Water: Bottled, Filtered, And Living
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
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Object:
The imagery of Christ as the living water that satisfies the thirst of our souls is a thread that appears throughout this week’s lectionary readings -- and in this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Mary Austin suggests that this may be a powerful metaphor for modern culture. Are we drinking from the well of living water? Do we thirst for it as ardently as the psalmist? Unfortunately, the spiritual water many of us choose to drink may ultimately be as poisonous and costly as the tap water offered to the residents of Flint, Michigan. As Mary points out, those living in Flint didn’t have a choice -- a perfect storm of technical incompetence and governmental malfeasance led to their drinking water being laced with extremely elevated amounts of lead -- but we can choose whether we will drink safe or toxic spiritual water. And like the people of Flint, if we drink the unhealthy water we may well pay an exorbitant cost for it. Are we willing to pay the ultimate price -- our very souls -- of drinking poisonous spiritual water? Like children who drink lead-laced water, our cognitive abilities are gradually destroyed -- making it ever more difficult for us to perceive the difference. Mary examines several of the issues raised by Flint’s problems in light of this week’s texts on living water.
Team member Chris Keating shares some additional thoughts on the Flint situation in view of the gospel passage, where Jesus asks some rhetorical questions in order to make the point that those who experience extreme suffering (like those in Flint) do not do so because they are somehow deserving of their fate (i.e., lazy, poor, more sinful) -- rather, they are sort of leading indicators. Jesus’ point is that if we do not turn our lives around, we may be subject to similar circumstances (“unless you repent, you will all perish as they did”). The people in Flint did nothing to bring their situation upon themselves -- but if we persist in allowing toxic water into our lives by neglecting our aging infrastructure and carelessly relying on unsafe chemical treatments, we may find ourselves having to deal with many more Flints. Likewise, Chris reminds us, if we choose to drink less healthy alternatives rather than the living water of Christ then we will certainly become barren spiritually... and thus become like the non-producing fig trees in Jesus’ parable that must be cleared away.
Water: Bottled, Filtered, and Living
by Mary Austin
Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
We conjure up images of God’s plenty from the things we lack. For hungry people, a feast reveals God’s care. For lonely people, companionship is the evidence of God’s grace. For people in a desert nation, water signals God’s abundance. “Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters” the prophet Isaiah invites, summoning God’s people to drink God’s living water. The psalmist speaks of a thirst for God’s presence, saying “my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” We are parched without the presence of God. We hunger and thirst for God’s grace in our lives, and water is a symbol of God’s enduring care for us. Water comes from God, and connects us back to God.
Water is also a practical necessity. For most of us in the U.S., water is a gift we take for granted. We assume that we can turn on the faucet and clean water will always come out. Unless we live in the desert, we think there will always be more water. But the people of Flint, Michigan, have been in a water desert for over a year now, living without clean, drinkable water. They would love to drink living water -- or any clean water, really. If water is evidence of God’s care, what does it mean when some people have no living water to drink?
In the News
Lately, every time I drink a glass of clean water I think of my neighbors in Flint. The water slides down my throat, and I marvel at how easily I take it for granted when an hour away people struggle for something so simple.
Say the word “water,” and lately people in Michigan (and the nation) immediately think of Flint and the city’s experience with contaminated water. A switch in water suppliers started the chain of events, but state officials determinedly ignored complaints about the water. Residents of Flint had been showing up at public events for some time, carrying bottles of brown tap water that they said tasted and smelled funny, but state officials dismissed their concerns. Pages of e-mails released by the state’s governor, Rick Snyder, “show that from the moment Flint decided to draw its water from a new source, the Flint River, officials were discounting concerns about its quality and celebrating a change meant to save the cash-starved city millions of dollars. From 2011 to 2015, Flint was in state receivership, its finances controlled by a succession of four emergency managers appointed by Mr. Snyder’s administration.” State officials were quick to argue when pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha said there were elevated levels of lead in the blood of the city’s children. “The government continued on its harmful course even after lead levels were found to be rising, and after pointed, detailed warnings came from a federal water expert, a Virginia Tech researcher, and others.”
The current crisis had plenty of warnings. “Three months before Dr. Hanna-Attisha voiced her fears and findings, a regulations manager for the federal Environmental Protection Agency had sent a detailed interim report to the state and federal authorities that included unambiguous warnings like this: ‘Recent drinking water sample results indicate the presence of high lead results in the drinking water.’ ” There were other problems, in addition to lead, and at times “the city’s water tested positive for E. coli bacteria, which can cause intestinal illness, and residents were advised to boil their water. City officials pumped extra chlorine into the system to address the bacteria issue, which led to elevated levels of total trihalomethanes, or TTHMs, chemical compounds that may cause health problems after long-term exposure.” Flint also suffered an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, and officials responded in the same way -- slowly, and with secrecy about their findings. “No public announcement of an outbreak -- or even a countywide warning to medical providers -- was issued in 2014 or 2015, an omission that several infectious disease experts described as bewildering and highly unusual given the number of cases.” Experts believe the outbreak may be connected with the water quality. A number of the people who fell ill were treated at the same hospital in the two weeks before they contracted Legionnaires’ disease.
Flint native Stephen Rodrick writes for Rolling Stone about his experiences growing up in Flint, and his reaction to the poisoned water: “The human damage is incalculable. Think of a mother waking in the middle of the night to make formula for her baby girl and unwittingly using liquid death as a mixer. Lead poisoning stunts IQs in children, many of whom in Flint are already traumatized by poverty, arson, and rampant gunfire outside their doors.” Rodrick spoke with Flint’s congressman, Rep. Dan Kildee, and says: “Earlier in the fall, Congressman Kildee traveled to New York to hear the pope speak before the United Nations General Assembly. He heard the pontiff say that every human being should have access to clean drinking water. Kildee’s heart sank. ‘I’m a citizen of the United States,’ he told me, ‘the richest country on the planet, at the richest moment in its history, and what the pope was referring to were poor children in Africa, not realizing that my kids in Flint don’t have clean drinking water.’ ”
The people of Flint could use an Isaiah, and an invitation into God’s abundant care. “You who have no money,” the prophet Isaiah says, including the poor in God’s bounty, but many people feel that the opposite happened in Flint. The city is poor, and the majority of the residents are African-American. It’s hard to imagine the state being dismissive if similar water issues cropped up in Grosse Pointe or Grand Rapids, wealthier and whiter cities. “Why are there not tanker truckers driving up and down the streets, giving people water?” a friend cried out in despair one day in the middle of the crisis. Where is the Isaiah Flint needs?
In the Scriptures
The prophet Isaiah offers a vision of abundance for people who are hungry and thirsty. God is always practical. It’s impossible to concentrate on faith when you’re thirsty or hungry or lost. As Juliana Claassens writes, “the prophet is able to conjure up a world where the impossible seems possible again. Ever since chapter 40, the prophet has been seeking to provide his fellow exiles with much-needed perspective, helping the survivors to look at their broken world with new eyes. The people to whom the prophet is speaking were in desperate need of such a word. The trauma of the Babylonian Exile they had lived through was too much to bear.... [T]he prophet is presenting these doubters with a word of hope from the Lord that has the purpose of transforming the exiles’ fractured lives.” This word of hope comes in practical form -- God offers the sustenance of water and bread, wine and milk. The signs of God’s care are tangible -- and tasty.
Alastair Roberts writes: “This passage confounds the logic of our capitalist economies. As if the owner of a great market, God summons his people to buy, yet ‘without money and without price.’ Wealthy or penniless, all are called to the waters in the same manner, invited to share in the Promised Land’s riches, its wine and its milk. Those who have been weighing out silver for things that do not sustain them and expending their wages on items that do not satisfy are called to delight in God’s abundance.... The powerful images of this passage might remind us of God’s provision for his people in the wilderness journey. Like the waters, wine, milk, and bread offered here, the manna of the wilderness subverted the logic of regular human economies. It couldn’t be accumulated and stored. None experienced lack, yet none had excess. The needs of all were perfectly met in plentiful divine gift.”
Paul uses that same wilderness image as he writes to the Corinthian church, linking their trials with the wilderness journey of Israel. He outlines various places where the Israelites turned away from God, and suggests that the people of Corinth are on a parallel journey in their own faith. The God who sustained the people in the wilderness is the same God who calls the people to faith. The God who provided will provide still, if we turn to God and drink deeply of God’s sustaining presence.
The psalmist also uses thirst as a way to understand our longing for God. Eager for more of God’s presence, the psalmist cries out “[M]y soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” The desire for God is like being thirsty on a hot day -- the kind of longing we all know, and can feel in our throats as well as our spirits.
In the Sermon
The sermon might look at the places where we experience God’s abundance, and take it for granted. We think clean water comes because we pay the water bill, but each glass of clean water is also a gift from a generous God. It also speaks of our privileged place in the world. The same is true of the milk in the fridge and the bread on the shelf. Isaiah reminds us again of the gift that underlies all of these common things.
Or the sermon might look at how we respond to the poor, and how God does. We are often stumped about how to respond to the people who are evidently homeless or in need, but God shows no such reservations. Instead, God makes extravagant provision for the people who need the most. Isaiah invites us to follow in God’s footsteps, and to include the hungry and thirsty in what we do. How can we show the same full-hearted hospitality God shows?
Or the sermon might look at the places where we hunger and thirst. If not for physical food and water, where are our hungers and thirsts? For what do our souls long, in this Lenten season? Where are we willing to drink dirty water, in its many forms? How do we give up on God’s life-giving water in exchange for the poisons of distraction and consumerism?
Isaiah calls to all of us: “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them.”
In Lent, these texts invite us to return to God, knowing the deep blessings in our lives. Water is essential for our lives, both physically and spiritually, and it points us back to God’s grace, flowing out to meet the needs of both body and spirit. Our gifts are not for ourselves alone, and the taste of clean, abundant water calls us back to God’s vision of plenty for all of God’s people.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Pipelines of Repentance
by Chris Keating
Luke 13:1-9
All of a sudden, it feels as though the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, could certainly be the first drips of a much wider problem. More than 8,000 young children in Flint have shown signs of abnormally high blood levels of lead. It’s a terrible tragedy, no doubt about it, and while it is deplorable, surely it’s an anomaly, right?
Actually, no. Other cities have begun reporting dangerous lead levels, prompting environmental and consumer activist Erin Brockovich to call Flint “just the tip of the iceberg.” In an interview with late night comedian and talk show host Bill Maher, Brockovich said that she believes the nation is facing a much larger ecological crisis.
When it comes to water safety, Flint may be just the headwaters of a much larger and systemic issue of environmental safety, justice, and racism. Like the fig tree in Jesus’ parable, Flint’s withering crisis could be an indicator of where changes should be made before it’s too late.
Currently, corrosive agents and other pollutants are leeching into the water supply of states across the country. As many as six million miles of pipes across the nation could be carrying tainted water. In many areas, our water passes through pipes that were placed more than 100 years ago and contain lead. Beyond that, much of the nation’s housing stock was built before lead monitoring was a concern.
As National Geographic reports: “Lead pipes can be found in much of the U.S., but surveys show they are concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest. Nobody really knows how extensive they are today: A 1990 study estimated that 3.3 million utility service lines contain lead -- plus twice as many connecting pipes, and countless amounts of lead solder. In addition, many homes have plumbing that contains the hazardous metal.”
So far, nine counties across the country have reported dangerously high lead levels in their drinking water supplies -- some of them actually higher than the levels reported in Flint. Cities such as Jackson, Mississippi, and Philadelphia; villages in Ohio; and parts of rural Oklahoma are reporting rising amounts of lead in their drinking water. One college professor wrote that “the physical conditions that have made it literally toxic for Flint residents are neither as exceptional nor as recent as much of the media coverage suggests.”
The broader problem, as Brockovich points out, is much more than just lead. Chemicals and loose monitoring have led to contaminated water supplies in various states. Brockovich recently detailed the story in an op-ed piece for Time magazine:
Since 2013, a nationwide EPA program to sample water for unregulated contaminants found PFOA [perfluorooctanoic acid] in 103 public water systems in 27 states. But no tests were conducted in Hoosick Falls [New York] because the water supply serves fewer than 10,000 people. New Jersey officials did more extensive tests using stricter methods, and found that EPA’s protocols would have missed three-fourths of the contamination by PFOA and related chemicals in the state.
What also requires our repentance are patterns of injustice and environmental racism that prey disproportionately on lower-income households and people of color. Environmental racism is the result of segregation and poverty. Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” shows higher rates of cancer for blacks, for example. The most polluted corner of Detroit is a neighborhood that is 84 percent black. Across the nation, communities of color are much more likely to be exposed to toxins than comparable white communities.
Robert Bullard, dean of the School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University, has said that “Environmental problems, pollution, disasters and health threats often take longer to be acknowledged. It takes longer for the response and it takes longer for the recovery in communities of color and low-income communities.” A recent survey documents Bullard’s statement.
More racially diverse, and lower-income, communities are known to create “hyper-polluter” zones that generate greater amounts of air pollution. The study showed that poor and minority communities are much more likely to share neighborhoods with hazardous landfills or commercial enterprises that churn out greater levels of toxins.
It’s a situation that calls for change. Not only should we repent of our short-sighted environmental policies that inflict harm on those most fragile, but the widespread nature of a looming water crisis ought to speak of the urgency required for life in the kingdom. Something needs to nourish the roots of our faith in order for them to grow -- but for that to happen, repentance needs to occur.
It’s time to tap into this dilemma, and take note of the looming crisis. Changes to the aging pipeline system are overdue. It’s a reminder of the work needed to ensure public health and safety. But it is also a timely illustration of Jesus’ words in Luke 13. The societal crisis reminds us of our own spiritual welfare. The disciples wondered why tragedy had befallen the Galileans, but Jesus reminds them there is a much broader concern to consider.
Drawing on Jesus’ language from Luke 13, it’s time to repent, turn around, and address a crisis which disproportionately impacts the poor and disadvantaged. It’s an environmental crisis, but also a leading indicator of our spiritual well-being. Without careful attention to both, the crisis could soon broaden -- and, as Jesus warns, cause us to perish.
Jesus calls those who follow him to bear the fruits worthy of repentance -- to heed the signs, to notice the conditions, and to change one’s way of living. Otherwise, we run the risk of becoming an unproductive fruit tree in the hands of an impatient farmer, wasting precious soil and squandering resources. And, as Jesus emphasizes in this week’s gospel lesson, life in the kingdom requires an urgent change of priorities. Drinking toxic water will only cause the taproots of our souls to wilt and decay.
Put plainly: repentance had better be in the pipeline.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Isaiah 55:1-9
Adam Bryant’s “Corner Office” column in the New York Times features interviews with CEOs that discuss how they became leaders, their leadership style, and their hiring practices. Jenna Fagnan, the president of Tequila Avion, told Bryant that she learned the importance of communicating and connecting with your audience from an exercise her mother instituted. If Fagnan had to make a school presentation, she would stand on a whale vertebra they had in their home and deliver her speech. Before she began her mother would always say, “Just speak your piece, and make me feel some emotion.”
Application: When Isaiah said “listen, so that you may live,” he did so with enough emotion to connect with is audience.
*****
Isaiah 55:1-9
Adi Tatarko, the chief executive of Houzz, told Adam Bryant for his “Corner Office” column that he always interviews investors casually over a cup of coffee rather than making the standard Power Point presentation in a boardroom setting. During that conversation she tells potential investors, “I don’t have a crystal ball.” She instructs them that she can control day-to-day operations and knows where the company is going, but “I have no idea what’s going to happen in five years.”
Application: Isaiah did not have a crystal ball, but he knew enough about the covenant that God made with the Israelites that he could assure them where they were going.
*****
Isaiah 55:1-9
Roman Stanek, the chief executive of Good Data in San Francisco, said in a New York Times “Corner Office” column that “my leadership approach is about confidence, and confidence comes from understanding.”
Application: Once the people of Israel understood the meaning of the covenant, they could have confidence in their future.
*****
Isaiah 55:1-9
China passed an ordinance that weddings and funerals cannot “violate national, community, or the people’s interests.” The reason for this ordinance is that weddings and funerals have become so extravagant and expensive that the life of the community is harshly interrupted. One common complaint is these affairs cause massive traffic jams.
Application: With the everlasting covenant, Isaiah speaks to the Israelites that they are an everlasting community.
*****
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, is on a 50-state tour called the Decision America Tour. During this election season, he plans to speak at each of the nation’s state capitals. He is not endorsing a particular candidate, but his purpose, in his words, “is to challenge Christians to live out their faith at home, in public, and at the ballot box.”
Application: Paul instructs us to live out our faith and to always do that which is right.
*****
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
On his Decision America Tour, Franklin Graham’s purpose is to get Christians involved in the political process. Graham said that while he is not endorsing a particular candidate, we must also know that “Politics comes and goes. Issues come and go. But the word of God is the same, and it’s the same forever.”
Application: Paul wants to impress upon the Corinthians the steadfast nature of God’s word.
*****
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
In his final Mass celebrated in Mexico, Pope Francis shared the biblical story of the city of Nineveh. Comparing Nineveh to much of the corruption in Mexico, the pope said that the city was “self-destructing as a result of oppression and dishonor, violence and injustice.” The pope went on to say that God sent a messenger, Jonah, to save the people. The purpose of Jonah’s mission, Francis said, was “to wake up a people intoxicated with themselves.”
Application: Paul, in his message to the Corinthians, is giving them a wakeup call to be obedient to the word of God.
*****
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
David Javerbaum, the person behind a satirical Twitter account posing as God, recently closed the account. He began tweeting as God in 2010, and over the years accumulated nearly three million followers. One of his most popular tweets, after the death of David Bowie, was “David Bowie was the God I always wanted to be.” Javerbaum said the reason for closing the account is because he was hacked.
Application: Paul warns us against idolatry, posing ourselves as God.
*****
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
All-Star weekend is one of the biggest events during the NBA season, as it is a gathering of the league’s best players in the same arena. But according to the Associated Press, “It’s even bigger for Nike, Under Armour, Adidas, and Li-Ning.” That’s because at this event these shoe manufacturers showcase star players wearing their latest footwear. With millions of fans watching worldwide, “the big shoe companies have turned the basketball court into a fashion runway.” For these shoe companies, All-Star weekend is an advertising event to make sales and raise revenue.
Application: Paul cautions us to know what is important and to be conscious of what we worship.
*****
Luke 13:1-9
NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson wants to become the Jack LaLanne of his sport. According to the Associated Press, he is a fitness freak in a firesuit. Johnson wants to promote healthy eating and exercise for a sport that is plagued with being sedentary with long hours on the road and at the track. Johnson himself runs a marathon before racing, and rides his bike while at the track. He is promoting healthy living through various exercising events, an app, and a video. Johnson said of his endeavor, “It’s tough to always watch what you’re eating, get your shoes on, and go for a walk if you don’t have motivation.”
Application: With the parable of the fig tree, Jesus wants to motivate us to be good disciples.
***************
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
And the Rains Came
Last year I put a clean 40-gallon drum under one of my downspouts -- the idea being for it to catch rainwater running off of the back half of my roof that I could then use to water my tomato plants and flowers. I opened the valve on the downspout early in May, figuring that it would take a long time to collect 40 gallons of water in that drum.
Wrong! One moderate Ohio rainfall of a couple of hours was all it took.
I looked up how that was possible. It turns out that one inch of rain (a moderate rainfall) produces about 27,154 gallons of water over the surface of one acre of ground. So if it’s raining at a modest rate of one-quarter inch per hour, it would produce about 6,788 gallons per hour over that acre -- or about 125 gallons per hour on one-half of my roof. The 40-gallon drum would be filled in about 20 minutes.
It’s an easy way to steward a lot of water.
*****
World Water Day
Did you know that there is such a thing as “World Water Day”? Me either! I know, right?
Observed on March 22, here’s the scoop according to the World Water Day website:
World Water Day is an international observance and an opportunity to learn more about water-related issues, be inspired to tell others, and take action to make a difference. World Water Day dates back to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, where an international observance for water was recommended. The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating March 22, 1993 as the first World Water Day. It has been held annually since then. Each year, UN-Water -- the entity that coordinates the UN’s work on water and sanitation -- sets a theme for World Water Day corresponding to a current or future challenge. The engagement campaign is coordinated by one or several of the UN-Water Members with a related mandate.
This year’s theme is “The Power of Water and Jobs.” Again from the website:
On World Water Day, people everywhere show that they care and that they have the power to make a difference. They get inspired by information and use it to take action and change things. This year many will focus on the power that water and jobs have to transform people’s lives. Nearly all jobs are related to water and those that ensure its safe delivery. But today, millions of people who work in water are often not recognized or even protected by basic labor rights. This needs to change.
*****
Fun Water Facts
1. A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water. If a human does not absorb enough water, dehydration is the result.
2. A person must consume two liters of water daily to live healthily. Humans drink an average of 75,000 liters of water throughout their life. Much of the water we consume comes from our food and beverages. If we drink the amount of water we need from the tap, it costs the average American about 50 cents per year. If they buy it in plastic bottles, it costs about $1,400.
3. Humans cannot drink salt water -- it is poisonous to them.
4. More than two billion people on earth (about one-quarter of the earth’s population) do not have a safe supply of water.
5. Water regulates the temperature of the human body. If you have caught a fever, you should drink lots of water.
6. Water removes waste from the human body -- so it cleans us inside and out.
7. You should never drink water straight from a lake or river, as it can be damaging to your health.
8. Your drinking water may be fluoridated to help prevent dental cavities.
9. It is possible to drink too much water. This is called overhydration or water intoxication, and must be treated by a doctor. It’s rarely fatal, and is usually treated by having the patient drink less than 1 liter of liquid per day.
10. A small drip from a faucet can waste as much as 75 liters of water a day.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: God, you are our God, we seek you, our soul thirsts for you.
People: Our flesh faints for you, as in a dry land where there is no water.
Leader: Because your steadfast love is better than life, our lips will praise you.
People: We will bless you as long as we live.
Leader: We will lift up our hands and call on your name.
People: Our souls are satisfied, as with a rich feast.
OR
Leader: Come, all who are thirsty and desire what is good.
People: We are parched and panting for a good drink.
Leader: Be careful what you drink. It is not all good for you.
People: We want that which will satisfy to the depths of our being.
Leader: God is our cool drink of water, and God satisfies.
People: Pour out yourself upon us, O God.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness”
found in:
UMH: 140
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
ELA: 733
W&P: 72
AMEC: 84
Renew: 249
“Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies”
found in:
UMH: 173
H82: 6, 7
PH: 462, 463
LBW: 265
ELA: 553
W&P: 91
“Fill My Cup, Lord”
found in:
UMH: 641
PH: 350
AAHH: 447
NNBH: 377
CH: 351
CCB: 47
“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
found in:
UMH: 400
H82: 686
PH: 356
AAHH: 175
NNBH: 166
NCH: 459
CH: 16
LBW: 499
ELA: 807
W&P: 68
AMEC: 77
STLT: 126
“Cuando El Pobre” (“When the Poor Ones”)
found in:
UMH: 434
PH: 407
CH: 662
ELA: 725
W&P: 624
“Tú Has Venido a la Orilla” (“Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore”)
found in:
UMH: 344
PH: 377
CH: 342
W&P: 347
“Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service”
found in:
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELA: 712
W&P: 575
Renew: 286
“Breathe on Me, Breath of God”
found in:
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
“As the Deer”
found in:
CCB: 83
Renew: 9
“Only by Grace”
found in:
CCB: 42
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who offers us the water freely and liberally: Grant us the grace to seek the true water that satisfies rather than the brackish water that leads to death; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
Come upon us, O God, with the water that satisfies. You bring what our heart desires and you give it freely and liberally. Help us to distinguish what is good from what poisons us. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our desire for the brackish water that leads to death.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have offered us the very waters that flow from the fountain of life. Yet we find ourselves drinking from muddy waters that do not satisfy but rather kill. You offer that which truly satisfies our thirsts, and we drink that which only makes us thirstier. Call us back once more to the fountain of life, and teach us to seek the true water of life. Amen.
Leader: God desires for us to be blessed. God provides that which brings life and health and blessing. God turns none away who seek the water of life.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We praise and worship you, O God, for you are the source of life. From you the water of life freely flows to all creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have offered us the very waters that flow from the fountain of life. Yet we find ourselves drinking from muddy waters that do not satisfy but rather kill. You offer that which truly satisfies our thirsts, and we drink that which only makes us thirstier. Call us back once more to the fountain of life, and teach us to seek the true water of life.
We give you thanks for the abundance of water on our planet and for those who help us to keep it clean and unpolluted. We thank you for the water of life that you share so abundantly with us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your creation, which desires good water. We pray for the insight to understand that it is a precious gift we must take good care of. We ask for the will and the courage to share the water of life with those around us: our friends, our neighbors, our enemies.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Have two glasses of water in clear glasses. One should be good, clean water, and the other should be very dirty. Ask the children which one they would like to drink. Then tell them that they should have one more bit of information. The good water is free, while the nasty water is $20 a glass. We think no one would choose to pay a high price for dirty water, but some people do. In the scripture today, water and other good things are used as symbols of God’s good gifts. God wants to give us good things. God wants to give us love, peace, and joy. God sent Jesus to teach us how to receive these gifts. Too often, however, we choose not to follow Jesus and we end up with bad things: anger, being upset, and being sad. And we pay for those with the consequences of our actions. Don’t pay for dirty water. God wants to give us the water of life.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Water, Water, Everywhere
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 55:1-9
You will need: a transparent glass of water; a 2-liter bottle filled with water; and a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon.
There’s an old, old poem called “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” It’s about a sailing ship that gets stuck in the doldrums, a place on the ocean where no air moves for days and sometimes even for weeks. Because this was an era where ships had no engines and so movement was dependent on air to power sails, the ship just sits there and the sailors begin to run out of food and water to drink.
Here’s how the poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, describes it:
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
Can you imagine that? Being on all that water and being really, really thirsty -- but you can’t drink the ocean water because it’s salty? How awful! Eventually the sailors got so thirsty that they begin to have hallucinations. They began to see things that weren’t there.
The very deep did rot -- Oh Christ!
That ever this should be.
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs,
Upon the slimy sea. (Eek!)
All that water, but you can’t drink it.
Imagine that. In fact, that’s kind of the situation we’re all in, you know? We are surrounded by water. Most of the earth is covered with water (80%). But like the ancient mariner, we can’t drink most of that water. If this 2-liter bottle of water was all the water in the world, this much (3 tablespoons) would be the water we could drink. Oops! But wait, I forgot. One of these tablespoons of water is frozen and one is underground. So of all the water in the world, we have only this much (1 tablespoon) available for us to drink.
Water is absolutely necessary for us to live. We can live without food for about 40-50 days. But we can only live about 5-7 days without fresh water to drink. We have to have it, not just for drinking but for bathing and washing our clothes and cooking and growing plants and animals and all kinds of things.
And God has provided us with all the fresh drinking water we need.
But there’s a limited supply of it, right? And most of it is frozen in glaciers and the polar icecaps at the North and South Poles, or it’s in giant lakes underground. So we have to be careful with the water we have, don’t we?
We have to make sure it stays clean and safe for us to drink.
That’s called being a good steward, taking care of what God has given us so everyone can have some.
I think that maybe we can remember to be good stewards with our water if we make just a little change in the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Next time you’re just letting the water run while you brush your teeth or just flicking your fingers under it, waiting for it to get cold or warm, you can remember this rhyme:
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
And only this (hold up tablespoon) to drink.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, February 28, 2016, issue.
Copyright 2016 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
Team member Chris Keating shares some additional thoughts on the Flint situation in view of the gospel passage, where Jesus asks some rhetorical questions in order to make the point that those who experience extreme suffering (like those in Flint) do not do so because they are somehow deserving of their fate (i.e., lazy, poor, more sinful) -- rather, they are sort of leading indicators. Jesus’ point is that if we do not turn our lives around, we may be subject to similar circumstances (“unless you repent, you will all perish as they did”). The people in Flint did nothing to bring their situation upon themselves -- but if we persist in allowing toxic water into our lives by neglecting our aging infrastructure and carelessly relying on unsafe chemical treatments, we may find ourselves having to deal with many more Flints. Likewise, Chris reminds us, if we choose to drink less healthy alternatives rather than the living water of Christ then we will certainly become barren spiritually... and thus become like the non-producing fig trees in Jesus’ parable that must be cleared away.
Water: Bottled, Filtered, and Living
by Mary Austin
Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
We conjure up images of God’s plenty from the things we lack. For hungry people, a feast reveals God’s care. For lonely people, companionship is the evidence of God’s grace. For people in a desert nation, water signals God’s abundance. “Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters” the prophet Isaiah invites, summoning God’s people to drink God’s living water. The psalmist speaks of a thirst for God’s presence, saying “my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” We are parched without the presence of God. We hunger and thirst for God’s grace in our lives, and water is a symbol of God’s enduring care for us. Water comes from God, and connects us back to God.
Water is also a practical necessity. For most of us in the U.S., water is a gift we take for granted. We assume that we can turn on the faucet and clean water will always come out. Unless we live in the desert, we think there will always be more water. But the people of Flint, Michigan, have been in a water desert for over a year now, living without clean, drinkable water. They would love to drink living water -- or any clean water, really. If water is evidence of God’s care, what does it mean when some people have no living water to drink?
In the News
Lately, every time I drink a glass of clean water I think of my neighbors in Flint. The water slides down my throat, and I marvel at how easily I take it for granted when an hour away people struggle for something so simple.
Say the word “water,” and lately people in Michigan (and the nation) immediately think of Flint and the city’s experience with contaminated water. A switch in water suppliers started the chain of events, but state officials determinedly ignored complaints about the water. Residents of Flint had been showing up at public events for some time, carrying bottles of brown tap water that they said tasted and smelled funny, but state officials dismissed their concerns. Pages of e-mails released by the state’s governor, Rick Snyder, “show that from the moment Flint decided to draw its water from a new source, the Flint River, officials were discounting concerns about its quality and celebrating a change meant to save the cash-starved city millions of dollars. From 2011 to 2015, Flint was in state receivership, its finances controlled by a succession of four emergency managers appointed by Mr. Snyder’s administration.” State officials were quick to argue when pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha said there were elevated levels of lead in the blood of the city’s children. “The government continued on its harmful course even after lead levels were found to be rising, and after pointed, detailed warnings came from a federal water expert, a Virginia Tech researcher, and others.”
The current crisis had plenty of warnings. “Three months before Dr. Hanna-Attisha voiced her fears and findings, a regulations manager for the federal Environmental Protection Agency had sent a detailed interim report to the state and federal authorities that included unambiguous warnings like this: ‘Recent drinking water sample results indicate the presence of high lead results in the drinking water.’ ” There were other problems, in addition to lead, and at times “the city’s water tested positive for E. coli bacteria, which can cause intestinal illness, and residents were advised to boil their water. City officials pumped extra chlorine into the system to address the bacteria issue, which led to elevated levels of total trihalomethanes, or TTHMs, chemical compounds that may cause health problems after long-term exposure.” Flint also suffered an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, and officials responded in the same way -- slowly, and with secrecy about their findings. “No public announcement of an outbreak -- or even a countywide warning to medical providers -- was issued in 2014 or 2015, an omission that several infectious disease experts described as bewildering and highly unusual given the number of cases.” Experts believe the outbreak may be connected with the water quality. A number of the people who fell ill were treated at the same hospital in the two weeks before they contracted Legionnaires’ disease.
Flint native Stephen Rodrick writes for Rolling Stone about his experiences growing up in Flint, and his reaction to the poisoned water: “The human damage is incalculable. Think of a mother waking in the middle of the night to make formula for her baby girl and unwittingly using liquid death as a mixer. Lead poisoning stunts IQs in children, many of whom in Flint are already traumatized by poverty, arson, and rampant gunfire outside their doors.” Rodrick spoke with Flint’s congressman, Rep. Dan Kildee, and says: “Earlier in the fall, Congressman Kildee traveled to New York to hear the pope speak before the United Nations General Assembly. He heard the pontiff say that every human being should have access to clean drinking water. Kildee’s heart sank. ‘I’m a citizen of the United States,’ he told me, ‘the richest country on the planet, at the richest moment in its history, and what the pope was referring to were poor children in Africa, not realizing that my kids in Flint don’t have clean drinking water.’ ”
The people of Flint could use an Isaiah, and an invitation into God’s abundant care. “You who have no money,” the prophet Isaiah says, including the poor in God’s bounty, but many people feel that the opposite happened in Flint. The city is poor, and the majority of the residents are African-American. It’s hard to imagine the state being dismissive if similar water issues cropped up in Grosse Pointe or Grand Rapids, wealthier and whiter cities. “Why are there not tanker truckers driving up and down the streets, giving people water?” a friend cried out in despair one day in the middle of the crisis. Where is the Isaiah Flint needs?
In the Scriptures
The prophet Isaiah offers a vision of abundance for people who are hungry and thirsty. God is always practical. It’s impossible to concentrate on faith when you’re thirsty or hungry or lost. As Juliana Claassens writes, “the prophet is able to conjure up a world where the impossible seems possible again. Ever since chapter 40, the prophet has been seeking to provide his fellow exiles with much-needed perspective, helping the survivors to look at their broken world with new eyes. The people to whom the prophet is speaking were in desperate need of such a word. The trauma of the Babylonian Exile they had lived through was too much to bear.... [T]he prophet is presenting these doubters with a word of hope from the Lord that has the purpose of transforming the exiles’ fractured lives.” This word of hope comes in practical form -- God offers the sustenance of water and bread, wine and milk. The signs of God’s care are tangible -- and tasty.
Alastair Roberts writes: “This passage confounds the logic of our capitalist economies. As if the owner of a great market, God summons his people to buy, yet ‘without money and without price.’ Wealthy or penniless, all are called to the waters in the same manner, invited to share in the Promised Land’s riches, its wine and its milk. Those who have been weighing out silver for things that do not sustain them and expending their wages on items that do not satisfy are called to delight in God’s abundance.... The powerful images of this passage might remind us of God’s provision for his people in the wilderness journey. Like the waters, wine, milk, and bread offered here, the manna of the wilderness subverted the logic of regular human economies. It couldn’t be accumulated and stored. None experienced lack, yet none had excess. The needs of all were perfectly met in plentiful divine gift.”
Paul uses that same wilderness image as he writes to the Corinthian church, linking their trials with the wilderness journey of Israel. He outlines various places where the Israelites turned away from God, and suggests that the people of Corinth are on a parallel journey in their own faith. The God who sustained the people in the wilderness is the same God who calls the people to faith. The God who provided will provide still, if we turn to God and drink deeply of God’s sustaining presence.
The psalmist also uses thirst as a way to understand our longing for God. Eager for more of God’s presence, the psalmist cries out “[M]y soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” The desire for God is like being thirsty on a hot day -- the kind of longing we all know, and can feel in our throats as well as our spirits.
In the Sermon
The sermon might look at the places where we experience God’s abundance, and take it for granted. We think clean water comes because we pay the water bill, but each glass of clean water is also a gift from a generous God. It also speaks of our privileged place in the world. The same is true of the milk in the fridge and the bread on the shelf. Isaiah reminds us again of the gift that underlies all of these common things.
Or the sermon might look at how we respond to the poor, and how God does. We are often stumped about how to respond to the people who are evidently homeless or in need, but God shows no such reservations. Instead, God makes extravagant provision for the people who need the most. Isaiah invites us to follow in God’s footsteps, and to include the hungry and thirsty in what we do. How can we show the same full-hearted hospitality God shows?
Or the sermon might look at the places where we hunger and thirst. If not for physical food and water, where are our hungers and thirsts? For what do our souls long, in this Lenten season? Where are we willing to drink dirty water, in its many forms? How do we give up on God’s life-giving water in exchange for the poisons of distraction and consumerism?
Isaiah calls to all of us: “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them.”
In Lent, these texts invite us to return to God, knowing the deep blessings in our lives. Water is essential for our lives, both physically and spiritually, and it points us back to God’s grace, flowing out to meet the needs of both body and spirit. Our gifts are not for ourselves alone, and the taste of clean, abundant water calls us back to God’s vision of plenty for all of God’s people.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Pipelines of Repentance
by Chris Keating
Luke 13:1-9
All of a sudden, it feels as though the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, could certainly be the first drips of a much wider problem. More than 8,000 young children in Flint have shown signs of abnormally high blood levels of lead. It’s a terrible tragedy, no doubt about it, and while it is deplorable, surely it’s an anomaly, right?
Actually, no. Other cities have begun reporting dangerous lead levels, prompting environmental and consumer activist Erin Brockovich to call Flint “just the tip of the iceberg.” In an interview with late night comedian and talk show host Bill Maher, Brockovich said that she believes the nation is facing a much larger ecological crisis.
When it comes to water safety, Flint may be just the headwaters of a much larger and systemic issue of environmental safety, justice, and racism. Like the fig tree in Jesus’ parable, Flint’s withering crisis could be an indicator of where changes should be made before it’s too late.
Currently, corrosive agents and other pollutants are leeching into the water supply of states across the country. As many as six million miles of pipes across the nation could be carrying tainted water. In many areas, our water passes through pipes that were placed more than 100 years ago and contain lead. Beyond that, much of the nation’s housing stock was built before lead monitoring was a concern.
As National Geographic reports: “Lead pipes can be found in much of the U.S., but surveys show they are concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest. Nobody really knows how extensive they are today: A 1990 study estimated that 3.3 million utility service lines contain lead -- plus twice as many connecting pipes, and countless amounts of lead solder. In addition, many homes have plumbing that contains the hazardous metal.”
So far, nine counties across the country have reported dangerously high lead levels in their drinking water supplies -- some of them actually higher than the levels reported in Flint. Cities such as Jackson, Mississippi, and Philadelphia; villages in Ohio; and parts of rural Oklahoma are reporting rising amounts of lead in their drinking water. One college professor wrote that “the physical conditions that have made it literally toxic for Flint residents are neither as exceptional nor as recent as much of the media coverage suggests.”
The broader problem, as Brockovich points out, is much more than just lead. Chemicals and loose monitoring have led to contaminated water supplies in various states. Brockovich recently detailed the story in an op-ed piece for Time magazine:
Since 2013, a nationwide EPA program to sample water for unregulated contaminants found PFOA [perfluorooctanoic acid] in 103 public water systems in 27 states. But no tests were conducted in Hoosick Falls [New York] because the water supply serves fewer than 10,000 people. New Jersey officials did more extensive tests using stricter methods, and found that EPA’s protocols would have missed three-fourths of the contamination by PFOA and related chemicals in the state.
What also requires our repentance are patterns of injustice and environmental racism that prey disproportionately on lower-income households and people of color. Environmental racism is the result of segregation and poverty. Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” shows higher rates of cancer for blacks, for example. The most polluted corner of Detroit is a neighborhood that is 84 percent black. Across the nation, communities of color are much more likely to be exposed to toxins than comparable white communities.
Robert Bullard, dean of the School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University, has said that “Environmental problems, pollution, disasters and health threats often take longer to be acknowledged. It takes longer for the response and it takes longer for the recovery in communities of color and low-income communities.” A recent survey documents Bullard’s statement.
More racially diverse, and lower-income, communities are known to create “hyper-polluter” zones that generate greater amounts of air pollution. The study showed that poor and minority communities are much more likely to share neighborhoods with hazardous landfills or commercial enterprises that churn out greater levels of toxins.
It’s a situation that calls for change. Not only should we repent of our short-sighted environmental policies that inflict harm on those most fragile, but the widespread nature of a looming water crisis ought to speak of the urgency required for life in the kingdom. Something needs to nourish the roots of our faith in order for them to grow -- but for that to happen, repentance needs to occur.
It’s time to tap into this dilemma, and take note of the looming crisis. Changes to the aging pipeline system are overdue. It’s a reminder of the work needed to ensure public health and safety. But it is also a timely illustration of Jesus’ words in Luke 13. The societal crisis reminds us of our own spiritual welfare. The disciples wondered why tragedy had befallen the Galileans, but Jesus reminds them there is a much broader concern to consider.
Drawing on Jesus’ language from Luke 13, it’s time to repent, turn around, and address a crisis which disproportionately impacts the poor and disadvantaged. It’s an environmental crisis, but also a leading indicator of our spiritual well-being. Without careful attention to both, the crisis could soon broaden -- and, as Jesus warns, cause us to perish.
Jesus calls those who follow him to bear the fruits worthy of repentance -- to heed the signs, to notice the conditions, and to change one’s way of living. Otherwise, we run the risk of becoming an unproductive fruit tree in the hands of an impatient farmer, wasting precious soil and squandering resources. And, as Jesus emphasizes in this week’s gospel lesson, life in the kingdom requires an urgent change of priorities. Drinking toxic water will only cause the taproots of our souls to wilt and decay.
Put plainly: repentance had better be in the pipeline.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Isaiah 55:1-9
Adam Bryant’s “Corner Office” column in the New York Times features interviews with CEOs that discuss how they became leaders, their leadership style, and their hiring practices. Jenna Fagnan, the president of Tequila Avion, told Bryant that she learned the importance of communicating and connecting with your audience from an exercise her mother instituted. If Fagnan had to make a school presentation, she would stand on a whale vertebra they had in their home and deliver her speech. Before she began her mother would always say, “Just speak your piece, and make me feel some emotion.”
Application: When Isaiah said “listen, so that you may live,” he did so with enough emotion to connect with is audience.
*****
Isaiah 55:1-9
Adi Tatarko, the chief executive of Houzz, told Adam Bryant for his “Corner Office” column that he always interviews investors casually over a cup of coffee rather than making the standard Power Point presentation in a boardroom setting. During that conversation she tells potential investors, “I don’t have a crystal ball.” She instructs them that she can control day-to-day operations and knows where the company is going, but “I have no idea what’s going to happen in five years.”
Application: Isaiah did not have a crystal ball, but he knew enough about the covenant that God made with the Israelites that he could assure them where they were going.
*****
Isaiah 55:1-9
Roman Stanek, the chief executive of Good Data in San Francisco, said in a New York Times “Corner Office” column that “my leadership approach is about confidence, and confidence comes from understanding.”
Application: Once the people of Israel understood the meaning of the covenant, they could have confidence in their future.
*****
Isaiah 55:1-9
China passed an ordinance that weddings and funerals cannot “violate national, community, or the people’s interests.” The reason for this ordinance is that weddings and funerals have become so extravagant and expensive that the life of the community is harshly interrupted. One common complaint is these affairs cause massive traffic jams.
Application: With the everlasting covenant, Isaiah speaks to the Israelites that they are an everlasting community.
*****
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, is on a 50-state tour called the Decision America Tour. During this election season, he plans to speak at each of the nation’s state capitals. He is not endorsing a particular candidate, but his purpose, in his words, “is to challenge Christians to live out their faith at home, in public, and at the ballot box.”
Application: Paul instructs us to live out our faith and to always do that which is right.
*****
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
On his Decision America Tour, Franklin Graham’s purpose is to get Christians involved in the political process. Graham said that while he is not endorsing a particular candidate, we must also know that “Politics comes and goes. Issues come and go. But the word of God is the same, and it’s the same forever.”
Application: Paul wants to impress upon the Corinthians the steadfast nature of God’s word.
*****
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
In his final Mass celebrated in Mexico, Pope Francis shared the biblical story of the city of Nineveh. Comparing Nineveh to much of the corruption in Mexico, the pope said that the city was “self-destructing as a result of oppression and dishonor, violence and injustice.” The pope went on to say that God sent a messenger, Jonah, to save the people. The purpose of Jonah’s mission, Francis said, was “to wake up a people intoxicated with themselves.”
Application: Paul, in his message to the Corinthians, is giving them a wakeup call to be obedient to the word of God.
*****
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
David Javerbaum, the person behind a satirical Twitter account posing as God, recently closed the account. He began tweeting as God in 2010, and over the years accumulated nearly three million followers. One of his most popular tweets, after the death of David Bowie, was “David Bowie was the God I always wanted to be.” Javerbaum said the reason for closing the account is because he was hacked.
Application: Paul warns us against idolatry, posing ourselves as God.
*****
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
All-Star weekend is one of the biggest events during the NBA season, as it is a gathering of the league’s best players in the same arena. But according to the Associated Press, “It’s even bigger for Nike, Under Armour, Adidas, and Li-Ning.” That’s because at this event these shoe manufacturers showcase star players wearing their latest footwear. With millions of fans watching worldwide, “the big shoe companies have turned the basketball court into a fashion runway.” For these shoe companies, All-Star weekend is an advertising event to make sales and raise revenue.
Application: Paul cautions us to know what is important and to be conscious of what we worship.
*****
Luke 13:1-9
NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson wants to become the Jack LaLanne of his sport. According to the Associated Press, he is a fitness freak in a firesuit. Johnson wants to promote healthy eating and exercise for a sport that is plagued with being sedentary with long hours on the road and at the track. Johnson himself runs a marathon before racing, and rides his bike while at the track. He is promoting healthy living through various exercising events, an app, and a video. Johnson said of his endeavor, “It’s tough to always watch what you’re eating, get your shoes on, and go for a walk if you don’t have motivation.”
Application: With the parable of the fig tree, Jesus wants to motivate us to be good disciples.
***************
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
And the Rains Came
Last year I put a clean 40-gallon drum under one of my downspouts -- the idea being for it to catch rainwater running off of the back half of my roof that I could then use to water my tomato plants and flowers. I opened the valve on the downspout early in May, figuring that it would take a long time to collect 40 gallons of water in that drum.
Wrong! One moderate Ohio rainfall of a couple of hours was all it took.
I looked up how that was possible. It turns out that one inch of rain (a moderate rainfall) produces about 27,154 gallons of water over the surface of one acre of ground. So if it’s raining at a modest rate of one-quarter inch per hour, it would produce about 6,788 gallons per hour over that acre -- or about 125 gallons per hour on one-half of my roof. The 40-gallon drum would be filled in about 20 minutes.
It’s an easy way to steward a lot of water.
*****
World Water Day
Did you know that there is such a thing as “World Water Day”? Me either! I know, right?
Observed on March 22, here’s the scoop according to the World Water Day website:
World Water Day is an international observance and an opportunity to learn more about water-related issues, be inspired to tell others, and take action to make a difference. World Water Day dates back to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, where an international observance for water was recommended. The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating March 22, 1993 as the first World Water Day. It has been held annually since then. Each year, UN-Water -- the entity that coordinates the UN’s work on water and sanitation -- sets a theme for World Water Day corresponding to a current or future challenge. The engagement campaign is coordinated by one or several of the UN-Water Members with a related mandate.
This year’s theme is “The Power of Water and Jobs.” Again from the website:
On World Water Day, people everywhere show that they care and that they have the power to make a difference. They get inspired by information and use it to take action and change things. This year many will focus on the power that water and jobs have to transform people’s lives. Nearly all jobs are related to water and those that ensure its safe delivery. But today, millions of people who work in water are often not recognized or even protected by basic labor rights. This needs to change.
*****
Fun Water Facts
1. A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water. If a human does not absorb enough water, dehydration is the result.
2. A person must consume two liters of water daily to live healthily. Humans drink an average of 75,000 liters of water throughout their life. Much of the water we consume comes from our food and beverages. If we drink the amount of water we need from the tap, it costs the average American about 50 cents per year. If they buy it in plastic bottles, it costs about $1,400.
3. Humans cannot drink salt water -- it is poisonous to them.
4. More than two billion people on earth (about one-quarter of the earth’s population) do not have a safe supply of water.
5. Water regulates the temperature of the human body. If you have caught a fever, you should drink lots of water.
6. Water removes waste from the human body -- so it cleans us inside and out.
7. You should never drink water straight from a lake or river, as it can be damaging to your health.
8. Your drinking water may be fluoridated to help prevent dental cavities.
9. It is possible to drink too much water. This is called overhydration or water intoxication, and must be treated by a doctor. It’s rarely fatal, and is usually treated by having the patient drink less than 1 liter of liquid per day.
10. A small drip from a faucet can waste as much as 75 liters of water a day.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: God, you are our God, we seek you, our soul thirsts for you.
People: Our flesh faints for you, as in a dry land where there is no water.
Leader: Because your steadfast love is better than life, our lips will praise you.
People: We will bless you as long as we live.
Leader: We will lift up our hands and call on your name.
People: Our souls are satisfied, as with a rich feast.
OR
Leader: Come, all who are thirsty and desire what is good.
People: We are parched and panting for a good drink.
Leader: Be careful what you drink. It is not all good for you.
People: We want that which will satisfy to the depths of our being.
Leader: God is our cool drink of water, and God satisfies.
People: Pour out yourself upon us, O God.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness”
found in:
UMH: 140
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
ELA: 733
W&P: 72
AMEC: 84
Renew: 249
“Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies”
found in:
UMH: 173
H82: 6, 7
PH: 462, 463
LBW: 265
ELA: 553
W&P: 91
“Fill My Cup, Lord”
found in:
UMH: 641
PH: 350
AAHH: 447
NNBH: 377
CH: 351
CCB: 47
“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
found in:
UMH: 400
H82: 686
PH: 356
AAHH: 175
NNBH: 166
NCH: 459
CH: 16
LBW: 499
ELA: 807
W&P: 68
AMEC: 77
STLT: 126
“Cuando El Pobre” (“When the Poor Ones”)
found in:
UMH: 434
PH: 407
CH: 662
ELA: 725
W&P: 624
“Tú Has Venido a la Orilla” (“Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore”)
found in:
UMH: 344
PH: 377
CH: 342
W&P: 347
“Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service”
found in:
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELA: 712
W&P: 575
Renew: 286
“Breathe on Me, Breath of God”
found in:
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
“As the Deer”
found in:
CCB: 83
Renew: 9
“Only by Grace”
found in:
CCB: 42
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who offers us the water freely and liberally: Grant us the grace to seek the true water that satisfies rather than the brackish water that leads to death; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
Come upon us, O God, with the water that satisfies. You bring what our heart desires and you give it freely and liberally. Help us to distinguish what is good from what poisons us. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our desire for the brackish water that leads to death.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have offered us the very waters that flow from the fountain of life. Yet we find ourselves drinking from muddy waters that do not satisfy but rather kill. You offer that which truly satisfies our thirsts, and we drink that which only makes us thirstier. Call us back once more to the fountain of life, and teach us to seek the true water of life. Amen.
Leader: God desires for us to be blessed. God provides that which brings life and health and blessing. God turns none away who seek the water of life.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We praise and worship you, O God, for you are the source of life. From you the water of life freely flows to all creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have offered us the very waters that flow from the fountain of life. Yet we find ourselves drinking from muddy waters that do not satisfy but rather kill. You offer that which truly satisfies our thirsts, and we drink that which only makes us thirstier. Call us back once more to the fountain of life, and teach us to seek the true water of life.
We give you thanks for the abundance of water on our planet and for those who help us to keep it clean and unpolluted. We thank you for the water of life that you share so abundantly with us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your creation, which desires good water. We pray for the insight to understand that it is a precious gift we must take good care of. We ask for the will and the courage to share the water of life with those around us: our friends, our neighbors, our enemies.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Have two glasses of water in clear glasses. One should be good, clean water, and the other should be very dirty. Ask the children which one they would like to drink. Then tell them that they should have one more bit of information. The good water is free, while the nasty water is $20 a glass. We think no one would choose to pay a high price for dirty water, but some people do. In the scripture today, water and other good things are used as symbols of God’s good gifts. God wants to give us good things. God wants to give us love, peace, and joy. God sent Jesus to teach us how to receive these gifts. Too often, however, we choose not to follow Jesus and we end up with bad things: anger, being upset, and being sad. And we pay for those with the consequences of our actions. Don’t pay for dirty water. God wants to give us the water of life.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Water, Water, Everywhere
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 55:1-9
You will need: a transparent glass of water; a 2-liter bottle filled with water; and a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon.
There’s an old, old poem called “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” It’s about a sailing ship that gets stuck in the doldrums, a place on the ocean where no air moves for days and sometimes even for weeks. Because this was an era where ships had no engines and so movement was dependent on air to power sails, the ship just sits there and the sailors begin to run out of food and water to drink.
Here’s how the poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, describes it:
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
Can you imagine that? Being on all that water and being really, really thirsty -- but you can’t drink the ocean water because it’s salty? How awful! Eventually the sailors got so thirsty that they begin to have hallucinations. They began to see things that weren’t there.
The very deep did rot -- Oh Christ!
That ever this should be.
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs,
Upon the slimy sea. (Eek!)
All that water, but you can’t drink it.
Imagine that. In fact, that’s kind of the situation we’re all in, you know? We are surrounded by water. Most of the earth is covered with water (80%). But like the ancient mariner, we can’t drink most of that water. If this 2-liter bottle of water was all the water in the world, this much (3 tablespoons) would be the water we could drink. Oops! But wait, I forgot. One of these tablespoons of water is frozen and one is underground. So of all the water in the world, we have only this much (1 tablespoon) available for us to drink.
Water is absolutely necessary for us to live. We can live without food for about 40-50 days. But we can only live about 5-7 days without fresh water to drink. We have to have it, not just for drinking but for bathing and washing our clothes and cooking and growing plants and animals and all kinds of things.
And God has provided us with all the fresh drinking water we need.
But there’s a limited supply of it, right? And most of it is frozen in glaciers and the polar icecaps at the North and South Poles, or it’s in giant lakes underground. So we have to be careful with the water we have, don’t we?
We have to make sure it stays clean and safe for us to drink.
That’s called being a good steward, taking care of what God has given us so everyone can have some.
I think that maybe we can remember to be good stewards with our water if we make just a little change in the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Next time you’re just letting the water run while you brush your teeth or just flicking your fingers under it, waiting for it to get cold or warm, you can remember this rhyme:
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
And only this (hold up tablespoon) to drink.
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The Immediate Word, February 28, 2016, issue.
Copyright 2016 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
