Loading...Sermon March 25, 2016
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
“I thirst” John 19:28
Please be seated.
One of the things about growing up in Central Pennsylvania is the abundance of rivers and creeks. Some of my earliest memories are of crossing the Susquehanna River into Harrisburg on Friday afternoons to pick up my father from work.
We only had one car and on Fridays my dad could get a ride into work with someone. My mom then had the car to run errands, like grocery shopping. When it got close to 5:00, my two brothers and I would get in the car and mom would drive into Harrisburg to pick up dad.
My mother wasn’t the best driver and you can imagine driving into Harrisburg on a Friday afternoon wasn’t all that great either. Then add three rambunctious children to the mix and you have quite a trip ahead of you. In the way of children, we somehow sensed this nervousness on my mother’s part, especially as we got closer to the traffic of the city. So we developed a game. We decided that if you spoke a word while crossing the Harvey Taylor Bridge over the Susquehanna River, sharks would rise up out of the water and get you! That’s how we kept ourselves very quiet as we crossed that mile-wide river.
Living in this area distorts your sense of water and the size of rivers and creeks. Most creeks in Central Pennsylvania would be rivers in other parts of our country. When I was young, and we talked about rivers, like Caesar swimming the Tiber, I thought that was something amazing, because I pictured the Susquehanna. When I actually saw the Tiber, I thought it looked more like a creek!
Yes, we’ve had times of drought in this area, but for the most part, we are blessed with an abundance of water. This is not so for most of the world. Listen to these facts:
1. By the year 2040 there will not be enough water in the world to quench the thirst of the world population and keep the current energy and power solutions going if we continue doing what we are doing today. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140729093112.htm
2. While it takes about 12 gallons per day to sustain a human the average American uses about 158 gallons. //science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/run-out-of-water1.htm
3. The Pacific Institute, which studies issues of water and global security, found a fourfold increase in violent confrontations over water over the last decade. "I think the risk of conflicts over water is growing – not shrinking – because of increased competition, because of bad management and, ultimately, because of the impacts of climate change," said Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute. //www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/09/global-water-shortages-threat-terror-war
As we all know, water is a necessary resource for most, if not all, living creatures. It is a resource about which we must use with great care. I think it’s more difficult to be aware of that here, because we see so much water flowing so much of the time. Yet, we must all learn to conserve water and to protect our water resources.
And tonight, as we recall Jesus hanging on the cross, we remember how much a sip of water would have comforted him. Some of you may have experienced a similar sensation when you’ve had surgery or been sick and your mouth feels so dry, yet you cannot have a drink. A lack of water increases suffering. A lack of water increased Jesus’ suffering that day when he died that horrible death. Lack of water will increase our suffering and that of our children if we don’t pay attention to the conservation of water.
Remembering Jesus’ suffering at the end of his life, can help to remind us to value the water we have and can at this point in time, freely use.
Also, in Jesus’ declaration of his physical need, I believe there is also a spiritual invitation from Jesus to each of us. “I thirst,” says Jesus. I believe Jesus thirsted for us… for our souls…for our very being. Jesus thirsted for us to come to him…to come to God…to live our lives filled with love and care and justice.
We can see by his crucifixion that the people of his time rejected Jesus’ invitation. They were not interested in quenching Jesus’ thirst physically nor spiritually. They made that abundantly clear, to the point that his closest friends and followers weren’t sure whether to keep following him.
And we know that we often as individuals and as a church community continue to reject Jesus' invitation. Sometimes we're afraid. Sometimes we're selfish. Sometimes we're oblivious to what's in front of us.
Yet, there on the cross, Jesus continues to make the invitation. Jesus never gives up on us. Jesus never forgets us.
“I thirst,” Jesus says. How will we individually and together as the community of Nativity and St. Stephen respond?
Amen
