Over steaming bowls of soup, served with bread and cheese we had a stimulating discussion about miracles based around Brian McLaren’s book “We Make the Road by Walking”.

Miracles?

Are you a believer in miracles?

Are you sceptical about miracles?

What problems do you encounter from your stand point?

McLaren talks of signs and asks if we imagine a story of one of Jesus miracles  – does it inform us or prove something else. Does it shake up our normal assumptions, inspire our imagination about the present and the future, and make it possible to see something we couldn’t see before?

Share a story of a time when you felt you experienced a miracle, or when you prayed for a miracle that never came.

Think of the story of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana.

• Consider the superabundance of 935 bottles of wine to the Galilean village. What might that signify?
• What might it mean for God to save the best till last?

Meditate.  Hold in silence the image of an empty ceremonial stone container being filled with water that is transformed to wine. Hear the sound of water filling to the brim. See the water changing colour, and taste the change in flavour as it becomes wine. Hear the sound of people celebrating in the background. Sit with the words “empty”, “full” and “transformed”. See what prayer takes shape in your heart.

We shared bread and wine using the Companions liturgy.

The evening  concluded as we chatted while enjoying Fairtrade Honey Cake and mugs of Fairtrade coffee!