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jesus party

I came across this ancient hymn in my readings this morning and just goes to show that when our tendency is to make the church more like a funeral of facts, the ancients remind us that life with Jesus is party for all our senses. It reminds me of the great scene in The Last Temptation of Christ, where after the water turns into wine, Jesus toasts the steward of the feast and goes dancing out into the center of the wedding celebration. The kingdom is not about justice, its not about judgment, its about God being here in our midst right now. Our problem is that that we don’t know how to deal with it and want God to dance to our tune, not join in the dance with him.

I have invited You, Lord, to a wedding feast of song,
but the wine- the utterance of praise- at our feast has failed.
You are the guest who filled the jars with good wine,
fill my mouth with Your praise.

The wine that was in the jars was akin and related to
this eloquent Wine that gives birth to praise,
seeing that wine too gave birth to praise
from those who drank it and beheld the wonder.

You who are so just, if at a wedding feast not Your own
You filled six jars with good wine,
do You at this wedding feast fill, not the jars,
but the ten thousand ears with its sweetness.

Jesus, You were invited to a wedding feast of others,
here is Your own pure and fair wedding feast: gladden
Your rejuvenated people,
for Your guests too, O Lord, need
Your songs: let Your harp utter.

The soul is Your bride, the body Your bridal chamber,
Your guests are the senses and the thoughts/
And if a single body is a wedding feast for You,
how great is Your banquet for the whole Church!

St. Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on Faith 14:1-5

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