2023-07-19
Brooke Strong
Sermon Text...
July 16, 2023
Marty Culbertson
God, the Living Water
Scripture:
John 4:7-14
New International Version
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 7:37-39
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[a] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Let us Pray:
May we seek and learn as we explore the Spirit of the living water offered to us all.
Our Metaphor for God in our summer series this week is God as Water, and more specifically The Living Water of the Spirit of God!
imagine when you close your eyes and sense moving water around you. What are you feeling?
Whenever I am asked… “where are you most at peace and feel closest to God” my answer is always, “anywhere by moving water”. This may be because I grew up on the shores of and out on Lake Huron every summer. So, water has always offered me joy, fun and nourishment … Deep down I know it is the gentle sound of moving water and its ever-changing form. It draws me into a sense of God’s presence.
As we look to this morning’s scripture reading, we can relate to the Thirst for water, the Samaritan Woman is drawing water from the well and Jesus is Thirsty, he is resting, and the disciples are off to town to find food. Like us all, they need nourishment. But Jesus turns the offering back to the Samaritan Woman and offers her the Living Water of God, quenching a thirst that she may never feel again.
On this Trip that our Federated kids have taken to Colorado, 29 of the last 31 years, water has been a major factor on this journey.
First and most importantly, we must drink a lot of water… so much so that we have to hit the “Pink and Blue” trees a lot! No kidding if you don’t have to pee a lot… you are not drinking enough water. It is necessary. Our base camp at Noah’s is nearly 8000’ higher in elevation than where we live here in the Chagrin Valley. The higher elevation offers thinner air and less oxygen. The best way to avoid altitude sickness in that environment is to be hydrated… so we insist on lots of water, all the time!
Our First full day on this Colorado Journey is a trip down 17 miles of the Arkansas River through Brown’s Canyon National Monument. The Water this year was running at a nice level, approximately 1700 Cubic Feet per Second (CFS). 1700 cfs is like passing through 1700 basketballs per second, enough to be fun and yet pretty safe as White-water rafting goes. We have seen more than that… it is a powerful experience. The amazing thing about the White-water experience is that it is always changing and no two trips down the river are exactly the same, over the years we have navigated over the top of most rocks and other times we have struggled to work around them… sometimes even getting out of our boats to lift our boats over shallow areas.
The third water experience is a shower when the kids have returned from backpacking and have not been able to bathe for 4 days… not much feels better than that. A feeling of clean has now become something to be very grateful for!
And the fourth and special experience following 4 days on the trail is a trip to the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs. A restorative time to rest and soothe the aching body in naturally hot mineral waters that are a balm and a blessing physically and mentally.
Water is such a powerful element in our world! It can nourish us and the earth, it can smooth a rock over time and soothe our soul. Water can carry us great distances and yet it can also flip us out of life’s boat.
I think many of us might view our relationship with God and Christ the same way, carrying us through our daily life and then challenging us as we are faced with life choices.
As we heard in John 7:38 “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[
This living water, God, within us is a precious gift and responsibility. Water itself is precious and we have a responsibility to take care of it… this leads me to this point… I am baffled by the abuse inflicted on water and thus, inflicted on humanity, the natural world and therefore the Holy Spirit.
It shouldn’t surprise you, if you know me it might be expected, that I would raise the question … Why aren’t we doing a better job of taking care of this precious gift?
I am reminded of Erin Brockovich and the fight in Hinkley, California and the battle she helped the people of Hinkley fight against Pacific Gas and Electric. The company was forced to pay millions to victims of the town whose ground water was contaminated by PG & E, making people very sick, fighting for their lives in many cases. Sadly, I learned that they didn’t fully change their ways and the town of Hinkley (Decades later) is still dealing with the contamination… those people that are left can’t afford to leave, the property is useless and diminished in value.
Why is it, how is it that these violations against the world are still happening? Have we met Jesus at the well, have we drawn water from the Living Waters flowing from God… If the Holy Spirit, the Living Water of God is flowing through us all… What are we doing to make the changes needed, it isn’t someone else’s job… it is for us all to take action.
ABC News ran a series this past Spring on Water issues, one episode was about Hinkley, California and about some new innovations coming out of research… such as Arizona State University and their development with Hydro Panels that operate off the grid. Each panel can take water out of the air and produce 3-5 liters a day. It is a hopeful effort for the people of places like Hinkley and aired climates around the world.
Like the kids on the Colorado Trip… Water is nourishment… we can go weeks without food if we have water, but can only go a few days without water… Humanity, needs the Hope of innovation to combat corporate indifference and provide nourishing water to every human being.
There is Hope flowing through the Living Water.
The trip down the Arkansas River is fun… full of Joyful laughter as you ride the bumpy waves and move through the class 2 and 3 (and sometimes class 4 rapids) truly a lot of fun. But it also is challenging…
As I mentioned earlier, the White-Water experience on the Colorado trip changes, the flow of water changes daily, exposing different obstacles, rocks change the flow of the water. And our lives are no different, obstacles are placed in our path, often out of our control. Knowing we have the Living Water within us… gives us the power from within to navigate whatever we face.
When we are talking about goals for our youth on this journey to the Rockies, we seek to offer tools for our kids that build on the foundation of their faith. Like all of us… our faith will forever be evolving. As the kids face challenges in their life, the living water of God will move through them, they will be able to navigate those challenges and grow in Faith.
There is Faith and Joy flowing through the Living Water.
In the Christian Faith the act of Baptism is one of the most obvious connections to the Living Water of God.
Eugene Peterson is quoted as saying:
“All persons of Faith I know are sinners, doubters, uneven performers. We are secure not because we are sure of ourselves but because we trust that God is sure of us.”
I look to the act of Baptism as the grace offered to us all, no matter at what age we experience this sacrament. It is the moment, the gift that God will be “Sure of us”.
The United Church of Christ views the sacrament of Baptism as an outward and visible sign of the Grace of God. Through Baptism a person is joined with the universal church, the Body of Christ. In baptism, God works in us the power of forgiveness, the renewal of the spirit and the knowledge of the call to be God’s people always.
Water is an essential element of baptism. Water is a prominent symbol of cleansing and life in the Bible. No matter the act, sprinkling, pouring, immersion… baptism marks the acceptance into the care of Christ’s Church, the sign and seal of God’s grace and forgiveness.
If Eugene Peterson is right… we are all a bit of a mess and the Love of God appears incarnate in Christ Jesus absorbing our imperfections. God’s Grace and Forgiveness.
There is Love Flowing in the Living Waters.
In my reading and preparation for today I came across a writing in a Blog titled “Do Not Depart” (Encouragement and Tools to Abide in God’s Word), the author’s name is Jennifer Hong. She writes in reference to today’s Scripture:
Jesus was offering more than just abundant water. He offered living water. Living water, mayim chaim (MY-eem KHY-eem) in Hebrew, is water from a natural and moving or flowing source. It is not stagnant, not carried by man, not held in cisterns or a pond.
Mayim chaim (MY-eem KHY-eem) is water bubbling from a spring, flowing in a river, and falling rain. It is life-giving, clean water. It is water that washes.
In Jesus’s day, the water in the cleansing before entering the temple was living water. In fact, mikvah’s used for ritual cleansing by Orthodox Jews today are still required to be sourced in part by living water. Living water is the flowing natural-sourced water that cleanses, and in the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament, living water depicts the presence of God.
The plunge into the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs is like these living waters that cleanse. The waters come up from the Chalk Creak Springs and cascades down to the pools of the hot Springs with temperatures from 95-107 degrees, depending on which pool you choose. The minerals and heat certainly offer the soothing balm needed after 4 days of backpacking. It centers you and offers you time to reflect on the peace that God offers to each of us through the Living Waters of the Spirit.
There is peace flowing in the Living Waters.
For the past 27 years I have cherished the time spent with our youth and the 25 trips I have been blessed to lead to the Rockies of Colorado. I never expected that this is where my life would go when I graduated from College with a Management and Marketing degree… but after 15 years in a corporate setting I found something was missing! I often refer to that as emotional income… because we all know, one does not enter into a career in ministry to get rich. I have never regretted my decision and am grateful to my wife Martine for her enduring support of my choice.
I am not leaving Federated, I have other work to focus on but, today is my last Colorado Kids Service and I am grateful beyond measure for the life it has brought me. I know the Living Waters of God, the Holy Spirit has been my guide as I sometimes felt like an imposter, ill-equipped to expertly lead our youth. But the Living Water flows through us all and I just needed to let it flow and bring me through the moments of my doubts.
I want to leave you with this story… the real reason I was drawn to using the Metaphor of Water for the Living Water of God.
Several years ago, on one of our Backpacking trips, a young 13 year old by the name of Timothy ( a member of the Cleveland Boy Choir) was in my trail group… The kids were asked by the Trail Guides to create an art project with natural items they found around our camp sight. They kids were not break or pull anything that wasn’t already loose on the ground, and they were to create something to depict what they were taking away from this wilderness experience. Specifically, how did they see God in their lives after this journey. Timothy found a spot near a small stream of water, gathered branches and built a “Crib” and placed it in the stream and in that crib, he placed a leaf. The kids all explained what they created, and Timothy explained his work.
He stated: We are the leaf, the Crib is Jesus, an ever present foundation in our faith journey and the stream was God, always there, moving through us always carrying us through everything in life.
I will never forget this image, profound and mature. I am grateful that I have some contact with Timothy still today. He is a loving husband and father rooted deep in his faith.
Thank you, Federated Church family and Friends for entrusting me with this ministry. May God’s Blessings be upon the future leaders of this Faith Journey,
AMEN