“Let Everyone Who is Thirsty Come”
Sometimes it seems that there are needs in this world that are never met. Or maybe it’s that they don’t stay met. As we at St. Andrew began supporting The Water and The Witness project of the ELCA, I recalled a college classmate of mine who joined the Peace Corps after graduation. He was part of a work crew that was sent to Africa to aid poor, rural people in digging wells and laying pipe so as to have access to clean water. And yet there continues to be a need for safe drinking water, means of irrigation, and purification methods.
I couldn’t help but wonder how long those Peace Corps wells provided water, how well the piping held up, and whether those villagers remembered the corps of young people who worked so diligently to improve their situation. But the decades have a way of slipping past, and even quality pipes and wells can wear out or no longer function. Infrastructures can wear out, but the needs are still there, and those living in poverty-stricken, remote areas are often the victims of war, disease, famine, and even genocide.
Our national church organization supports various ministries — disaster relief, hunger/food programs, educational and medical facilities, and others, but I did not realize there was a water ministry. Yet without safe water, food (and food-growing) programs can’t operate, schools and clinics can’t be open, and victims of natural disasters are at additional risk. From this perspective, the importance of water ministry is easy to understand.
From Genesis to Revelation, water is part of narratives, poems, parables, and symbolic actions. The psalms speak of refreshing streams as God’s gifts for both the body and spirit, and the prophet Amos gave us these words that have rung out over the centuries, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Jesus spoke of the cleansing waters of baptism, and of being the living water that quenches spiritual thirst.
A drought of the spirit can leave us feeling dried up and dusty, needing to be refreshed and washed clean of the accumulation of sadness and hopelessness that has coated our souls. The living water of God’s Word assures us that our thirst will be relieved, we’ll be cleaned up, and these waters will never run dry. Our spirits will be fresh and bright and ready to share this joyful news with all people.
As we are called and have been given the ability to provide life-giving, sustaining water to our brothers and sisters in need, through this ministry we also are given the opportunity to share the message of the living water, which is for everyone, everywhere.
“And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.” (Revelation 22:17b)
Christ is risen! Alleluia! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Mary Rogers