In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today we officially bring to a close our participation in the Kairos water campaign. Now this does not mean that we cannot continue to educate ourselves further around the issues related to the privatization of water or contribute to the Malawi well project. I encourage you to continue to read, reflect and act because the water issue is important and it will continue to grow more important as we move ever further into the summer season and the twenty-first century. For we are involved in a fight for survival. The world is running out of fresh water. With every passing day, our demand for fresh water outstrips its availability and thousands of more people are put at risk.

Over the past five months we have explored water from a variety of angles. We have looked at its place in our daily lives in terms of bathing, cooking, recreation etc. We have looked at its place in the relationships between nation states-the wars of the future will not be fought over oil but over water. We have looked at its place in the relationships that exist within the midst of creation. In each of these we have approached the subject of water from the perspective of the physical-literal.

We have also explored the issue of water as a metaphor-more than literal and its place in the Biblical story. We have looked at water as source of life and sign of miracles, hospitality, and salvation. Hopefully, you have come to understand in a deeper way that water is life. So powerful is this truism that it courses through the Bible like a mighty river. A river flows out of Eden, our mythical birthplace, and yet it runs through the New Jerusalem found in our reading from the book of Revelation. Baptized in the river Jordan, Jesus begins his mission to bring the good news concerning the Kingdom of God. In our Gospel reading from John, he welcomes the Samaritan woman to drink from the “living water”.

Now at its most basic level, our reading is simply a conversation between two individuals, an act which we engage in each and everyday. But when we begin to dig beneath the surface there is much more to it. For those of you who were here last Sunday this is an example of the contrast between the “purity system” and the “compassion system” of Jesus. The Samaritan woman is impure by birth according to the laws of Judaism because she is a woman and this impurity is compounded by the fact that she is a Samaritan. “For Jews do not associate with Samaritans” v.9

But we see Jesus through his compassion system breaking down these religious boundaries by engaging the Samaritan woman in conversation. Now the actual conversation operates on different levels as well. Jesus makes a statement concerning water and the woman takes it in the wrong sense. Jesus remakes the statement in an even more vivid way. It is still misunderstood; and then Jesus compels the woman to face the truth concerning herself.

The woman understands water in a literal sense but Jesus is using water in the metaphorical sense-more than literal. He speaks in terms of “living water”.  Sometimes the rabbis identified this living water with the wisdom of the Law or the Holy Spirit of God, which quenches the thirst of soul. Jesus then goes on to make a even more startling statement that he could give her living water which would satisfy her thirst of soul forever.

Now at the center of this conversation there is the fundamental truth that each of us a human beings thirst-both literally and metaphorically. There is a thirst for something. It might be a thirst for wealth, material goods or celebrity status. It might be a thirst for justice, truth or peace. But each of us, as philosophers, sages and theologians, have pointed out over the centuries thirst for something.
St. Augustine once said, “our hearts are being restless till they find rest in God”.

Unfortunately, in our consumer driven society too many who thirst settle for something that only  quenches their thirst for a little while-rather than seeking the “living water” of the Kingdom of God. They turn to drinks that are appealing to the eye and filled with sugar-a spiritual Coca-Cola, which we are told, is the real thing. But in the end gives you a slight buzz and always leaves you wanting more. And yes even the church is guilty of dispensing this stuff which does not satisfy.

Now the other evening I was reading an article by the theologian Don Cupitt who was addressing the issue of religion in our consumer society. He said that those of us who take religious and philosophical questions seriously in our day and age, those of who have tasted the living water in our day and age, are often perceived by the wider society as simply having a chemical imbalance. We only have to get our medication straightened away and everything will be back to normal.

And yet each of us has tasted the living water of which Christ speaks. We have tasted immediately the satisfaction and healing that it brings. It is the living water that has sustained each of us through the many years of our lives, and has given us meaning in a rapidly changing world. Now how deeply each of us has tasted the water is a question that only each one of us can answer.

But as followers of Jesus Christ it is always a case of immersing ourselves ever deeper into the living water that he offers. A lifelong practice marked by meditation upon the word and putting that word of peace, love and compassion into action. This kind of discipleship judges none to be heretics, none to be outside God’s plan of salvation for all of creation.

It lies open to the vision of God’s truth in all world religions and to His light in the life of each person. It stands firmly on the sayings of Jesus that belonging to the Kingdom of God is not a matter of piously using the right words or rituals, but of humbly seeking to do the will of God in the ordinary moments of our lives.
THANKS BE TO GOD, AMEN.