River of Life

As we continue to experience the Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Dear God, thank you for giving us these stories that remind us how much you love and care for us. As you welcomed a little child long ago, we now welcome your Word. By the power of your Spirit at work in us today, teach us how to live. If these words are not Your Word, may they be forgotten and come to naught. But if they be Thy Word, may they adhere to our hearts, forever transforming us from glory into glory, into the creatures you would have us be, Thou who art our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

Today is a big day in the life of the church. Today is Pentecost, which historically has been a day for new members and confirmands to join the church. We’ve got a great group that has joined the church, and will soon go in front of you to answer some questions, and to read their statement of faith. And obviously, we are outside, to celebrate worship, and to enjoy a fun day. So, big day. And on such a day, we go to the lectionary, and find the gospel of John. So, hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in the gospel of John. Listen. John 7.31-39. The Grass withers, the Flower falls, but the Word of the Lord endures forever…Thanks be to God.

This passage, like most of the Bible, was written in the Middle East, where much of the land is desert, and water is a constant requirement. Living in the hot desert, water is always on the mind. Can we go there? Can we get this or that done? Sure, if we have enough water. I’ve never been to the real desert. I’ve been in Atlanta for my share of Augusts, so I’ve been through hot. But not the real desert. One summer, I worked construction near Alpharetta. Because I was in college, I was the low person on the totem pole. My job was burning the refuge. When folks had paper cups, they would throw them in my pile. Scrap wood and material, my pile. So, my job was to go around in the morning and collect all the trash, and then throughout the day, burn it no higher than 9 feet and tend the fire. In August. In Atlanta. Hot. And I went through about 2 gallons of water per day. Just trying to keep hydrated a little bit. Water was of the utmost importance. Every day, before I even got in the car, I made sure I had my supplies. Number one on that list, water. Gloves, yes. Shovel, sure. But all of the other things were numbered after water. Water was life, as it is in the desert.

Living water was often the way of speaking about running water in those days. You can still see the ancient aqueduct that the group at Qumran carved on the side of the hill, so that on the rare occasions when a freak storm brought sudden “living water” cascading down the normally dry stream beds, some could be diverted into the large cisterns that the community had carved out as storage tanks. Life was organized around water.

For Jesus to say, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me,” is parallel to saying, “Anyone who has ears, listen,” because almost everyone in the world has ears. Everyone in the world gets thirsty, especially those to whom Jesus was directly speaking. And in the desert, living or running water is better than gold. So dawn goes down to day, nothing gold can stay, but living, running water implies something that can stay, an abundance constantly flowing of the most necessary good.

Perhaps the part about rivers of living water flowing from people’s hearts refers to the long final section of Ezekiel. In chapter 47, the prophet Ezekiel has a great vision of the restored temple, which includes a description of how a new river will flow from under the temple threshold. It will get deeper and deeper, and will make its way down to the Dead Sea. When it reaches the Dead Sea, it will make it fresh, so that people will fish in it and wonderful fruit trees will grow all around it. This is the same vision described at the end of the Revelation of John, chapter 22, as part of the description of the New Jerusalem.

The promise of these verses in John is that instead of a new city and temple, Jesus is suggesting that the promise will be fulfilled in individual human beings. Jesus was speaking about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit into humans, obviously. This is what we celebrate at Pentecost. And this is also what we celebrate at confirmation. These 4 young ladies have, like all children of God, been filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has driven them to learn about God more through the catechism and confirmation class. Well, actually, their parents have driven them, if you want to know who has the keys to the cars and vans. But, the indwelling Holy Spirit has inspired them as they have gone through the process. We celebrate today that they have been moved to, called to, inspired to participate in the river of life that flows through them by the particular means of joining the church. So, let us celebrate with them.

You don’t have to be a member of the church to participate in the river of life that flows through you. It could be that participating in the river of life flowing through you calls you to not be a member of the church. I’m not a member. Because my call is such. Our admin assistant, Judy, is not a member of this church. Deeply devout Christian, but her call is to be a part of this church, but not a member. We’ve got a good number of folks who are of age, but aren’t members for one reason or another. And all those reasons are valid. These ladies have heard the call, and theirs is to join. So whether or not you are a member, you are invited to celebrate with them their call, and to experience the love for God to which we are all called to participate. So, let us celebrate with them, and reaffirm our faith and call to participate in the Holy Spirit’s life in us. Amen.