Bible Reading – John 1:1–9 and John 2:1–11
Today's Bible reading is John chapter 1 verses 1 to 9, and we also have John chapter 2 verses 1 to 11 as well.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made. Without him, nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.
He himself was not the light. He came only as a witness to the light.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world, and we've got John 2, 1 to 11.
On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee.
Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, they have no more wine.
Woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied, my hour has not yet come.
His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you.
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars of water, so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.
He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.
Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, everyone brings out the choice wine first, and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink, but you've saved the best till now.
What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
This is the word of the Lord.
Advent, New Year, and a Gift
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Pedram, and if I haven't met you before, I'm part of the team here at Deep Creek, and it is such an exciting time of starting this new season of Advent and Christmas together, 2025.
We've got a special gift for you, apart from the Christmas gift that is coming on the way, but we've put together a booklet which is a reflective way, which I'm going to mention in my sermon later, but it's a very good reflective way for us to reflect on our spiritual life.
It comes with a scripture and prayers and some poems which inspire us.
So these are for free.
You don't have to pay.
It's already paid for the prints.
Put your hands up if you're interested to get one of these, and Megan will be helping you to get one copy.
And if you hold your hands up, and Megan can find you around the room.
And here's our early Christmas gift for you to enjoy and to meditate on the word of God and enjoy his presence.
Advent as the Christian New Year
Well, as Rachel mentioned, we are stepping into a new season called Advent.
And this season of Advent for us as Christian is the first day of Advent is our Christian New Year's Day.
So it's very appropriate if I say Happy New Year to you.
The words to respond are not on the screen, but you can respond to me back with, thank you very much.
So as I said, today kicks off the entire cycle of our liturgy in Anglican book from the prayer book.
And Advent is like telling us that the year has reset.
And when we go through the liturgy through the calendar, we see that each passing week will slowly unpack the story of Jesus' life, his death, resurrection, ascension, and coming of the Holy Spirit.
So it's beautiful liturgy and it's beautiful calendar that keep reminding us of where we are at the season of our Christian life.
Advent for those who are not aware of this word is a Latin word Adventus.
That means coming or arrival, coming or arrival.
Waiting and Our Experience of “Not Yet”
We begin our Christian year in Advent with wait.
When I was a kid in Iran, as you know, Nowruz is the beginning of the year.
And the first day of spring is the first day of a new year.
So our parents always bought us new clothes, the shining clothes hanging in the cupboard.
And but we were not never allowed to try them on before we get to the new year.
And when we go to our relatives place to visit them, absolute torture for a kid.
And we keep looking and staring at those clothes.
And we're waiting and longing for the time to just try them on.
So at first, our anticipation, our vibe of waiting is something maybe carrying negative meanings behind.
From childhood, we are trained to hear, not yet, you should wait.
And usually isn't followed by anything exciting after that.
But the waiting in adulthood isn't much better as well.
So there is sitting on the hold for 30 minutes while listening to the same repeated three second piece of music 100 times until someone answered the phone.
Waiting behind a red light while you're rushing or you're running late.
And for me, there is waiting for Nick to bring his coffee tools and to make coffee during the working hours in the office that I finally enjoyed a proper coffee during the day.
So it needs patience.
And also it shapes our character, Christian character as well.
And for those who are parents, well, there is a special kind of waiting that happens mostly in the car when small voices repeat liturgy of every road trip, which is, are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
A Different Kind of Christian Waiting
But waiting in Christian life is not, nothing like that.
It is some sort of different waiting.
It's not a passive or annoying waiting.
So let me begin and ask you this question and I want you to reflect on that.
So what does waiting look like for you?
What does waiting look like for you in your spiritual life?
In your relationship?
In the season that you are at the moment living in?
What does it look like for you?
What does it look like for us as a church here at Deep Creek, as a community of faith?
And most importantly, how does it look like for us and how we prepare ourselves in this waiting time?
Three Aspects of Christian Waiting: Past, Present, Future
You may or may not be aware of this, that we as Christians, we look at three different aspects of waiting, three different aspects.
So waiting in the past, in the present, and in the future.
So the first one is waiting in the past, the coming of redemption.
As we put ourselves in the shoes of our brothers and sisters in the Old Testament, who waited for Messiah to come, to celebrate his birth, to welcome this king.
They waited for a long time and we see that the 400 times of silence, 400 years with no fresh word from Lord, nothing, no visions, no new prophecies, no promises, new promises, and just silence.
And through all that silence, they kept praying for the Messiah.
Of course, we are living in AD, after Christ, but in the year of our Lord, which is the way that we are living, the time that we are living, we're not living in before Christ, we're not living in BC, but at one aspect, we celebrate what has already began in the past.
The one aspect of AD is always, always in BC, before Christ.
John 1 and Four Truths That Reshape Our Waiting
So John 1 tells us four fundamental truths, the reading that we read, the first reading that we had today, that reshape our waiting.
It is such an incredible way to introduce Jesus.
So he used just five verses to say bang, bang, bang, bang, four truths about who Jesus is, who this Messiah is, who the word of God is.
And he says this, the first one, the word eternally exists in verse one to two.
The God who speak creation into being is not silence.
The logos, the word of God, the word is eternally personally with God and is in God.
So the second one, all things were made through him.
Verse three, creation itself is addressed to him.
All the things that we see today as the creation of God is addressed to Jesus.
That means the cosmos, the history, the humanity, we are all in his hands and our presence world and everything are not just accidents.
They point back to the source of creation, point back to Jesus.
And the third one in verse four, he says in him is life.
And this life is different from like our normal biological life.
This is the life that brings meaning, a true aspects of life.
The life that experience joy, fullness, and light, the life that conquers death.
There is no death in that kind of life.
And the last one, verse four to five, he says that life is not only life, but it is light.
The light that shines in darkness, the darkness does not overcome it.
That is hope, that is a huge hope for a weary heart today, for broken world, for our faith.
And Advent is about receiving that light to proclaiming that this light has come and even deep in the shadows of the valley that we have in our journeys.
So the first one was waiting in the past.
Waiting in the Present: The Coming of Holiness
The second one is waiting in the present.
This, especially the middle category, waiting in the present is something that sometimes is overlooked or forgotten.
But the coming of holiness, the coming of Christ in our daily life, in our present moment, at the moment we are sitting on these chairs, on this day, in every day of our life.
At this day that we are here to celebrate the sacraments, the holy communion, we sing the worship songs to God, God is present in our present.
But we wait, not with impatience or despair, but as humble servants who humble ourselves in the ongoing work of reconciliation and restoration.
And we know that in our waiting, God is good and he is at work.
We watch, we prepare, we prepare our hearts, we allow longing to deepen, we allow our lives to be shaped by the reality of this world, who is with us, who is light, and who is life.
The Wedding at Cana: A Sign of New Creation
We see this in the first public miracle or sign of Jesus at the wedding in Cana.
So on the third day, there is a wedding and Jesus, his mother, his disciples, his friends, all of them are invited.
And it is the ordinary rhythm of the wedding that continues, dancing, drinking, celebrating, and community gathering for that joyful moment.
And the presence of Jesus at the wedding is significant.
You know why?
Because wedding in scripture often shows us a covenant as a metaphoric way to say that a bigger covenant.
So at the wedding, we see that two people come together in a covenant that they have together, in the oath that they have, the promises that they have.
And in a bigger picture, we see that it's a great picture of the covenant with God, the communion, the relationship, and it's talking about the day that has not come yet.
So the last days, the days that we are longing for to come.
So here at Cana, we begin to taste what the new creation looks like.
Human community redeemed, and life celebrated, and joy restored.
A Crisis of Emptiness: No More Wine
But there is a problem here.
So the crisis is that there is no wine.
The wine runs out.
For a wedding in that kind of community and the culture, running out of wine is a disaster.
We have this same thing in a Middle Eastern culture as well.
So the people who are invited should be served very well with the best food.
And running out of food or drink is something even more than embarrassment.
It brings shame and it will destroy the honor of the family and shows the disability of the family to provide and to honor the guests.
So this is exactly what happens.
So maybe you think with yourself like in 21st century, well, there's no wine, so let's go and get more wine.
Or that's not a big deal, let's have cooking instead of that.
But no, that is something different.
It is related to the honor of the family and it's a social disaster.
So that is the problem.
Then Mary asked Jesus that the wine has run out, so do something.
And Jesus' response is some sort of a mystery here.
He says, my hour has not yet come.
So on the surface, it may feel unexpected from Jesus to say that, but the phrase that my hour, which is continually repeated in the gospel of John, talking about Jesus' ministry and the goal of his incarnation.
And he points to the cross, the hour of ultimate glory and ultimate suffering for God.
The implication is that even before the cross, the fullness of what he had came for has not yet been revealed.
But he hears the need and he acts.
He knows the emptiness.
This is a sign of emptiness.
He's aware of brokenness here at the wedding.
So the wedding's lack of wine becomes a symbol of our own need and our own emptiness and our humanity's needs for abundance, for redemption, and for new wine.
Stone Jars and the Old Covenant
So we see that in verses six to eight, six stone water jars stand ready.
The jars were used for purification in Jewish culture, and each holds 75 to 115 liters.
And these jars represent the old covenant here, the old system of purification, good but incomplete.
And Jesus says, fill the jars with water, fill the jars with water.
Before any visible transformation here, at Jesus' quiet word, we see that the light, the creator, now exercising power over creation again.
He sees this need and tends it, and restore it, and transform it.
He does not abolish the old water jars.
He uses them, and he does not demand, like, he does not say that the Jewish purification system is all corrupted as bad, but it uses that to bring another covenant with his people.
What was once water, ordinary and common, has become the finest wine, the finest wine, which was replaced as a new covenant of grace.
We begin our year by readying ourselves to recite the gifts of repentance, healing, and restoration that God gives us with his grace.
We need him to come to us, to rescue us, and to restore us, even today in our daily lives.
So we wait passionately for him to work in our hearts.
Waiting for the Future: The Coming in Glory
And the third aspect of that waiting is for the future, the coming in glory.
And the scripture tells us it's the last day.
The arrival of Christ in Bethlehem, celebrating the incarnation, is not the end of the story.
For us today, it's like standing in tension between already not yet, already not yet.
We wait for the final coming of the King, for justice, for healing, and for restoration, for everything will be renewed, for the day when all things will be made new.
Today, later in our Holy Communion, as we participate, I'm going to invite us to say, to proclaim the mystery of our faith.
And what would you say?
We say, Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
A powerful testimony and declaration of Christ's work in our past, in our present, and in our future.
But let me tell you what happens if we miss or overlook even one of these truths.
What Happens If We Miss the Past?
What happens if we miss the first one?
Well, the redemption foundation will be lost.
The truth of incarnation, that God is love, and he came to rescue us, to rescue human from sin, will be lost.
This is where most of our non-Christian friends stand.
The truth that God is good, and he keeps his promises, will be lost.
Then what happens during the Christmas?
Christmas story will be reduced to a Christmas decoration, or just a season.
Shallow, nostalgic, and superficial.
And the reality that God stepped into human story as light into darkness to save us from our sin, will be ignored.
We see that around the world, especially as we live in Australia, and our prayer is that our community get to know that this incarnation of Jesus brings redemption, and brings new life into people.
What Happens If We Miss the Present?
If we miss the second one, keep the first one and the third one, but miss the second one, what happens?
Then we lose transformation's power.
Faith becomes historical rather than living.
It becomes just a religion, not a relationship.
Going to church, going for prayers, going to growth group gatherings, Bible studies, this becomes just a habit than a transformative tools in God's hand to transform and renew us.
We might celebrate Bethlehem as past, and we might long for Christ's return in the future.
We will talk about Jesus, we'll listen to sermons, we'll read the scripture, but nothing happens.
We don't feel anything inside.
We will recite truth, but not taste the sweetness of God's presence in our lives.
We will read, pray, but we feel that we receive nothing.
The sacraments, the baptism, the confirmation, the Lord's Supper, our daily spiritual life, all of them, they will lose their meaning, and grace become abstract, and discipleship become just a duty.
As a person from Muslim background, I felt that during my time in Iran, and this is where just Christianity become another religion, not a restoration and relationship with a living God.
And part of the history, we see that in the 18th century, that the church was revival, experienced a great awakeness to bring revival into the life of Christian and spirituality.
What Happens If We Miss the Future?
So what happens if we miss the third one, the future hope?
So we'll lose hope's fulfillment.
All the hope that we have collapses into presence moment.
We believe that Jesus came, we believe that Jesus is with us today, but if we forget that he will come again, then we will lose our living hope.
We will lose our living hope.
When the suffering comes, then it seems unbearable.
When we see injustice around us, it seems like unbeatable.
And when we face death, it seems like undefeatable.
So we stop longing for glory, we settle for this world as it is, we're just coping with the rhythm of this world easily.
We will read John chapter 2 and enjoy the miracle without just realizing its point, that it's pointing forward to the final wedding feast, the day when the bridegroom returns and the wine of joy never runs out.
To behold the glory of Christ, the glory that John speaks of, the glory here revealed at Cana, we need all these three aspects of past, present, and future.
Advent at Deep Creek: Grace Overflowing in Our Life Together
So what does this have to do with our 2025 Advent here at Deep Creek?
Well, our reading today shows that the grace of God begins to overflow in our daily lives, into our ministry here at Deep Creek.
Whatever we do, all the things that were mentioned last week in our Vision Sunday and AGM, all the things printed out in our reports, all is just because of God's grace.
And it will shape our new vision for 2026 that Jesus is good for us, Jesus is good for me, Jesus is good for you.
But this requires a great and deep humility in us.
We need to be humble to acknowledge that we need him every moment.
That's the reality.
We need to humble ourselves to acknowledge his presence in our relationship, in our joys, in our daily decision, in the way that we speak to each other, to our parents, to our kids, kids.
In our brokenness and in our failure, it needs a great humbleness and humility.
Open Hands, Not Closed Fists
When Yonah was born, he was born with like a tight fist like this.
It was like any other babies.
And this is the, here he is, I just came to the door.
Well, it's not the tight fist anymore, but yeah.
This is the way that we come to this world.
We close hands, we protect ourselves, we hide our face, we hide our brokenness and failure, and we are ready to defend from all those things.
But Jesus invites us to open our hands, to open our hands, and we are ready to be broken again and again, to face the failure with humbleness, and let the Lord, let God to change the water into wine.
If we keep it hold like this, nothing would happen.
God wants us and invites us, especially in the present time of waiting, to open our hands and bring before him, before his presence, and receive the restoration.
Then we learn to depend not on circumstances, not on the judgments of others, but on Jesus, as well as holding fast to his promise.
That was part of the vision for our next year, to put Jesus in the center of our attention, of our life, of our relationship, of our ministry, of whatever we do, to open our hands.
Three Encouragements for Active Waiting
Let me finish with three encouragement for us, if you put it in an application.
Well, the first one is that we could prepare our inner jars, the water that we have to bring before God, and trusting that Jesus, who created all things, can transform us, to transform the water.
Do not be scared.
Just bring the water, and he will turn it into wine.
The second one is watch for signs of grace.
Just a simple question at the end of the day, what am I grateful for today?
What am I thankful for today?
Where have I seen a sign of God's grace in my day?
Where have I heard the voice of God in my 12 hours of work or being awake?
I love the liturgy of the morning prayers and evening prayers in the prayer book that points to the presence time.
It says that the day has finished and the night is before us.
It reminds you that way you are, because it's very easy to be distracted.
It's very easy to lose our track of where we are in the life, the task and the responsibility, the changing the nappy with one hand and holding the bottle in another hand.
It's very easy to be distracted, but these words can bring us to the moment, to the present, that where we are.
We had this privilege to live another day.
What am I thankful for?
Write it down.
Tell to others at the table.
Ask each other, what are you thankful for today?
And the third one, we could engage in faithful obedience as active waiters, as people who act, who wait active.
Well, it could be saying yes to God's calling at the moment.
I don't know what would that look like for you, but listen to God.
If he's calling you, it could be even getting to know someone who haven't met here at Deep Creek during the coffee break.
It could be sacrificing a couple of hours for helping others, to show love and mercy to others.
Or it could be just texting and inviting a lonely friend to come over for Christmas celebration if they don't have anyone.
Just easy steps, and this prepares our heart to engage in faithful obedience, to act, to do something.
As you remember from two weeks ago, Megan said that the matter, what was it?
Sorry, I forgot.
Yeah, the truth matters.
The truth matters, but I forgot it.
But life matters more.
Knowing the truth of past and present, the future is important, but what do we do with that?
What do we do?
We are called to take action.
An Invitation to Let the Story Shape Us
Maybe there is a place in your life where waiting feels heavy at the moment or confusing.
Maybe there is a place where hope is lost, challenges come.
Maybe there is part of your story that needs to be brought into that light of Christ.
Or maybe Jesus is inviting you through his spirit to simply slow down, to breathe, to become aware again of God who is already here.
The God who steps into ordinary places and the God who is presence in your daily life.
The God who speaks through his scripture, the God who meets us at the table.
We're going to participate in this table today.
This is another sign of God's presence in our life.
As the band is going to prepare themselves for the next song that we are going to sing, I am going to invite us into this holy invitation of waiting.
Not to rush through this story, chapter by chapter, but let this story rush through us.
Let the story shape our character and our life.
So take a moment, bring your heart before God and ask yourself, where is Jesus longing to reveal his glory in my life right now?
What is he calling me to at the moment?
And would you be willing even in a small, humble way to open the jar of your life and to bring your water before him to be transformed into wine?
