Celebrations are a vital part of human life. But there can be a world of difference between times when people come together to rejoice in the goodness of life and the strength of their community, and other times when they try to escape from a life and society they feel is intolerable.

This week's news

India’s Kumbh Mela Festival began again this week.

Meanwhile, Channel 4 'celebrates' young Brits on holiday in Kavos, some of whom say that life back home is so drab that they need this excitement.

Baroness Meacher says that drugs would be better for young people than alcohol.

The row about bankers bonuses rumbles on (though Goldman Sachs has now said it won’t delay payment until the lower 45% rate of tax kicks in this April) even though it’s now more than obvious that letting the rich get richer doesn’t solve the problems of poverty.

And Pakistan’s Supreme Court orders the arrest of the Prime Minister for corruption.

Reflection

Celebrations of the great god Dionysos were well known throughout the Greek-Roman world at the time John’s Gospel was written. Dionysos was believed to have appeared in many places on earth at this time of the year to turn water into wine. Later the Church adopted these and other feasts and turned them into its own 'Epiphany' festival – the celebration of the 'manifestation' of Christ on earth (which is why the Wedding at Cana is a traditional Gospel reading for the Epiphany season).

Although earlier Dionysian festivals often celebrated the 'calmness' and 'serenity' wine could bring to the human spirit, later feasts tended to look more for a feeling of 'ecstasy': being taken 'outside yourself' (or being 'off your head', as we might say today). Is John’s story an attempt to speak about this human need and how it should be handled properly?

Things are not always as they appear: drugs like alcohol can make things seem better or worse than they actually are. (And the 'spinning' of news can do the same, sometimes deliberately – is that true of the new pensions proposals, or the French intervention in Mali? And what is really going on in Pakistan?). Karl Marx said that religion was the 'opium of the people – that it could drug people into accepting things in life that should be rejected and resisted. Do you agree, or does the Gospel enable people to work for the changes that are needed in life?

John’s Gospel claims that in Christ the world is being offered a new depth and richness of life – what is called a 'new birth' in the next chapter, and what Paul calls the new life of the Spirit – far more lasting than any Dionysian ecstasy. It is, above all, a life in community, which does not need to hide away from the realities of life, but can face them with hope. How does that work for people today? 

Prayer

You might use this prayer as a meditation at some point.

Water into wine? How can that happen?

If we had been there, what would we have seen? How would we explain it today?

But I know that my life sometimes feels a bit watery.                                        

And I would like it to have the richness of a good wine – 

something to share with others, rather than just to quench my own individual thirst.

And if my faith has become routine, 

just a keeping of regulations and habits I have known for years,          

take that water and renew it;

fill it with the richness of your love and goodness,

That it may become the wine of your presence in the world.

Amen.

Questions

Pausanias, a Greek traveller who wrote in the second century, tells of a Festival of Dionysos held at a city called Ellis: 

‘The place where they hold the Thyia is about eight stades from the city. Three pots are brought into the building and set down empty in the presence of the citizens and of any strangers who may chance to be in the country. The doors of the building are sealed by the priests themselves and by any others who may be so inclined. On the morrow they are allowed to examine the seals, and on going into the building they find the pots filled with wine.’

What would you say to someone who argues that John’s story of the Water into Wine is a parable based on such stories, and not meant to be understood as literal fact? Or does it help to think of the story as a parable?

How do you react to today’s ‘Dionysians’, people who regularly use weekends to ‘get bladdered’? What is the reaction of your church to them?

Action

Work out with your local community how you can organise a celebration of all that is good about life in your neighbourhood. Make sure you involve as wide a cross-section of local people and groups as possible, and a variety of food, drink and entertainment (including local talent?). Offer your church premises as a base if that is appropriate, or be prepared to use another place. Don’t be afraid to include that you believe your congregation offers to the local community, but make sure you do it in a ‘language’ that is understood by all.

Young People

One of the most popular Two Ronnies sketches is 'Mastermind', where the contestant answers, not the question that has just been asked, but the one immediately before it. 

Watch it or use the script in your group.                                           

John’s Gospel claims that the gospel offers new life to the world. Do you think that the Church is sometimes guilty of answering, not the questions people are asking now, but the ones they asked in the past? What are the questions about life people are asking today?

Peter West worked for 15 years with Christian Aid, and now lives in North Bedfordshire, with his wife Mary, trying to develop a small conference and study centre with the local church.

He recently co-editored Stories Worth Telling, written by a group of ex-Christian Aid workers, re-telling stories related to the Revised Common Lectionary. It is available, price £10, plus £2 p&p from 15, High Street, Wymington, near Rushden, NN10 9LS.

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