During this season of Lent, we, along with a number of United Churches across Canada have chosen to focus on water. Water is an all pervasive element – it makes up almost ¾ of our bodies, and covers 74% of the earth’s surface. It is abundantly clear that without water, life on this planet would cease to exist. Quite literally, water is our salvation; we need water in order to live. And where there is water, there is the potential for life. That is why there was so much excitement this past week as the Cassini spacecraft, which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, sent back images of bizarre volcanic features on one of Saturn’s moon's southern pole which could indicate bodies of liquid water on the otherwise frozen satellite. If water is being heated by volcanic activity to its liquid state then there is a slim possibility that life might also exist on this moon.
In the Bible, the references to water ‘bubble up’ over and over again. A word search of ‘water’ in the Bible came up with 442 references. In comparison, a word search of the word ‘love’ came up with 508 references. So why is water referred to so frequently in scripture?
Living in lands that included desert and arid regions, the people of the Bible were acutely aware of their dependence on water for life. Water was a precious resource, not something to be taken lightly or for granted. Bible stories underscore the importance of water. Water is celebrated in poetry about flowing streams and rivers. Many stories in scripture take place at a well – sometimes it is a meeting place for those who will eventually marry, sometimes the well is a source of dispute with regard to who has access to it or who gets to use it first. Water is understood as a blessing of God as it pours out of a rock in the desert to quench the thirst of Moses and the Israelites; as it springs up in unlikely places and as it flows through the heavenly city in a vision in the book of Revelation. Water brings healing to those who wash in the Jordan or the Pool of Siloam. Even the watery saliva from Jesus’ mouth is a source of healing for a blind man.
While water is viewed as a sign of God’s grace and favour, the lack of water is often understood to be a sign of alienation or separation from God. Talking about a "dry and parched land" or "a thirsty people" are ways that biblical writers point to consequences and to the suffering and injustice that can result when we try to live apart from God.
Today, the gospel reading is a familiar well story. Weary and tired and thirsty after a morning of travel, Jesus arrives at a well in Samaria. And in a scene full of layers of meaning, both Jesus and the Samaritan women find the refreshment that they need for their thirsts. It is a story of water that quenches physical thirst and water that quenches a thirst for life that overflows with God’s blessing.
What is this water offered by Jesus that quenches a thirst for life? What is this water that can spring up in us and in our world filling us for an eternity?
Just as Jesus often told stories to help his listeners understand the profound themes of life, so I think that a few stories might help us to take to heart the deep significance of today’s scriptural water story.
A number of these stories are from the Lenten resource Living Waters, (a resource that is now available at the back for those who wish to have a copy for reading and reflection during Lent).
There is the story of Bill. Bill was an 82 year old resident of a L’Arche community in Burnaby BC. L’Arche communities were founded by Jean Vanier provide caring homes for adults with developmental and often physical challenges. Bill wanted to be baptized and when asked why, he answered, "It would refresh me!" On the day that Bill was baptized, members of his house stood up with him and told the congregation how they saw Christ in Bill. They spoke of seeing his love expressed in simple, caring acts. When Ian Macdonald, the author of Living Waters baptized Bill, there was water everywhere. Ian’s liturgical gown was soaked, his housemates were laughing, and there were tears in everyone’s eyes. Bill’s baptism refreshed them all. With joy and laughter, they all experienced the spring of water gushing up to eternal life.
(excerpts from ‘Jesus Washes the World Clean’ p. 18 in Living Waters by Ian Macdonald)
On a farm in southern Alberta there is a remarkable spring of water. David grew up on that farm along what is known as the Cutbank, an outcropping ridge of rock nestled against the dry valleys of the plains. When David was young, he and his brother would climb the rocks to the spring. The water of the spring was under so much pressure that it sprayed up in a straight vertical line. To drink form the spring, David had to put his head right over it and angle his mouth just so. the spring delivered the best-tasting water he had ever known. After both boys had enough of the spring water to satisfy their thirst, they would sit quietly to see who else was going to come to share its water. In that dry landscape it was the only water source for miles. by sitting very still they were able to watch the smallest and the largest come and go: antelope and coyote, mice and rabbit, snake and deer, all came and went past the two small boys, sharing the rising spring in peace.
David says that the "vertical spring" has nourished him all his life: he remembers the taste, he thinks of it what he takes communion, he loves sharing what it has meant to him. It would seem that the spring of water gushing up to eternal life, is a gift we can only experience as we are prepared to understand it as a gift for all God’s creatures.
(excerpts from ‘Land and Water Shape the Soul’, p. 88 in Living Waters, by Ian Macdonald)
Many of us have come to know the story of Helen Keller through the biographical movie, "The Miracle Worker". After a childhood illness, Helen became deaf and blind. Unable to communicate effectively with her family, Helen would fly into rages and temper tantrums, disrupting the whole household. Anne Sullivan was hired to teach Helen to behave. For weeks and months, Anne tries to teach Helen words by signing into her hand, but to no avail, until one day…In Helen’s own words, this is what happened.
We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Some one was drawing water and my teacher placed by hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten – a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! ( excerpt from The Story of My Life, p. 18 by Helen Keller)
Surely the spring of water that Jesus speaks of is that which awakens our soul, and gives it light, hope, joy and sets it free!
In the turbulent history of El Salvador, one community was forced to flee their home to find relative safety in the Honduras. After six years in exile, they were able to return to their own village in the late 1980’s. One of the men of the village tells the story. We found the community completely destroyed – not a blade of grass, a standing wall or a household item to be seen, not even a source of water. We felt overwhelmed and exhausted. Yet the next day we set to work to find water and build temporary housing. With water, we planted crops and eventually became owners of land that, historically, we had only rented. During the dry season, the women and children lined up in front of the community taps at 3 a.m. to gather water for the next day’s needs.
And then in 2000, with the help of Canadian churches we built an aqueduct with a simple gravity-flow system. All of us worked together on the main pipe, and then each family built a secondary pipe directly to their home. Now we have a community water system that we run ourselves.
(excerpts from ‘Enough for all’, Worship Resource of World Development and Relief, Mission and Service Fund, The United Church of Canada)
The spring of water that gushes up to eternal life, moves the friends of Jesus to form partnerships that through the sharing of resources bring justice and dignity to all God’s people.
We in this community of faith drink of the waters of eternal life as we share resources with the people of Amaboku, Nigeria for the digging of their well. We drink of the water that Jesus offers each time we make and keep our promises as a baptized and a baptizing congregation. We drink from the waters of salvation as we open our lives to the life-giving flow of God’s love and as we express that love to our neighbour, to the other creatures in God’s world and to this fragile blue planet.
Today at the conclusion of today’s service, the congregation will gather to make financial and leadership decisions for the life of EMUC in 2006. As we approve budgets, as we elect new leaders, as we make administrative decisions, we need to be mindful of what it is we thirst for as a congregation. May we choose always, to quench our thirst with the water that Christ offers, for that is what will truly refresh us, that is what will give us life and empower and strengthen us to pour out Christ’s love in a world that is thirsty for a life abundant with justice and joy. Amen.
