
Water. Jesus proclaims in John 4:14 “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” To never thirst again. That is powerful. And water is powerful, if there is a doubt, watch any video clip of a community experiencing flooding, or visit SchoolHouse Beach in Door County to see how water has eroded rough jagged rocks to a smooth shiny finish.
It has been a few years since I traveled to Nicaragua (Nica) with Potters For Peace and learned how communities are using local materials to make effective, economical water filters so people have access to clean water; removing 99.9% of bacteria which causes any number of gastrointestinal-intestinal illnesses. During these visits to Nica I had an inescapable understanding of water’s power on my physical life. Working in Nica’s hot sun, I continually consumed water to ensure I was hydrated. Clean water had to be transported back and forth from our place of lodging to the work site because I couldn’t simply go to the spigot in the yard and take a drink of water as I would from a hose connected to my home.
For the most part, in our communities, we do not need to be concerned about drinking contaminated water, yet to never have a need for water? That is a bit more difficult to comprehend as a body survives only a few days without water. And that may be what Jesus is telling us here, in order for us to be healthy and alive in community with each other, he needs to be part of our life.
God, you provide us with such abundance, may your never ending Spirit continually renew us. Amen.
Pr. Stacy Gahlman-Schroeder
Norway Grove Memorial Lutheran Church, DeForest, WI
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.
John 4:14
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