[Propertalk] 3 Lent a 2017 - part 2

Thu Mar 16 20:53:10 EDT 2017

Part 2

	 Hebrew Scripture professor, Cameron Howard, wrote:

	 “As I reflect on (the verses of the first reading), I’m drawn
first to the reminder that water has been, since the beginning of the
earth itself, the most essential resource for life. The United Nations
reports [1] that 783 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE WORLD DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO
CLEAN WATER, and global water supplies continue to shrink [2]. We may
not have Moses’ staff around to coax water out of rocks, but
churches can take concrete steps around their own buildings and
property to lead communities in conservation efforts.”

	 Water, as plentiful and as common-place as it is for most of us
here, represents the difference between life and death for many. It
represents whether or not one has any power to help one’s self, or
whether everyone one does and lives is dictated by someone else.
Literally, water is life.

	 “Several years ago,” Cameron Howard wrote, “my own
congregation turned the mundane task of replacing the parking lot into
an opportunity [3] to add pervious pavers and multiple rain gardens to
the property, dramatically reducing storm water runoff and providing
space for native plants and trees to flourish. As Lent ushers in the
spring, it can be a great time to conduct a water audit or research
local grant opportunities for conservation-oriented property
improvements.

	 “At the same time, this text also moves me to consider the way
lack of water can operate as a metaphor. Many congregations and
faith-based institutions I know are ‘thirsty’ right now: thirsting
for money, for human resources, for strong leadership, for
survival.” 4

	 The Hebrew people in the desert, the Samaritan women. The early
Christians in Rome – they ALL sought ways in which their lives could
be sustained and enriched. We here in this room, as well as folk
across Albany and beyond – we too long for a sense of security and
fulfilment. Like the Hebrews, like the Samaritan women, like the Roman
Christians, we need to find assurance that we’re cared for, both as
individuals and as communities. We need to find experiences which talk
about the Presence of God in our midst. We need water and all that it
represents, and we need, desperately need, to learn to share water
that ALL may have life, both the Living Water of which Jesus spoke and
the physical water which He needed also.

	 The twentieth-century Welsh poet and priest R. S. Thomas’ work
didn’t catch the imagination of many right away. He dealt with
difficult subjects. He wasn’t one for painting altogether cheerful
pictures. He recognized not only our hungers and thirsts but also the
way that we cause hungers and thirsts. Thomas’ “work continues to
resonate with compelling freshness and urgency as a new century of
uncertainty unfolds. … (Former) Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan
Williams has written, R.S. Thomas was … a ‘great articulator of
uneasy faith.’”

	 The Hebrew people, the Samaritan woman and all the townsfolk she
brought out to meet Jesus, we here – all of thirst because we’re
not sure of the Presence of God. All of us, no matter how often we may
have heard the words, “The Body of Christ” “The Blood of Christ,
given for you”, all of us run into dryness in our lives. We need to
have our thirst assuaged.

	 In the poem, “The Coming” Thomas “alludes in its own fashion
to the Good Friday story:

	_ And God held in his hand_
_  A small globe. Look, he said._
_ The son looked. Far off,_
_ As through water, he saw_
_ A scorched land of fierce_
_ Colour. The light burned_
_ There; crusted buildings_
_ Cast their shadows: a bright_
_ Serpent, a river_
_ Uncoiled itself, radiant_
_ With slime._
_ On a bare_
_ Hill a bare tree saddened_
_ The sky. Many people_
_ Held out their thin arms_
_ To it, as though waiting_
_ For a vanished April_
_ To return to its crossed_
_ Boughs. The son watched_
_ Them. Let me go there, he said.”__ _5

	_ We need to find a way to remove all the slime from others’ lives
and our own. We need to find water for all that flows clear and pure.
As Jean Vanier summarised, _“Jesus is revealing that if we drink
from the fountain of the love and compassion of God, we become a
fountain of love and compassion. If we receive the Spirit of God, we
will give the Spirit of God. The life we receive is the life we
give.”6
 Let it be so!

	NOTES:

	[1]  _“The Samaritan Woman”_ by Duccio. See
http://www.artbible.info/art/large/801.html [4] 

	2 http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54775 [5] 


	3 _“__Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of
John”_ by Jean Vanier. Paulist Press, Mahway, N.J.(c) 2004. Page 93.
 Quoted by Suzanne Guthrie in _“At the Edge of the Enclosure:
Soulwork Toward Sunday: Self-Guided Retreat __ Lent 3 (Year A)”
_March 19, 2017 "THE WELL OF LOVE" Suzanne Guthrie
http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/lent3a.html [6]  

	3 “_WATER OF LIFE” _By Cameron B. R. Howard 14th March, 2017
Luther Seminary communic at luthersem.edu 

	4 _“The Coming”_ by R.S. Thomas. See the essay at
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2011/04/20/r-s-thomas-poet-of-the-cross/8661/
[7] 

	5 Jean Vanier, Op. cit. Page 94. 


Links:
------
[1]
http://send.luthersem.edu/t/l?ssid=13694&subscriber_id=akzgoakopricnwkmcghscggtcxqkbie&delivery_id=ankszcbjmvcffuheqlceewcxkyxxbed&td=9gUr9ryLX59GA1tClOGWXQXtka1jb6PIQE1TxNRwBqominGiSyJoF62OQz4YfPFpBLe5LpRrHMA4ZEhAls0fuEUHRQYcF5ykVpczg31go7mDC0GspHPWguij3-bkqj0kUDipkJWy8zqnewl5sjFgCr_LpfDry-ab2IQTRyqmlNBNYrvw1ZoKxY-u9PQkYWtEnsAtNHPMLP2LvGB6NrbY3zNRs3qO9MyQzCGHeZPTi1vLwbSvO4uYY4Ng
[2]
http://send.luthersem.edu/t/l?ssid=13694&subscriber_id=akzgoakopricnwkmcghscggtcxqkbie&delivery_id=ankszcbjmvcffuheqlceewcxkyxxbed&td=oOExi4mV3vC2ILFa3RKmPgjS4rjozS7-jRKZX5wMBWu_OJ9m5nZkzwx5hAgCfRSiS2J3YHVZ8HngezifKZ18sFDEF0XH45MPDp6x7JBYDvClNeHnRXxL16lY9bgrRPlJOZfGED-DXHk4vqS21kMIt7qK6UAWJjNtGQgxhRqUfS1K-Me8J89OrCLQ6wfRQ4fxSci8NY_CHS53KylHkjW2N7Ol5cTB5O-VNr1XXmhNAMNRlGNHZQAq61vQ
[3]
http://send.luthersem.edu/t/l?ssid=13694&subscriber_id=akzgoakopricnwkmcghscggtcxqkbie&delivery_id=ankszcbjmvcffuheqlceewcxkyxxbed&td=6jY-P8VduCKffpE90Tk68AHKoYMIXTKjlvUPQPZd5b53LKD4COBt4GVzA19Pcr16i3nH07ezC-RvMEw0SRVED5bsgyeJft5T6MOfPRFFJMx8mwWV99-gSqttNftdvEWMsn6mU6OKy3VivBCQPredQ_-rZaYQ35hATn5gDtOw_TOzV9FsNLP83Q3J_j7ZXNqAeUId4ufGPnh-p3hegC_nWN2y0gPuHFIcNLmabF4qpziat4K0QmkVxUng
[4] http://www.artbible.info/art/large/801.html
[5] http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54775
[6] http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/lent3a.html
[7]
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2011/04/20/r-s-thomas-poet-of-the-cross/8661/

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20170316/83eaee2d/attachment.htm>