11 January 2004

January 18, 2004
Second Sunday in Epiphany

My hour has not yet come.
In nomine…

My hour has not yet come…Its not yet time...

I have a friend who has a medical disorder.

Its severely affects his daily living,

and as he jumps from specialist to specialist, it remains undiagnosed.

All of us have experienced things like this.

I want my friend to be better. I want everyone to be better. I want everything to be good, I want- I want- I want, but it isn’t about me-but GOSH DARN IT, I want it to be!

But as Jesus says: It’s not yet time.

When we ask God for something, and we don’t get it, it can often make us doubt- doubt the existence of God, or doubt that he’s really out for our good.

We want what we want, when we want it, and though we can wait, sometimes it can seem like an eternity, and sometimes what we want just doesn’t work. In the recent Jim Carrey movie “Bruce Almighty,” Jim Carrey’s character, after complaining about his life to God, is given God’s powers. He grants EVERY prayer, exactly as they are asked… so this should be a good thing… right? Yeah… right… think about it,

if EVERYONE who prays to win the lottery won, how much would everyone get? Well, in the movie, it was about $17.

But anyway, think of people’s places in life, a young boys prayer is granted, and in the future, instead of becoming a world-renown poet, he becomes a wrestler who quickly tests positive for steroids. A woman on welfare wants money and wins a lawsuit. If she hadn’t, she and her sister would have gotten back together; instead, she is rich and alone.

A friend of mine back at school is fond of the quote by St. Augustine that goes something along the lines of “Of his bounty, the Lord often grants not what we seek, so as to bestow something preferable.”

And indeed, in many of these situations something bad WOULD have turned into something even better,

if only people would have waited for God, as painful as that wait can be.

I remember my mom telling me about a time a friend of hers dragged her to this friend’s company dinner party. Mom didn’t want to go, and actually prayed that something would happen to stop it, nothing big… but something. Well, she went to the party and was seated across the table from what she described as a sandy-haired, blue-eyed young attorney— by the name of John Graham.

I’m sure all of us can think of a time something like this has happened,

when we wanted one thing, but the other thing that happened was better. Okay, think of one…. I’ll wait… got it? Good.

I knew you would.

Now, hold on, I’m not saying “don’t pray” I am definitely not saying that! Praying is definitely good!

I mean, without asking, how is God supposed to know what we want, well, aside from the fact that he’s omniscient,

but anyhow, even Mary had to tell Jesus that they needed more wine at the wedding in Cana.

But she had faith in Jesus. She trusted him, well, yes he’s her son, but still, she trusted him, all she told the servants was to do what he told them.

That was her faith in God. God's timing, and God’s ideas.


Wow, and I’m thinking of some of my prayers which are well, rather specific.

Something along the lines of, God, please help me to get an A on my paper, make my friends stop fighting, help my friend feel better, help that girl I baby-sit get that toy she wants, oh yeah, please deposit $15 into my bank account and umm, world peace is good too. Thank you, I love you, Amen?

I mean, as I rethink that, its like, I’m telling God how to make all these things work. Its like the current sign in front of the bible Baptist church on White-Horse Mercerville Road: “Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory position.” And, we can’t do that. In my above prayer, I’m telling God how to make all these people happy, and I guess there isn’t a big problem with that,

but of course, God still knows what people need better.

Maybe that toy isn’t really what will make the girl I baby-sit happier (though, I’m not sure if I could convince her of that).

That TRUST in God is imperative! The trust that makes us aware that God’s will for us is health and salvation.

When we get what we want, or thinking, as Augustine makes us think, what we need, is such a gift. The -- pain – is -- waiting.

Waiting for healing, for approval, for -- for anything, it can hurt.

But, God knows best, and God is good, and God wants the best for us,as hard, and often painful that is to remember.

We have to have faith, and we have to be willing to make it happen.

As Paul mentioned in his letter, we are all given gifts by the spirit, sometimes God sets things up so we have to use them… and sometimes we just have to wait. We have to wait for the right hour, as Jesus said to his mother at the wedding.

And maybe, hopefully, with faith, and time, we may experience our Lord, turning our own water into wine.