LIVING WATER
Jeremiah 2:10-13
John 4:1- 15
"My people have committed two evils: they
have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for
themselves, cracked cisterns, that can hold no water."
"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 again.
The water that I will give them will become in them a spring of water
gushing up to eternal life."
As the
rain pelted down early last Friday morning, waking me up from sleep, I suddenly
thought about some of the new names given to churches in Hermanus, among them
Living Waters and, simply, Rain. In the
past local churches have usually been named after saints, like St. Peter's, or
according to the denomination to which they are affiliated., such as Mowbray
Presbyterian, Rosebank Methodist, or the Dutch Reformed Church in Hermanus. Nonconformist churches sometimes have chosen
names from the Old Testament like Bethel, which means the House of God, or
Bethesda, the House of Mercy. But there
has been an explosion of new trendy names in recent times. One is In Via,
"on the way," in Stellenbosch, another is Renaissance in Pretoria,
and next month I will be preaching at Mosaic in Randburg. Then there are those on our own doorstep like
Rain, Living Waters and Live the Life.
There
is something attractive about these new church names. They tell us something about what the church
is meant to be rather than its institutional connections and form of government,
however important that might be. I guess
we are all glad that this place is called Volmoed, "full of courage and
hope" rather than after our friend Fr. Roger Hickley's favourite saint, St.
Agapanthus. In a time when denominational affiliations and loyalties are no
longer as strong as they once were or are non-existent, I can understand why
some people searching for a life-giving faith after a period of spiritual
drought might find Rain more appealing than going to Saint Gregory of Nazianzus,
and Living Water more attractive than Ebenezer Tabernacle. Certainly as the rain woke me up last Friday,
it was living water that came to mind and set me thinking about such things. We all thirst for living water, but I guess
that in the end it does not matter much what label is on the bottle as long as it
contains the water of life.
The metaphor "living water" comes
from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. The people of Israel, he says, have "committed two evils: they have forsaken
me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked
cisterns, that can hold no water."
Broken cisterns were a serious matter in the Middle East as it is today,
especially in times of drought.
We at Volmoed know all about the dire
consequences that follow the drying up of the spring of clean water that has
gushed out of the rocks up the mountainside for as long as anyone can recall. Virtually every day we have to check our
water supply, make sure that it is clean and sufficient for ourselves and our
guests. You can live a few days without food, but you cannot live
without fresh water. You can get away
with second class meat, but not water from stagnant pools or polluted rivers. Only pure,
living water sustains life.
So living water is a powerful biblical metaphor.
The prophet Isaiah describes people
joyfully drawing "water from the wells of salvation." (Isaiah
12:3) Wells that go deep into holy
ground, and never run dry. Ezekiel
speaks about the living water that will flow out of Jerusalem when the Messiah
comes. John has all this in mind when he tells us about Jesus and the woman at
the well, or when he describes Jesus standing outside the Temple and
inviting all who are thirsty to come to
him and drink.( John 7:37-9) The water that
Jesus offers is the gift of the Spirit, the water of eternal life.
Eternal life is not simply life that goes on
forever, it is a spirituality that quenches our deepest thirst. The contrast is that between death-producing
polluted water, and the crystal clear spring water that is life-giving and
sustaining. Between the law which kills
and the Spirit which gives life. It is
the difference between the religiosity of hate and exclusion, and the Spirit
who sets us free to be responsible, committed to justice and love for others; a
religion that is self-centred and a religion of the Spirit who evokes
compassion; religion that dehumanizes and the Spirit who makes us truly human; religion that tries to take possession of God's
name for dubious purposes, and God the Holy Spirit who takes possession of us
in order to give us life. Like stagnant
water that kills the body, bad religion kills the soul; like fresh water
bubbling forth from the spring of eternal life, the Spirit renews and energizes
the soul.
As global warming increases and droughts
become more frequent, we can anticipate that clean water will become even more
a cause of strife than oil. We will all
have to learn not only how to save water but also how to share water. Clean, pure, life-giving water is
becoming a precious commodity that has to be treasured, but also shared with
others especially those who are thirsty.
And this is true of the living
water of life that Jesus gives us; it is not provided for us to bathe our souls
in; it is meant to be shared with others.
Just as Volmoed depends on being able to provide clean drinkable water
for our guests, so Volmoed like the church more generally exists to share the living
water of the Spirit with all who are thirsty for abundant life. Water is not
ours to possess simply to quench our own thirst, dammed up in the church, kept
clean and pure for private use. The water of life is poured out for all. So in the end it does not matter whether your
church is named after St. Agapanthus or simply called Rain, Bethesda or Mosaic.
What matters is whether a church gives us access to the well-spring of the
Spirit of Jesus. "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, let the one who believes
in me drink...Out of the believers heart shall flow rivers of living
water." (John 7:37-39)
O God, the well-spring of
our lives, pour into our hearts the living water of your grace, that refreshed
by you we may live this day in steadfast reliance on your strength, through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
John de Gruchy
Volmoed 15 September 2016
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