Readings:
Isaiah 62: 1-5;
Psalm 36: 5-10;
1 Corinthians 12: 1-11;
John 2: 1-11

Collect:
O voice of God,
we must not keep silent but speak on behalf of
the forsaken, the desolate, and the wronged.
You have gifted us with variety and multiplicity for the common good,
allotted by the Spirit of life.
Reveal yourself in us.
Reach out to others through us.
Remake this fragmented world with signs that point to heaven and earth made new. By water and wind, by bread and wine,
by love and compassion, come, save our world.  Amen.
(Alternative Collects by Graham Turner © Graham Turner 2018)

Reflection 

Don’t you just love a nice frosty morning?  Well, maybe not if you have to defrost the car before you can get going in the morning but going for a walk on a bright frosty morning is just beautiful.  The last few days the walk to school has been lovely, seeing how the world has been transformed overnight into this semi white landscape.  The ice crystals forming on each blade of grass, spiders’ webs glistening in the sun and the sheer joy of stepping on frozen puddles to see if the ice will hold your weight all add to the joy and the excitement of the walk to school.

You only have to head out into the garden to see even more transformation happening with bulbs beginning push their way up through the barren ground, buds on trees beginning to form and if you’re lucky you may even have some beautiful winter flowering plants bringing bursts of colour to what can be a drab scene. There is something wonderful and stunning about the wonderful world that God has given us and how it is transformational both physically and in the way that it makes us feel better.

This week’s gospel reading describes the first miracle that Jesus performs whilst at a wedding with his mother.  Taking the jars of water, he transforms them into jars of wine and in doing so transforms the outcome of that wedding making it the talk of the town.  As I reflected on this, I couldn’t help thinking about the idea of being transformed.  Yes the water became wine, a disaster was avoided and Jesus was seen as a miracle maker but I would love us to think more broadly about how God is constantly transforming us and the world around us. 

One of the reasons that I love the walk to school is seeing how daily things are transformed and any time you go for a walk in nature it is easy to see God at work.  I guess though, it can often be harder to see God at work in other places and in the grind of daily life.  However, I think that it’s really important to spend time stopping and asking ourselves the question where did I see God at work today/this week?  As we ask ourselves this question, we can then start to think about how is God transforming us?  As you reflect on these questions you may want to make some brief notes in a journal.  These questions may be difficult sometimes to answer but they help us to deepen our faith and can definitely help us when we are finding life difficult, as they give us a reminder of how is God with us.  

Being transformed means that we are changed and for many of us struggle with change.  However, change is a constant in life, nothing ever stays the same.  As individuals we are shaped and changed by the people around us and as Christians we are shaped and changed by our encounters with God.  As we are changed by God so to, through us, God is able to transform the lives of others and the world around us.  

As we pray the alternative collect for today this is what we are praying, that we will be transformed by God and in the process will become agents of transformation ourselves.  It may be a dangerous prayer but faith is dangerous because it is transformational.

So I encourage you to think about these questions on a regular basis:

Where have I seen God at work?
How is God transforming me?

And as you do, reflect on the collect and maybe even use it as part of your regular prayer time.

May we all know the transformational power of God in our lives.

Mike Morris