Renewing Marriage Vows at Cana of Galilee

Welcome back – we are glad you have managed to take time to read our blog.

If this is your first time here, we extend a very warm welcome to you. We suggest that you read our previous blog posts on this link Previous Blog Posts, to give you some background information and how we got to this point.

Yes, you read the title correctly, Renewing Marriage Vows at Cana of Galilee!

As a family tradition amongst our family in the UK, when someone has a big birthday, family members contribute some money towards something special that the one celebrating the birthday would like to do. For mine, I decided to take my family to visit Norway where I had spent 10 months in the late nineties.

For Wim’s recent big birthday, she chose a trip to the Holy Land, Israel! Thanks to our family and friends in the UK, they made a substantial contribution to this trip. We had talked about visiting Israel some time in the future but Wim’s choice to do that for her big birthday pleasantly surprised me. Of course, she was not going alone. We quickly looked for the best way to tour this country.

When we were at camp meeting, we saw an advert in the camp meeting programme of an upcoming tour of Israel. We made contact with the organizer, who was a minister in South England.

Personally, I was skeptical of going to Israel – “who needs a pilgrimage? Everything is now so commercialized. There is nothing new I can learn from visiting this place? Cost is too expensive…” I thought. How wrong I was!

As the date of our departure approached, the excitement levels started going up. The tour organizer sent loads of information with what to bring and what the tour programme would be like.

We flew into Tel-a-Viv and we met other members of our tour party – a group that we would spend the following eight days with. We got onto our coach for a two plus hour drive to our hotel at Tiberias by the Sea of Galilee. After refreshing we went for dinner in the hotel dining room. What a spread that was – we are even talking about that food up to now!

After an early breakfast, we were the first party to arrive at Magdala – just a few miles from our hotel. Yes, that Magdala where the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years was healed – the touch of faith. “If only I would touch the hem of His garment”.

That day, just like all the after that, was full of activities. We visited Capernaum – the Town of Jesus; Bethsaida – where Jesus healed the demoniac; the place where tradition said Jesus preached the sermon on the mount; the place where Jesus fed the five thousand.

The highlight of the first day was a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. We had a blessed time as we sang and laughed as we looked for the place “where Peter sank”. At each of the places of interest our well-informed tour guide would give us the history of the place. Then our organizer, the minister, would open the Bible to the relevant texts that relate to that place. That made the Bible come alive!

Could not believe that this was just the first day of our tour of Israel.

As we retired after another long day and enjoying another delicious meal, we felt so blessed to be here.

The Holy Land was teeming with tourists – and we understood from our guide that this was not even high season. Our group strategy was to start out very early and be the first ones at the place we visit first. This strategy worked so that the next morning, we were amongst the first tourists to get to Cana of Galilee.

The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration.

John 2:1-2

We encourage you to read the whole story in John 2:1-12 where Jesus turned water into wine.

After the quick tour of the church at Cana, Wim and I found a spot outside where we renewed our vows impromptu – those vows that we had exchanged in 1990! Crowds were starting to build. Even before I finished my vows Wim stopped me and she started her own vows after noticing that our recording will soon be swallowed by the guests.

Object Lessons from the Wedding at Cana

We have read and even preached on the story of the wedding at Cana for a long time but this day it took a new meaning. We will share some of the lessons we have found, for our marriage.

Lesson 1: Be careful whom you invite into your marriage.

The couple at Cana invited Jesus to their wedding. Sometimes, people we invite into our relationships cause more harm than good. The couple was not even aware of what was happening behind the scenes, but because they had invited wisely, their problems were solved even before they surfaced. We urge you to invite God/Jesus into your relationship.

Lesson 2 At times the wine may run out.

Things that can sweeten a relationship can run out – affection, love, laughs, money etc. As per the Marital Satisfaction chart we shared in the last blog post, things can go up and things can go down. But please do not throw in the towel. God can help you fix this problem. Hang in there.

Lesson 3: Things will get better

The wine at the end was better than the one at the beginning. The lesson we get from here is that better days are ahead of us in our relationship. We encourage you to do your best and commit to make tomorrow better than today. A little kindness, forgiveness. Be nice to your spouse and family.

By the time we finished our tour at Cana, the place had hundreds of tourists. There were a number of planned marriage vow ceremonies with the brides dressed in proper wedding gowns – what a sight. Before we left Cana, of course we had to buy some wine at the souvenier shop just outside the church – for the record non-alcoholic wine🤣.

We continued our tour to Nazareth, the home town of Jesus and the drove up the precipice where the Bible records that the crowds wanted to throw Jesus off.

After visiting the possible location of Naboth’s vineyard, it was time to go up Mt Carmel. There on top of Mt Carmel Wim and I spoke Shona with other tourists we met there. They were not Zimbabweans. Details in the next blog 😉. Please subscribe and share.

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