Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11)
This week's reading tells the story of Jesus first miracle.
Leaders InputJesus saves the best for NOW.
A thoughtful reflection on what the Wedding at Cana shows us about who Jesus is. Find it here. Bible Project: Watch their overview video on the Gospel of John, which breaks down the literary design of the book and its flow of thought. In John, Jesus becomes human as the incarnation of the creator God of Israel, to share His love and the gift of eternal life with the world.
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Visio Lectio:
Visio Lectio is based on the practice of Visio Divina - the thoughtful contemplation of something visual that invites God to speak to us. A print design from Rev. Sarah West, Diocese of Auckland PNG Download Download w/ background Terms of Use Gospel Conversations: The GC team normally take a well deserved break over the summer, but have put together some short reflections on the gospel readings, to help any preachers stepping in to fill the gaps!
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Intergenerational worshipBased on content originally written by Beth Waldron Anstice as part of the Party On! Resource, these two resources comprise a Storycine (a story told with plasticine) and a creative Bible reading that focuses on wine, water and weddings (with a little bit of red cordial added to the mix)! Written and compiled by Chris Barnett, for Intergen Australia
Kids TalksThe Wedding at Cana: The third of a series of three sessions looking at three 'signs' or 'clues' of who Jesus is. Involves making a wall display pirate map. See also Part 1: Epiphany - Wise Men: and Part 2: The Baptism of Jesus.
Jesus saves the day: A kid's talk on Jesus first miracle. Talk: Water into WineWhat you need
What you do Before your talk, put a few drops of red food colouring in the bottom of the empty jug. Wrap the serviette around the jug (you might need to tape it) so that the food colouring isn't visible. Have the full and empty jugs sitting on a table nearby as you tell the story. Say something like: Have you ever been to a wedding? Who can tell me what happens at a wedding? Allow some answers (eg 2 people get married, there's a party, people dance, throw rice, eat and drink, walk down the aisle, etc). Do you know that in Jesus' day, they had weddings, too! And just like today they were really happy times. Everyone would party and celebrate together. The families would spend many days preparing food and bringing in lots of wine. They wanted all the guests to be very happy. Jesus and his mother and his disciples were invited to a wedding in a place called Cana. It was a beautiful wedding. The bride and groom were so happy and everyone there wanted to celebrate with them and have a good time. Then something a bit sad happened. The host, the person giving the party, ran out of wine. This was a big deal. There weren't any bottle shops that they could just run to. There weren't any Countdown's or Pak n Save's either. Without wine people at the wedding were going to think that the bride and groom's families were cheap and didn't care about throwing a good party. The families would have felt embarrassed and upset. And it could have ruined the wedding for the bride and groom. Jesus' mother, Mary, saw that the wine was gone and so she went and told Jesus. I don't think she knew what Jesus was going to do, but she knew that he was special and she trusted him to do something. But Jesus just looked at her lovingly and said that it wasn't the right time for everyone to find out who he was (God's Son!) That might have been enough to stop some people, but it didn't stop Mary. She just turned to the servants and told them to do whatever Jesus said! Mary had a lot of faith, and so did the servants. They decided to do what Jesus said even without understanding what was happening. Jesus saw 6 big clay pots. They were probably this big (use your arms to demonstrate how high and wide they were-- they were big!) and they were very ordinary. No one there would have ever imagined that such regular looking pots would be able to contain a miracle! Jesus turned to the servants and told them to fill all the pots with water-- and they did! Then Jesus did something amazing (Take the jug of water and slowly pour it into the empty jug containing the drops of food colouring-- as the water rises above the level of the serviette, it will be red!). Jesus turned the ordinary water, sitting in the ordinary clay pots into wine! And everyone had enough! They partied and laughed and enjoyed themselves. Jesus very first miracle wasn't about healing a person, or raising someone from the dead. It wasn't something big and showy, but it was done with love. Jesus didn't want the bride and groom and their families to be embarrassed or sad. He was kind and used his ability to be loving and compassionate and to make others happy. We might not be able to do miracles the way Jesus did, but we can also use what we have, our talents, skills and resources to help and be kind to others, just like Jesus. Talk: Overflowing BlessingsYou will need
Instructions Hand out the bibles, do a sword drill to see who finds the verse first then read the passage together, either line by line or select a couple of readers. What is most striking about this miracle is not just that Jesus was able to change water into wine (after all he is the son of God) or that he wanted to help the wedding couple (we know he cared a lot about everyone) but by how much water he changed into wine. He didn't just make just the right amount for everyone to have 1 drink he was incredibly generous – he made loads! Six big water jars. (you can show the pictures of the wine, which is the equivalent amount, 670 bottles of wine!!).(show the pictures of the wine bottles, there are 650 there :) An abundance. I wonder why he did that? What does it teach us about Jesus? It tells us about what a generous God we have, who gives us more than we need. God is generous in lots of ways, nothing is too much. In the end, God gave up his Son Jesus, to show us how to live better and to save us from when we do wrong. God gives us so much there is too much. There is abundance everywhere in God's creation. There are more wonderful animals in the world than we could ever remember, far too many amazing and beautiful places that we every visit. In creation and all around us we can see God's abundance and his generous ways. In some places we see that things are going a bit wrong – but that is because across the world we haven't learnt to share properly. There is enough food in the world to feed everybody but instead, some people have too much and some have too little. God wants us to enjoy and accept the wonderful gifts he gives us but we must also remember to share them with others and not hold onto them for our selves. Look what happens when we don't share (show pics of the wasted over produced food) and failed crops. Our world is not equal, some people have too much and many don't have enough. We all need to learn to share better to make this world work properly! What can we share? We have shared a little of our money to help make some other people's lives better. We can share our time, spend time doing something for soemone else. We can also share simple things like friendship and caring! Can you think of some things you are thankful for? Some good things in your life? If we have enough of something, it is time to share it with someone else! We have certainly been given enough love from God to feel full up and want to share that love with other people. We might be able to make someone's else's day by caring or being especially thoughtful and that inturn might help them feel so much better they help soemone else! Hand out the paper strips and get them to write, draw or stick some things on the strip to represent something they have enough of, or blessings, or what they are thankful to God for (this can lead onto the Overflowing Cup craft) 
A stunning wall sized painting of The Wedding of Cana by Paolo Veronese.
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Small group talkYou will need
What you do Read the story of the Wedding at Cana from a child friendly bible, or Bible story book. Talk about how it was a really special occasion and Jesus was there too to celebrate with the happy couple. Does anyone remember going to a wedding? What do they remember? Most people when planning a wedding will make sure they have enough food and drink for their guests, part of the celebration is offering your guests what they need. The organisers of the wedding must have been really worried when it looked like they were running out of wine as that would have been considered a big embarrassment. Jesus hadn't planned to do any miracles just yet, this was his first one – but he cared about the people involved and did something amazing to help. I bet everyone at that wedding remembered the amazing wine at the end.... Those jars that he changed from the water were really big!! (set out a bowl in the middle of the floor and all sit around it, place the glass in the middle of it and take turns allowing the children to pour in some water to the glass til it overflows :) Our God is a God of plenty. He gives us all we need and more but we have to be ready to share with others. Let's imagine we are this cup, we will each take a turn at pouring some water into the cup, to thank God for something, let's see if we have enough things to thank God for to make the cup over flow! (keep going till they've had enough :) If God fills us with his love, perhaps then it means we can share God's love with other people?! You can stick with the water play if they are loving it (I suspect them will :) or stop and do a craft if that seems right for the group. Activity: Overflowing cupsYou will need
Instructions Let each child decorate strips of paper with words, pictures or items that represent things that they would like to thank God for. This might include people, places, natural objects, possessions- let imagination run free. Glue or sellotape one end of each paper strip to the inside of the cup and let the strip ‘overflow’ out of the cup. Allow time for the children to share their creations with each other and to celebrate God’s gifts! 
Activity: Dressing up the BrideWhat you need
Activity: Clay pot craftWhat you need
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Turning tables (John 2:13-22)
StorytimeJesus in the Temple (John 2:13 -22)
Just before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus decided to go to Jerusalem. As Jesus arrived at the temple, he was disturbed to find people selling cattle, sheep and doves!!!! As he walked a bit further, he found money changers sitting at their tables. As he stood there, Jesus felt really sad and angry. Taking some rope and using it as a whip, Jesus forced everybody out of the temple including all the animals. He was so angry that he smashed over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins everywhere! What a mess! Jesus yelled at all the people he had chased out of the temple, “Don't make my Father's house into a marketplace!” The Jewish leaders wanted to know why Jesus had done this, and he said “Destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days!” The Jewish leaders thought Jesus was crazy. It had taken forty-six years to build the temple. So how could Jesus rebuild it in only three days! But Jesus didn't mean the building, he meant his own body. He was talking about what was going to happen to him at Easter. But that is another story. Discussion Wow! Can you picture Jesus getting angry and throwing all those people out of the temple? Scary huh? Why do you think he was so mad? (Pause for answers). Well, I think it was because they weren't treating the temple with respect. Instead of using it for prayer and time with God, they were being selfish and making money for themselves. And I bet all those animals made quite a mess on the floor! Do you think its okay to get angry sometimes? What makes you angry? (Pause for answers) I get angry and that's okay. It's not bad to feel angry. But don't forget that when you've stopped being angry - especially at somebody else- that it's important to sort out whatever the problem was. Sometimes that is not an easy thing to do, and sometimes it can take a long time to feel ready to forgive someone because they hurt you so much. But Jesus taught us to forgive others, and just as he did, we should forgive as well. Can you imagine what it would be like if we never stopped being angry? I don’t think it would be very nice at all.
Quick Questions
Activities
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Can you buy or sell God?A fun activity makes this creative retelling a fun story with a serious point:
Without knowing the story or being given any context, the children help compile a list of words which will be put into the story, e.g. an animal, man's name, amount of money. The teacher then reads the story, filling in the words, making a (hopefully) amusing version of the story. The story is then explained in its correct context and the learning point(s) discussed. The full instructions are found on the Ministry-To-Children website here Game: How would you feel if..?A game for younger children
Preparation You need a list of at least 20 situations that they might come across in real life. For example:
What to do Get the children to spread out in front of you. Explain that you will call out a sentence beginning with ‘How would you feel if…” As soon as you do, the children have to show on their face and with their body how they would feel in that situation. For example, if you call out ‘how would you feel if you were cleaning the toilet?’ a child might screw up their face and jump up and down. Encourage them to exaggerate, and also participate yourself (this will encourage the shy ones!!) The game can go as long as you wish. Game: ExaggerateA game for older children
Preparation You need a list of at least 20 situations to choose from that they might come across in real life. For example:
What to do Get the children to form a standing circle. Choose someone to start. Give them one of the situations from your list (eg mowing the lawn). Get them to do a 3 second mime of the situation. Going around the circle clockwise, get the next person to copy the first person’s mime, but to exaggerate it a bit more. Keep going until everyone in the circle has had a chance to ‘exaggerate’. Repeat with a different situation, and a new starting person. |
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