This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news:

 Joseph Skvorecky dies-the author who laughed in the face of tyranny 

Genesis 6:1-8

6When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, 2the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. 3Then the Lord said, ‘My spirit shall not abide in mortals for ever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’ 4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterwards—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. 6And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ 8But Noah found favour in the sight of the Lord.

The narrative of Genesis is a great arc of theological myth which portrays and explains the human condition, but contained within it are other smaller mythological elements like the story of the sons of God mating with the daughters of humanity. This is being used to give just a hint that the wickedness of human beings is aided and abetted by supernatural powers. Still the Lord’s judgment is pretty stark: “every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.” This is a condition which as far as we know is limited to very few people: it’s much more common for the evil inclinations to co-exist with good. So the reader is doubtful about the justification for the Lord’s murderous anger. Is it any better than Cain’s? It is described as recognition by the Lord that the mess is his own responsibility: he “repents” his creation of human beings; and indeed it seems familiar to all of us who’ve experienced the fury of having taken a mistaken course of action. It’s not clear at all for example what crime the other creatures have committed which justifies their deaths. The answer is that they are included in the creator’s disappointed fury. The narrative is compelling and full of meaning but it remains important for readers not to abstract “God” from the narrative, as if this ambiguous character were what Christians worship as the Holy Trinity. Theologians in their impatience have done so and the results have not been pretty.

John 2:1-12

2On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ 4And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ 5His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ 6Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. 8He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. 9When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ 11Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

12 After this he went down toCapernaumwith his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there for a few days.

Just as Genesis depicts the corruption of God’s creation so John’s gospel depicts its re-creation through the Word of God who has become flesh in Jesus Christ. The first chapter has shown the grace and truth which Jesus brings in the openness of Jesus to others and in their readiness to be open to Him. In this narrative the author gives the reader an image of the re-creation of religion. The water pots stand for the Torah and the religious practice of the Jewish people. They are not simply abolished in God’s re-creation through Jesus but transformed, as water into wine. The new creation does not wipe out the old (as almost happens with the Flood) but enriches it. The graciousness of this salvation is particularly evident, as the reader will see, in the enrichment of individual lives by Jesus’ ministry.

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This letter is from Peter inEdinburgh

Dear Jesus,

I grew up in a typical Baptist household and have never lost that initial training although I am now a member of the Church of Scotland. We have a good, caring, minister but she disturbs me by her departures from the revealed Word of God written in the Bible-especially by her laxity towards gay people and her lack of emphasis on heaven and hell. I am not a vengeful person, but how can there be salvation if there is not the threat of damnation?

Peter

Dear Peter,

I want to declare my love for you, which is identical with my love for all creatures. The word of the Bible is not the Word of God: I am, and all other words must be interpreted in the light of my life. That’s harder than relying on something written down, but the easy way leads to idolatry. Yes, the Bible is an idol if it is seen as anything more than a witness to me!

As for damnation…..one of my friends has well said “This is the judgment, that the light came into the world but men preferred darkness.” Yes, that happens, but it is never my choice that it should happen. My choice is that all should be saved from what they may do to themselves and others.

I’m glad you’ve got a good minister and hope that as you estimate her witness you’ll remember your upbringing in the Baptist tradition which emphasises the Good News of God’s love above all other matters.

I am alive, trust me.

Jesus