Providing Living Waters to a Dying World
Rev. Tyrone Pitts
There is a story that is told of a man who
was walking through a graveyard late one night and fell into a hole. Before reaching
the bottom of the hole, he grabbed a tree limb and began crying for his dear life.
Little did he know that his feet were just several inches from the bottom of the
hole? “Is any body there?” he cried over and over again. Finally, he
called out, “Oh God, please help me!”
A voice from the top of the hole responded, “Yes, do you need help?” “Oh yes, please help me!” he replied. Then this voice with great authority, said, “Okay my son. Let go of the tree limb.” After a few minutes of silence, the man raised his voice and said, “Is there anybody else up there?”
Like the man in the hole, our world suffers
from a crisis of faith. We know both intellectually and personally that our nation
and our world are facing one of the greatest crises in human history.
The AIDS epidemic has claimed the lives of
millions and millions of people across the globe. We have witnessed the destruction
of our environment and seen the increase in poverty, racism, and the unparalleled
destruction of communities and nations due to famine and war.
In the name of progress, we have developed
the capacity of feeding the entire world. We have also developed medicines that are
helpful in stopping the spread of AIDS and other diseases. Yet with all this
technology, we witness a dying world in which starving women and children are pitted
against national and international interests. And medicines and health care are
only available to those who can afford it.
In this century alone, we have developed
the communicative technology to advance the cause of brotherhood and sisterhood. Yet
with all of this technology, we witness a dying world in which race and culture fragment
us and cause us to mistrust each other because of the color of our skin, the language we
speak, or our cultural backgrounds.
We now have the capacity to stop the making
and distribution of guns, and weapons of destruction as well as to transform our cities
into living viable non-violent communities. But because of the politics of greed, we
witness a dying world in which the killing of our children is tolerated and, our cities
have been abandoned. We have the capacity for world peace. Yet we live in a
dying world in which economics and selfishness create tensions that foster wars and
destabilize communities. We have the capacity to be better stewards of our world and
protect the natural resources, provide universal health care, which is a natural resource,
but instead we face a dying world in which consumption and consumerism are destroying
without replenishing and taking from the earth without giving back.
For the Christian church, this paradox of
progress has created within us schizophrenia of the soul that causes us to pause and take
notice of the moral and spiritual abnormalities in our lives. While at the same time
we find ourselves indulging, and enjoying the privilege of being pallbearers at the
funeral of a dying world.
Like the disciples in our text this
afternoon, we often struggle with pettiness rather than performance. We are too
concerned about preserving our structures and institutions, and about “who gets the
credit” or “who’s doing what”. In a real sense we have been
waiting for someone else to give the cup of cold water in Jesus’ name to hungry and
thirsty and dying world. We know who we are, but we are not quite sure always of
“whose” we are. We know what we are supposed to do, but somehow we do not
seem to have the capacity to do it.
The Christ we follow must be our living
water. Living water that never runs dry. Living water that leads us and guides
us. Why is it that Jesus compared himself to living water when he met the woman at
the well?
Jesus could have compared himself to any of
the four elements of nature, Earth, Wind, Fire, or Water. But he chose to compare
himself to water.
One of our greatest challenges of the
ecumenical movement today is to transform a dying world. Yet as we confront this
dying world, we are often overwhelmed and lose our perspective and our belief that we as
part of the body of Christ can make a difference.
Like the disciples in our text, we as the
organism that represents one of the largest pieces of the puzzle of the ecumenical
movement often appear to be powerless to perform the duties that it was called to
do. For a moment, reflect with me on this chapter.
Here the disciples were confused and
disoriented when they were unable to cast out the demon from the boy. The feelings
of these disciples are not uncommon to us as followers of Christ. We are often
confused when we do all we can to cast out the demons in our lives and in society and we
end up focusing on internal organizational problems rather than Christian witness.
The challenge for us in the ecumenical movement is the same challenge that these disciples
faced. Their failure was not due to their insincerity or their commitment to follow
Jesus. It was due to their lack of focus and faith.
In other words, Jesus was saying to the
disciples, you are a part of the water, which spring eternal, but you have lost the
dynamic quality of living water. You have become stagnant because you have not
nurtured the spiritual gifts of prayer and fasting within you that revitalize your water
supply. Yes, you are water, but you are focusing your energy in the wrong
direction. You want to be a part of my body, you want to be recognized and accepted
by society, you want people to respect you as my followers and praise you for your power
and authority. But you fail to listen to the cries of the poor. You are so
focused on your own selves that you are not dynamic and living. You are not
flowing. You are dammed up.
The challenge for us as an ecumenical
witness to the power of the body of Christ in the United States of America today is to
become living water in a dying world. Our challenge is to listen to those hidden
voices of the faith that call us to witness and action. Our challenge is to listen
to those voices that speak plainly from their misery, sickness and oppression and
respond. Our challenge today is to listen more faithfully to the voices of the women
of the faith. For it was they who first proclaimed the “Good News” of the
resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our challenge today is to heed the
voices of those who stand on the underside of history, the indigenous, the poor, the needy
and those who suffer with AIDS and other diseases who can not help themselves. To
let God’s power reside in whomever God wills. Our challenge today is not to
confuse unity with uniformity, nor see diversity as disunity. Our challenge today is
to celebrate our oneness in Christ by lifting up our unity and diversity as a symbol of
our being a living, viable ecumenical organism.
Our challenge today is to constantly remind
ourselves of the distinction between culture and Christ. Our challenge is to be an
organic ecumenical witness for Christ not a vehicle or an institution that is self-serving
or glory seeking but to strive to become living water like Jesus who remained faithful
even unto death, providing living water to a dying world.
There were those who thought that they
could stop him or harness him, and separate him from his wellspring eternal. But he
endured.
One of his closest advisors, his chief
accountant, the keeper of his bank account, betrayed him with a kiss. But he refused
to let this act separate him from his wellspring eternal.
His closest friends and aides denied him
when he needed them most. But he refused to let these acts separate him from his
wellspring eternal.
His enemies persecuted him on trumped up
charges, they mocked him, placed a crown of thorns on his head and beat him. But he
refused to let this act of cruelty separate him from his wellspring eternal.
They compelled him to carry his own cross
through the dreary streets of Jerusalem, until he could bear it no longer. But he
refused to let this act separate him for his wellspring eternal.
They took him to old Golgotha’s hill
where they nailed him to an old rugged cross between two thieves; thirsty and dying they
gave him vinegar instead of water to drink. They gambled for his clothes; they
pierced him in his side. But through it all, he refused to let these acts of cruelty
separate him from his wellspring eternal.
Even at his death he provided living water
to a dying world. From the cross, he saved a sinner. From the cross he made
provisions for his mother. From the cross he forgave those who persecuted him.
Like living water that reaches its own
level, he remained the champion of justice, he remained the embodiment of love, he
remained the prince of peace.
Then they took him from that old rugged
cross, placed him in a borrowed grave; and, he lay there until the first day of the week.
He lay there. He lay there until the
calm waters of faith began to stir. He lay there.
He lay there. He lay there until the
kettle of hope began to boil. He lay there.
He lay there. He lay there until the
rain of love began to fall. He lay there.
He lay there until the rivers of mercy
began to overflow. He lay there.
He lay there until the waves of Justice
began to crest. He lay there.
And like water that reaches its own level,
and then overflows when it fills up its space, the grave could not contain him any
longer. So he got up. Yes he got up. He got up, as living water to a
dying world. He got up and proclaimed that all power is in his hands. Because
he lives, we can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because he
lives, we are now able as an ecumenical body to provide living water to a dying world.
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