Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; and with you I am well pleased.” Luke 3:21-22
When I really sit down to think about it, I’ve had some pretty amazing worship experiences during the last few weeks. Between the worship times at General Assembly and the Montreat Youth Conference, I have worshiped with almost 10,000 other Presbyterians, made baptismal promises for a child who lives in Minnesota, and feasted at the Lord’s table twice. I’ve seen banners and streamers and folks in tribal dress; I’ve heard music that sounded like storms, music that caused people to dance and clap; I’ve heard children and youth lead liturgy (there’s really nothing more humbling that an 8-year-old little girl leading the confession liturgy)—all of these in honor of our Lord. I will never forget these images, but one image in particular stuck out for me—it stuck out because it opened our worship both at GA and Montreat. The themes of these conferences revolved around water, so participants were asked to bring a little water from their home contexts. As the beautiful baptismal fonts sat before us, we brought water from the Mississippi River, from Lake Martin, from the west coast, oil-filled water from the Gulf. Water was brought from the Cahaba River to represent our presbytery’s hope in Living River; water was brought from camp and conference centers from all over the country, and I’m pretty sure that some plain old tap water was poured in those fonts. During each opening service, we poured our water into the font and watched as it became mixed with water from all over the country. This water represented the fact that, even though we all came from different places, we are tied together by the streams of water that run through our lives each day, by the streams of water that tie us together.
Water. The stats are amazing—our bodies are about 70% made of water, and while we can go without eating for about a month, our bodies can only last for a week without water. Water covers about 75% of the earth’s surface. These stats are amazing, but there are also some that are staggering. Listen to these amazing things that I found at water.org: ¾ of the world’s surface is covered with water, but less than 1% of that is sustainable, clean drinking water. While the United States uses 346,000 million gallons of water each day, 2.5 billion of our brothers and sisters around the world go without access to clean water. While we have access to great health care here, almost 20 children around the world die each second because of water-borne disease. An American taking a five-minute shower (and I took a 1- minute one this morning) uses more water than a typical person in a developing country slum uses in a whole day. And while I, as an American woman, can simply just turn my faucet on for that 10 minute shower, in just one day more than 200 million hours of other womens’ time is consumed for the most basic of human needs — collecting water for domestic use. And the most staggering thought about water? There is a great deal of thought that our next world war might be fought over the scarcity of water.
When I really sit down to think about it, I’ve had some pretty amazing worship experiences during the last few weeks. Between the worship times at General Assembly and the Montreat Youth Conference, I have worshiped with almost 10,000 other Presbyterians, made baptismal promises for a child who lives in Minnesota, and feasted at the Lord’s table twice. I’ve seen banners and streamers and folks in tribal dress; I’ve heard music that sounded like storms, music that caused people to dance and clap; I’ve heard children and youth lead liturgy (there’s really nothing more humbling that an 8-year-old little girl leading the confession liturgy)—all of these in honor of our Lord. I will never forget these images, but one image in particular stuck out for me—it stuck out because it opened our worship both at GA and Montreat. The themes of these conferences revolved around water, so participants were asked to bring a little water from their home contexts. As the beautiful baptismal fonts sat before us, we brought water from the Mississippi River, from Lake Martin, from the west coast, oil-filled water from the Gulf. Water was brought from the Cahaba River to represent our presbytery’s hope in Living River; water was brought from camp and conference centers from all over the country, and I’m pretty sure that some plain old tap water was poured in those fonts. During each opening service, we poured our water into the font and watched as it became mixed with water from all over the country. This water represented the fact that, even though we all came from different places, we are tied together by the streams of water that run through our lives each day, by the streams of water that tie us together.
Water. The stats are amazing—our bodies are about 70% made of water, and while we can go without eating for about a month, our bodies can only last for a week without water. Water covers about 75% of the earth’s surface. These stats are amazing, but there are also some that are staggering. Listen to these amazing things that I found at water.org: ¾ of the world’s surface is covered with water, but less than 1% of that is sustainable, clean drinking water. While the United States uses 346,000 million gallons of water each day, 2.5 billion of our brothers and sisters around the world go without access to clean water. While we have access to great health care here, almost 20 children around the world die each second because of water-borne disease. An American taking a five-minute shower (and I took a 1- minute one this morning) uses more water than a typical person in a developing country slum uses in a whole day. And while I, as an American woman, can simply just turn my faucet on for that 10 minute shower, in just one day more than 200 million hours of other womens’ time is consumed for the most basic of human needs — collecting water for domestic use. And the most staggering thought about water? There is a great deal of thought that our next world war might be fought over the scarcity of water.
We all need water, we can’t live without it. As water streams through our bodies each day, it streams through our lives and keeps us alive. As water comes through so many sources and gets mixed in so many different streams, lakes, and oceans, water ties us together with our brothers and sisters all the way around the world. And, as folks who call ourselves Christians, water streams through our story. Streams of water flow through our Bible—from the very beginning of creation, when the wind from God sweeps over the face of the waters, to the very last chapter of Revelation, where the angel shows John the luscious fruit and beautiful trees at the throne of the lamb—vegetation that has been fed by the streams of the river.
In our story, there are the waters of growth and creation:
--The swarms of living creatures that are brought out of the water in the very beginning;
--The river of God that creates green earth and luscious pastures and grain to eat in the valley, as told in Psalm 65;
--God’s blessing on the folks of Israel as water is poured on the thirsty land and descendants are brought forth, as told by Isaiah.
There are the waters of desperation and chaos:
--The waters that destroy the earth and leave behind a path of destruction for Noah and his loved ones;
--The storm waters that scare the disciples to death as they call out to Jesus for safety;
--And the waters that clean Pilate’s dirty and guilty hands when he hands Jesus over to be crucified.
There are the waters of safety:
--The waters in the bulrushes that take Moses away from impending death into new life;
--The water sprung by the angel in the wilderness so that Hagar and Ishmael aren’t left to die;
--The waters that come from the rock struck by Moses so that the Israelites don’t die of thirst.
And, then, there are the waters of new life and salvation:
--The waters from the pool of Siloam which clean the mud off of the blind man’s eyes, setting him free to see once more;
--The waters of life given to the woman at the well as Jesus says, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal --life.”
--The waters from the pool of Siloam which clean the mud off of the blind man’s eyes, setting him free to see once more;
--The waters of life given to the woman at the well as Jesus says, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal --life.”
--The waters of forgiveness and baptism that cleanse and transform Saul to his new life as Paul.
These streams of water are mighty, they are constant, and they are life-changing. As these streams of water run through our Christian story, through our lives, they cleanse and mark us as people of God. God has birthed us through the waters of creation; God has sent rivers and streams to give us drink when we are on the brink of death; God has blessed us with water and given us living water when we didn’t think we had any chances left; God has given us water to provide the food of lush vegetation; and most importantly, God has claimed us in the waters.
As Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan River, the heavens opens up—and God echoes the creation words of “it is good” with the words, “You are my Son, the beloved, and with you, I am well pleased.” In the Jordan, and at the font, God claims us as God’s own. For you see, no matter how sinful we might be, God washes us clean with the waters in this font of grace. No matter how chaotic our lives may become or how empty we may feel, God embraces us with the waters in this font of love. And no matter how lonely we may feel, God welcomes us with the waters in this font of acceptance.
In these waters, God tells us that we are indeed good, that we are indeed loved so greatly. And because we are claimed, because we are forgiven, because we are accepted and cleansed and embraced, then we have no other choice but to go out and do the same. We have no other choice but to be living water for our sisters and brothers. We have no other choice but to go out and provide water purification systems—and I’m so glad that we are doing that in Mexico through Living Waters for the World. Because we have been given living water, we have no other choice but to go out and use less water so there’s more to go around, no other choice but to go out and be Christ’s hands and feet and provide sustainable, clean drink to those who are thirsty, no other choice to discover paths of peace and giving instead of fighting for our most basic needs. As we sit near this font today, and as we are filled at Christ’s table, let us then go from this place to act as Christ’s fulfilled people in the world. For as the very last verses of our Bible tell us, “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.” Let anyone wishes take the water of life as a gift. Thanks be to God, who gives the gift. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment