Where do you get that living water?

Scripture: John 4:1-14

Coffeehouse style worship

Emma Dobson

           

Where do you get that living water?  I think the Samaritan woman asks a good question.  It’s been hot lately, and I’ve been getting thirsty. I’m betting it’s not just me who’s been getting thirst either.  So, thirsty brothers and sisters, where do we get that living water? 

           To find it, it might be helpful to know what we’re looking for.  I hope it’s not to much of a leap to say that Jesus isn’t speaking literally in this passage.  Jesus is not talking about the kind of water that we can put in a glass and drink.  Jesus is talking about spiritual nourishment.  He uses the metaphor of water because it’s one all of us can understand.  We all know what it’s like to be physically thirsty.  And, I’d bet that we all know what it’s like to be spiritually thirsty as well.  We wouldn’t be sitting here this morning if we weren’t spiritually thirsty. 

            And why are we thirsty?  Not because we’ve not drunk in the spiritually nourishing living water, but rather because drinking of the living water is not a one time event.  Though we often hear it implied in the reading of this text, Jesus never says that one drink of living water is enough to quench thirst forever.  What he says is “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.”  Jesus uses the words will and will become.  This is both present and future tense.  Jesus promises us that, eventually, we will be satisfied by the spiritual nourishment he offers.  Jesus will live in us, and eventually, will transform and give us life eternal.

            We aren’t supposed to drink once and stop.  We live in a world that is parched by sin, and we thirst because it parches us too.  We need to keep drinking the nourishment that Jesus offers us.  It is only by this continued drinking that, eventually, we will be filled, we will be transformed, and we will have eternal life. 

            So where do we get this living water- the water that will fill us, transform us, and lead us to eternal life?  We were born from sacred living water, and we breathed its vapor in at our first breath.  At our baptisms, we were washed in living water.  We drink living water each time we gather to worship, to learn more about God’s word, to enjoy each others’ company.  We drink more living water when we read our Bibles, when we pray, and when we care for one another.

            And yes, we still get spiritually thirsty.  So this morning, I invite you to take satisfy that spiritual thirst a little bit more, in a different way.  I will have some meditative music playing, and if that’s spiritually nourishing for you, I invite you, to sit and listen or pray as it plays.  If you’d like, as you feel moved, come forward to the bowl of our baptismal font up front.  I will offer a blessing to you, and pour some water over your hands as a reminder of the living water you’ve already drunk and will continue to drink on your spiritual journey.  We’ll conclude this time of drinking of the living water together with a pray.  So now, let the Spirit guide you to the prayer, meditation, or movement towards the font that is most nourishing for you.

Blessing: The holy living water is around you and within you.  From your birth to your baptism to this moment, you have been drinking it in.  Drink deeply, and you will be transformed into a spring gushing up to eternal life in Christ.

 

Concluding Prayer: Nourishing Spirit, who hovered over the waters at creation’s birth, who descended in the form of a dove at Jesus’ baptism, who poured our under the signs of fire and wind at Pentecost, nourish us today.  Wash over us, fill us, renew us, and satisfy our thirst bit by bit as we continue to drink of you today, and every day.  Amen