sermon: Got Water?

Romans 8:31

Got Water?

            Today is our last Sunday for the sermon series on Got God?  Through the summer, we have been exploring ways in which people in our scriptures have encountered God and the ways God has encountered people.  We call our scriptures the Living Word of God for a reason, we have this amazing history spanning over 4,000 years of how God has been at work and we are called into the story to understand that God is still at work in the world today, in each and every one of our lives. 

            This past week, I was at the Church Growth and Evangelism Conference and a major theme of the conference worship was Baptism.  We were reminded that in our own baptism, we are participating in the journey of being God’s people.  I loved this one image that was shared:  that as worshiping communities gather together, they are, in themselves, the baptism font.  We, each and everyone of us, here in this place, are a part of the Baptismal sacrament.  We, each and everyone of us here, are asked to respond to the vows of baptism.  We are the fount to provide the living water of God’s love to the world around us. 

            Got God?  Got Water?  Got the Living Water of God’s love?  Today, we receive Abby into the life of the church.  We have made a statement of faith to raise and nurture her in the Christian faith.  Our scriptures are rich in water imagery, and as God’s people encounter various forms of water their lives move into transition, change, they are called to be transformed.  Some fight it, some complain about it, some resist, but together, the people move forward, listening to God and the people God has called to be present with them. 

            A few weeks ago, I shared about the I Am statements of Jesus from the Gospel of John.  We focused on Jesus being the Bread of Life.  As he encounters the Samaritan Woman at the well, he proclaims that he is the Living Water.  Who ever comes to him will never thirst.  And yet, we thirst.  There is such a thirst in our world today.  We thirst to know God, we thirst to believe that God is truly still present with us, we thirst to find God in our lives.  And yet, Jesus proclaims, I am the Living Waters, all who come to me will not be thirsty. 

            We thirst because people disappoint us, we thirst because we hurt, and grieve, and suffer.  We thirst because we don’t understand this world we live in.  We thirst because we know there is injustice, oppression, and wrong.  We thirst because we desire peace, and unity, and understanding.  And Jesus tells us to come.  Come to me, I am the Living Water. 

            This past week I heard story after story of congregations thirsting, thirsting for survival, thirsting for solutions to their decline, thirsting for children and families to come to them, thirsting for hope, thirsting that the Holy Spirit would pour out upon them and heal them of all their hurts.  This past week I also heard story after story of the Living Water.  Of how congregations are taking risks, engaging courage, stepping out of their comfort zones to come to the well and drink. 

I could have picked a variety of passages today about water, but instead, I chose this passage from Romans 8.  Paul writes: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Do we believe this?  Do we believe that nothing in this world can separate from the love of God?  And yet, we thirst.  We thirst because we let things get in our way.  So often, we thirst because we let our fears shadow our faith.  Our God is present right here with us, and yet, we thirst. 

As we move into the season of fall, I want to encourage more people to consider participating in small group Bible Studies.  There is a new curriculum available called:  Engage.  We used it a little bit with the Sunday morning Study, but it has a greater depth that I would like to have us explore as a congregation.  Today, each of you has a notecard in your bulletin.  And I have set up the Well as a symbolic reminder that we must come to God to receive the Living Water.  I invite each and everyone of you, to write on one side of the card – what makes you thirst.  It could be anything, what weighs down your heart, your spirit, your connection to God.  It could be war, illness, stress, grief, depression, addiction.  And on the other side, I invite you to write down the day or days and time that would work for you to be in a Bible Study or faith conversation group. 

Got Water?  The Living Water comes to us through community, it comes to us through study, it comes to us through growing together as God’s people.  Remember, we are called to be the baptismal fount, we are called to be the Living water for the world around us.  If the fount is empty, if the fount is dry, if the fount thirsts, our abundant God will provide.  Come, come to the well, come to the Living Water of God, come and drink, for nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of God made known in Jesus Christ.  Amen.