“Fill the Jars”
Service with the Jars

A church service based on the narrative of the wedding at Cana
- for young people as a Service of the Word and/or Eucharist –

Preparation

Get a large jar.
Prepare paper and pens or pencils.
Prepare pages with the picture of a jar.
Consider how the young people can come into dialogue,
Or, find places, rooms, parts of the house or church, where the young people can discuss things in pairs.
Prepare meditative music.

Lied: „Überall sehen wir deine Spuren...“ (siehe „Lieder“)

Opening and Introduction

We have gathered + in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We Christians believe that Jesus Christ is with us on our way through life.

• We Christians believe that Jesus Christ is with us on our way through life.
  
• He walks with us wherever our way may lead.
  
• He walks with us when we experience joy and happiness.
  
• He walks with us when we are sad or afraid.
  
• He is there when we meet with misfortune and when things go wrong.
  
• He is with us when we don’t succeed in something, when we make a fool of ourselves, or when others have laughed at us.

In the Biblical account of the marriage at Cana, Jesus is right with the people. He is celebrating with them. Such a marriage feast could last as long as a week. And if many visitors attended, it could happen that the wine would run out. A terrible thought – a celebration without wine! What an embarrassment for the young couple!

We know the story. Jesus changed water into wine and so helped the couple out of their difficulty. However, at the same time the story shows who this Jesus is.

• He wants to be with people.
  
• He sees their worries and fears. He is someone who sees the needs of people.
  
• He takes their need on board.
  
• He does what he can to help them.
  

And because the people and his disciples experience his help and his closeness, they believe in him.

In this service I would like to invite you to re-experience the events of the marriage at Cana to some extent.
We too have gathered here, not for a wedding, but as a community.
Each one of us has a burden to bear, a need, a worry. It could be trouble in our own lives, or with our family at home, or at school, or at work, or with our friends.
Nothing would please us more than to be relieved of this trouble.

We will read the story of the marriage at Cana from the Gospel of St John bit by bit, and then do something similar to what is described there.

First of all, let us greet and invoke Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Brother and our Friend, our companion who is in our midst. Let us ask him: Be with us, just as you were with the people at the marriage at Cana.

Kyrie

Between each text we sing or pray the Kyrie:

Prayer

Part 1

Gospel Part 1: Jn 2,1-3a

“When the wine gave out”

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’

Pointers for discussion:

In this section we will follow the first two steps of “Looking for God’s Footprints”, the meditation “SMS from God”: Remember and share.

Jesus was there when the people celebrated the wedding with great joy. Yet then there was a problem – the wine gave out.

In this first part of our service we are invited to ask ourselves:

Let us take a few moments to ask ourselves these questions very personally.
.

At the marriage at Cana, Mary, Jesus’ mother, told him what had happened: They have no more wine! Of course, Jesus was not blind or without feelings. He also saw what was happening. Yet it is a good idea to put our need into words. Once we have named it, it is easier to cope with it.
So we are also invited to put our joy, but also our needs and worries, into words.
Each of us can look for someone with whom we would like to talk.
Then we set off, go outside, or sit here in a corner and talk to each other. Let us honour each other’s privacy when we do so.
We will meet here again in fifteen minutes.

Part 2

Gospel Part 2: Jn 2,3-10

“Do whatever he tells you”

When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ”Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

Pointers for discussion:

In this section we will be following the third step of “Looking for God’s Footprints”, the meditation “SMS from God”: Discover

Jesus had been thinking of his task in life, his mission. That is why he put his mother off to start with. He sees the people and their worries, he is with them. Yet if our need is to be taken away, we have to choose the right moment, the right hour. Only God can decide when the moment is right.
When the time had come, Jesus helped the people. He changed water into wine. He showed God’s power that was at work in him. The people experienced that Jesus revealed God’s footprint in the midst of their lives. They experienced that God is close to them; God really does something for us.

• I invite you to consider in silence:
  
• What has to be changed in my life?
  
• In the need I am experiencing, what would change mean?
  
• What is my personal request to Jesus?
  

Silence

Let us take a few minutes to talk to our neighbour about this.

Part 3: Jar Ritual

In this section we want to follow the fourth step of “Looking for God’s Footprints”, the meditation “SMS from God”: Answer.
This answer will continue at the end of this service when those present go home.

Gospel Part 3: Jn 2,7b

“Fill the jars with water”

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.

Pointer:

The jar is brought forward and placed in the centre

We now want to do something similar to what the servants did at the marriage at Cana. Jesus said, “Fill the jars with water.” And the servants did so.
Today he says to us: “Fill the jar with the water of your lives. Put everything that burdens you into the jar. Put into the jar everything that you feel is like water, when you would really want it to be precious wine.”

Show the sheets of paper with the picture of a jar.

I invite you to write down on these pages what you would like changed. You can write down your needs and worries, the things that burden you and that you would love to get rid of.
We are all then invited to put these pieces of paper into the jar. We add the water of our lives so that God can make something good out of it. We trust him.

Meditative music

In the community of the Church no one is alone. Here in our community of believers none of us may be left alone with our needs.
Let us pray together and ask that each of us can be changed.

At this point the celebration of the Eucharist can follow.

The jar with the papers is brought up together with the bread and wine at the offertory and placed on the altar.
During the Eucharistic Prayer mention can be made of the jar along with a prayer for “transformation”.
At the Our Father mention is again made of the community and our prayer for one another to God. From the Our Father until the sign of peace all could hold hands as a sign of togetherness.

If the Eucharist does not follow, the Service of the Word can continue with the petitions and the Our Father.

In our petitions, we want to show that we represent one another before God. No one needs to be alone with his or her joys and worries.

Part 4

In this fourth section we will follow the fourth step of “Looking for God’s Footprints”, the meditation “SMS from God”, into everyday life: Answer

Gospel Part 4: Jn 2,11-12

“His disciples believed in him”

Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there a few days.

Conclusion:

We have also come to the end of this service. We want to set off for home, for our work and our everyday lives.
Yet we do not return home the same people that came here. We have talked about change and hope that we have also been changed. Transformed people who have looked at their joys, but also their worries and needs. Transformed people who have entrusted everything to God.
Perhaps we feel like the disciples of whom it has just been said: They believed in him. During this service our faith has become new, it has been renewed.
The message of this service has been that God is with us. Jesus Christ accompanies us. He is with us also and very particularly when things are not going well with us.
So let us ask for God’s blessing on our lives, on our faith, on ourselves and on all people.

Blessing

Closing hymn or song (cf Hymns)