From “St. John’s Huntington”, New York
I’ll bet some of you have mothers like mine. They mean to be helpful; they mean to nudge in positive ways, but it doesn’t always result in what we would call an “affirming experience”. While some moms understand the power of discreet nudges, others…not so much. As children, sometimes our mothers’ nudges were made in front of our friends and we just wanted to melt into the ground beneath us. Just the same—however humiliating, however awkwardly delivered—they were often very effective nudges!
In next Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus’s mom does her own nudging. It’s not clear that it’s a nudge until later in the action, and it’s not apparent whether Jesus is embarrassed or not by his mom’s nudging, but it’s definitely clear that he gets defensive. Mary says: “They have no wine.” And like a petulant teenager, he responds, “What concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.”
Mary, like any good mother, is not easily deterred from her nudging. She seems to believe it is his time, so she turns to the servants, and says, “Do whatever he tells you,” indicating something is about to happen. Of course, this passage can be looked at from a number of viewpoints. One is that Jesus was helping establish the idea of God’s economy of time—that things don’t happen on human time-tables, but on divine timing. At the same time, if that were the only point, then why did Jesus say it wasn’t his time, only to take action minutes later? So, another way of looking at this story, is that Jesus, in his humanity, was still coming to terms with his ability to take divine action. In the midst of the wedding at Cana, he stands smack in the middle of his life as the son of a carpenter, and his life as the son of God. Like the times other prophets stood before God and said, “I’m not ready,” through Mary’s nudging, God says, “You are ready,” and Jesus proceeds to transform something ordinary—water—into something extraordinary—wine.
If even Jesus needed nudging, then maybe it’s easier for all of us to accept that we all need people who are good at nudging in our lives. Jesus had been preparing his whole life, up until this point, to fully live into his divinity. He spent time gathering people who could support him and help achieve his goals. But like any of us, he needed someone to say: “Now. Now’s the time. You can do it. I believe in you.”
Mary makes note of the needs of the community. While wine is an extravagance to us, in this setting, it seems to represent a necessity. What becomes clear is God can provide this necessity, but as we review the events that transpire, one might ask, why then would God initially deny providing the necessity? Why would God’s response be: “not yet”? Theologian and professor Elizabeth Johnson wrote: “Speaking about the Trinity expresses belief in one God who is not a solitary God but a communion in love marked by overflowing life.” We may wonder why God keeps telling us “not yet” in our search for our next Rector. Have we considered what God is nudging us to do to be prepared? Perhaps our prayer each Sunday to “receive a faithful pastor, who will care for your people and equip us for our ministries” is only PART of the prayer. What are we being called to do in our community regardless of whether we have a full-time Rector? So, in our prayers, we are nudgers of God. At the same time, in our reciprocal relationship, we listen for how God might be nudging us to get on with the work we have been given to do. Are we being nudged to work toward justice and peace and the dignity of every human being? Are we being nudged to reach out to a community in pain or in need? Are we being nudged to improve our relationships with one another?
Our prayer is about living into our relationship with God, which means we don’t just pray that God will solve all our problems; rather we pray to receive our own personal nudge about how we might help solve those problems…how we might become God’s hands and feet in the situation. One side of our discipleship is that we listen for the nudges of God, as well as nudge God. The other side of that equation is using your gift of nudging—if that’s one of your gifts—to the fullest. We all need encouragers in our lives; we need mentors who see our gifts before we see them in ourselves.
You can probably think of a time in your own life when you, like Jesus, had someone, who knew you inside and out, who recognized a gift in you, before you were ever aware of it. And weren’t those times an incredibly powerful catalyst for you? Our reading from 1 st Corinthians will have a bit to say about all of this as well. The Apostle Paul is writing to the early church community in Corinth, and we can assess by his concern, here, that some people are flaunting their gift of being able to speak in tongues. Apparently, they’re not just flaunting their abilities, they are using their gifts for ill, while also claiming certain gifts are more important than others. Paul steps in to, both, establish the truth about our gifts and talents—that is they all come from God—and to encourage the rest of the community that their gifts are equally valid and important to the larger body of Christ. His comments still apply in our modern lives, that these God-given gifts aren’t just for our personal enjoyment, but that they are to be shared—they are given for the community. Paul writes: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Our gifts are activated by the Holy Spirit, and they are given to us that we might serve the community around us.
As we are beginning this new year and preparing for our Annual Parish Meeting and continuing our Rector search, think about those gifts you have and those you see in others. When’s the last time you used your gift of nudging to serve as a powerful catalyst in someone else’s life? Who in your world might need a bit of encouragement? Don’t worry so much about the delivery; even if your words serve only to plant a seed, a little nudge can go a long way. Your nudge just might help turn something ordinary into something extraordinary!