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Pastor Dave's Perspective |
A couple of Sundays ago in the Prayers of the Church, Pastor Brad prayed for those whose lives have been ravaged by floods in Southern Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and other parts of the Upper Mid-west. In the prayer Pastor Brad spoke of the life-giving yet destructive force of water. This got me to thinking about the element no creature can live with out. Water is the source and sustaining need of creation. Yet, water has the power to destroy and end life. The scriptures are filled with images of water's life sustaining and life taking force. In Genesis, when God created earth, there was water and God commanded that it bring forth "swarms of living creatures". In the book of Exodus God lead the Hebrew people through the Red Sea to freedom. However, the Egyptian army that pursued them drowned in the water's destructive force. Noah and his family trusted God, built an ark, and survived the waters of God's wrath. In the New Testament, John the Baptist baptized Jesus with water in the Jordan River. In the gospel of John, Jesus instructs a man blind from birth to go wash in the pool of Siloam and he received sight. Also in John, Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at the well. He tells her of life giving water that will never leave her thirsty and will become a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. We have been baptized with water and the word. In baptism is the image of water's deadly power. Through the death of Christ the old life of sin and death is drowned through baptism. The old polluted waters of our lives have been swept away by the grace of God. At the same time, the baptismal water gives new life. In the Small Catechism Martin Luther writes that water with the word is life-giving water that by grace gives us new birth through the Holy Spirit. May those who are experiencing the destructive and deadly power of water be sustained and strengthened by the life giving water that is Jesus Christ. We pray that the people of Southern Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and elsewhere, would be given new birth physically and spiritually. At the same time, may God use make us to be life-giving water. We can be sources of life-giving water as we contribute to flood relief efforts through Lutheran Disaster Response, the Salvation Army, and Red Cross. Perhaps, as was done last summer after the flooding in Rushford, a work crew could be organized to help clean up or furniture could be collected for those who lost their possessions. At the very least, we can be sources of life-giving water as we pray that new life would be given to those who suffer. We can't live without water but at times it's difficult to live with it. However, no matter what nature does with water, there is water that will never leave us thirsty and will well up to springs of eternal life, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Summer Blessings Pastor Dave |