"When the wine was gone..."

The wedding at Cana we find in John chapter two, must surely get us thinking about hospitality, and hopefully the abundance and generosity of God to us, through Jesus Christ. The fact is, there is more to our faith journey than theological and biblical debate.

We live in bodies that require sustenance and our faith communities are (or should be) places of hospitality. Whether it's wine, or coffee and cake, finger food or dinner in someone's home, Christians break bread together in many different ways.

Ethicist Christine Pohl writes of her experience as a student spending time with the L'Abri faith community in England; "It was there that I first saw how much more powerfully the gospel spoke when those who were teaching opened their lives and their homes to strangers."

When the wine was gone at Cana, Jesus gave us the first of the signs we find in John's gospel, the turning of water into the finest wine, an act of God's generosity and blessing.

It's easy to forget the generosity of God as we are in the midst of what is for many a cost of living crisis. Whether we have abundance or limited means, we are invited to participate in simple hospitality. There is a parallel conversation in which the church seems to be short of resources and people power. Then we see God provide in a timely way with people and resources to do the necessary and even more. This of course is why we need faith. We see the need and pray into it, and the Lord provides. God's glory and blessing will be revealed among us, may we continue to see and know his provision. Shalom