Revealing the Way: At the Wedding

Next Sunday’s gospel reading brings us to a wedding in Cana—an ordinary, joyful, gathering. It’s the story of Jesus’ first sign, but it doesn’t begin with fireworks or proclamations. It begins with a problem. The wine has run out. 

Anyone living in Illinois in the dead of winter knows something about running out—of sunlight, of energy, of patience. We know what it feels like to stretch what’s left while hoping spring will come. Perhaps some of us are living with a deeper kind of scarcity too: uncertainty about the future, fear in our communities and our nation, grief over suffering we can’t seem to stop. Perhaps you are wondering what comes next—and whether what we have is enough to get us there. 

That’s where this story meets us. 

Jesus doesn’t arrive at Cana to fix everything all at once. He notices a quiet crisis at the edges of the celebration. He listens when his mother names the need. And then—almost imperceptibly—he begins to reveal the way forward. 

Water becomes wine. Not just enough to get by, but abundant. Rich. Good. 

In this story, love leads the way—not through force or spectacle, but through attentiveness, relationship, and care for what would otherwise be overlooked. Jesus reveals God’s path in an unexpected place: a kitchen problem at a wedding, handled by servants, witnessed by only a few. 

This is good news for us. It means that even in anxious times—God’s way is still unfolding. Love is still at work. Justice is still being shaped in quiet acts of faithfulness. Transformation often begins before we realize it has begun. 

This Sunday, we’ll reflect on what it means to follow Christ when the way forward isn’t obvious yet—when we’re invited to trust that God is already at work, turning what we have into something that can sustain us. 

Come, with your questions. Come, with your worry. Come, with your winter-weary hope. 

The way is being revealed. 

Peace, 

Pastor Katie