God loves a party

Available for over a year

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Daniel Sibthorpe Good morning Last month, my son got married. We all dressed up, reconnected with family members, enjoyed delicious food, shared good wine, cheered and clapped and danced late into the night, all in the same Church building. Although there were of course weeks of preparation and planning, and much activity in the days leading up to the event, my overriding memory of the day will be that it was fantastic fun. Many people imagine that the weddings and parties Jesus attended were quiet and orderly. But at the famous wedding in Cana, the celebration was so lively that they ran out of wine. Today, most party planners might have said it was time to switch to water. But Jesus chose to keep the celebration going by providing even better wine than before. I know how easy it is for me to see God as a bit of a killjoy, always quick to shut the fun down in favour of seemingly more spiritual activities. Interestingly Jesus was to be found very often at gatherings, enjoying meals, and creating space for fun and laughter. Jesus was vilified for much of this activity; and the religious leaders of the day called him “a glutton, a drunkard, and a friend of the outcasts.” His regular attendance at unreligious gatherings seemed to have been, not to their liking. So today I pray that we would know the favour of God on our lives, we will feel his smile in our relaxed times as well as our more spiritual ones and that we would know he wants to be our invited guest at every event. Amen