This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad
in it. The Lord blessed us with a joyful Wednesday Evening gathering
of fellowship and study. It is a joy to come together in fellowship and prayer
before Jesus our Risen Lord. Somehow He comes and blesses us with His Joy. Our
grandson Simeon loves sing a song by the Newsboys, "You give me joy
that's unspeakable and I like it, and I like it." The Christian Gospel is not
merely good advice, but rather it is the Good News of great Joy. The Christian
Gospel is an invitation to Joy.
According to John's Gospel the first miracle Jesus performed
was in a wedding setting. That, however, is only the beginning of the story.
Another wedding, more glorious and more wonderful than anything we have ever
known, is coming. Jesus hinted at it at the Last Supper when he said, “I tell
you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when
I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). The
fulfillment of Christ’s promises to marry His bride will take place not just in
a garden paradise, but in the full paradise of God’s kingdom, at the fulfillment
of all things, at the end of the age. The writer of Revelation put it like
this, “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of
rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our
Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For
the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine
linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.’ (Fine linen stands for the
righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me, ‘Write: “Blessed are
those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”’” (Revelation
19:6-9).
Jesus began his ministry with a miracle at a wedding. Human history began with a wedding in the garden of Eden. The bride of Christ, His people, the church, was made possible at the saving death of our Savior, as the wine of his blood was poured out for his people. At the end of the age, this wedding will be consummated at the wedding feast of the Lamb. Here is the greatest of all miracles and mysteries. Here is the plan of God which he began in the Garden of Eden, a wedding made possible in the garden where Jesus was crucified and consummated in Paradise at the coming of Christ at the end of the age.
Joni Eareckson Tada, a quadriplegic who was paralyzed in a diving accident as a teenager, talks about her wedding day. She says, “I felt awkward as my girlfriends strained to shift my paralyzed body into a cumbersome wedding gown. No amount of corseting and binding my body gave me a perfect shape. The dress just didn’t fit well. Then, as I was wheeling into the church, I glanced down and noticed that I’d accidentally run over the hem of my dress, leaving a greasy tire mark. My paralyzed hands couldn’t hold the bouquet of daisies that lay off-center on my lap. And my chair, though decorated for the wedding, was still a big, clunky gray machine with belts, gears, and ball bearings. I certainly didn’t feel like the picture-perfect bride in a bridal magazine. I inched my chair closer to the last pew to catch a glimpse of Ken in front. There he was, standing tall and stately in his formal attire. I saw him looking for me, craning his neck to look up the aisle. My face flushed, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to be with him. I had seen my beloved. The love in Ken’s face had washed away all my feelings of unworthiness. I was his pure and perfect bride. How easy it is for us to think that we’re utterly unlovely — especially to someone as lovely as Christ. But He loves us with the bright eyes of a Bridegroom’s love and cannot wait for the day we are united with Him forever.”
We are, as it were, unattractive, frightened, paralyzed and imperfect, yet wild with hope, as we come to the wedding feast of the Lamb. We feel inadequate and unworthy, yet our eyes are fixed on Christ. We are overwhelmed with emotion as we know that we are loved and accepted just as we are, and that the wedding will bring about transformation. The blood and water that flowed from his side has released us from our bondage, healed our brokenness, and cleansed us from our sin. We become the Bride of Christ, not just in theory or potentiality, but in reality. There, together with Him and all the redeemed, we will taste the new wine of the kingdom.
It is written in Revelation, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then He said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true’” (Revelation 21:2-5).
May the Risen Lord pour in each one of us His Joy, unspeakable today as we love Him and serve Him.
Jesus began his ministry with a miracle at a wedding. Human history began with a wedding in the garden of Eden. The bride of Christ, His people, the church, was made possible at the saving death of our Savior, as the wine of his blood was poured out for his people. At the end of the age, this wedding will be consummated at the wedding feast of the Lamb. Here is the greatest of all miracles and mysteries. Here is the plan of God which he began in the Garden of Eden, a wedding made possible in the garden where Jesus was crucified and consummated in Paradise at the coming of Christ at the end of the age.
Joni Eareckson Tada, a quadriplegic who was paralyzed in a diving accident as a teenager, talks about her wedding day. She says, “I felt awkward as my girlfriends strained to shift my paralyzed body into a cumbersome wedding gown. No amount of corseting and binding my body gave me a perfect shape. The dress just didn’t fit well. Then, as I was wheeling into the church, I glanced down and noticed that I’d accidentally run over the hem of my dress, leaving a greasy tire mark. My paralyzed hands couldn’t hold the bouquet of daisies that lay off-center on my lap. And my chair, though decorated for the wedding, was still a big, clunky gray machine with belts, gears, and ball bearings. I certainly didn’t feel like the picture-perfect bride in a bridal magazine. I inched my chair closer to the last pew to catch a glimpse of Ken in front. There he was, standing tall and stately in his formal attire. I saw him looking for me, craning his neck to look up the aisle. My face flushed, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to be with him. I had seen my beloved. The love in Ken’s face had washed away all my feelings of unworthiness. I was his pure and perfect bride. How easy it is for us to think that we’re utterly unlovely — especially to someone as lovely as Christ. But He loves us with the bright eyes of a Bridegroom’s love and cannot wait for the day we are united with Him forever.”
We are, as it were, unattractive, frightened, paralyzed and imperfect, yet wild with hope, as we come to the wedding feast of the Lamb. We feel inadequate and unworthy, yet our eyes are fixed on Christ. We are overwhelmed with emotion as we know that we are loved and accepted just as we are, and that the wedding will bring about transformation. The blood and water that flowed from his side has released us from our bondage, healed our brokenness, and cleansed us from our sin. We become the Bride of Christ, not just in theory or potentiality, but in reality. There, together with Him and all the redeemed, we will taste the new wine of the kingdom.
It is written in Revelation, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then He said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true’” (Revelation 21:2-5).
May the Risen Lord pour in each one of us His Joy, unspeakable today as we love Him and serve Him.
In His Joy,
Brown
Saturday evening
worship service.
Location: First
United Methodist Church. Endicott
53 McKinley Avenue,
Endicott.
Sponsored by the
Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive,
Endicott
Saturday May 19,
2012
6 PM Gathering: Coffee
Fellowship
6:30 PM
Worship Service
Worship Music by
Laureen Naik, Emma Brunson
Speaker:
Rev. Bill Turner
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