be full (John 15:11). He has come to bring His joy, and there is joy everywhere in our world. He is the God of irrepressible joy, and He has come to share it. He offers the wine of joy to all those who are thirsty for life, for those who will come and drink. He takes care of our needs both great and small. There is nothing too ordinary to pray about. He is just as concerned about the little problems of life as the big problems. If He was a little god He would be able to take care of only the major things, but since He is the great God of the Universe, He is able to take care of all the things in our lives. He sees every sparrow each time it lands on the ground. He keeps track of the number of hairs on our heads. He calls the stars by name. He is a great God who is too big not to be concerned about the everyday things of our lives.

In Christ,
Brown
These daily devotions are posted at Brownnaik.blogspot.com... Thanks to Julie
and at unioncenterumc.com... Thanks to Kari
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtGVYaXU3tM