The people of Israel successfully escaped slavery in the land of Egypt. In Exodus 17, they were in the wilderness and found themselves oppressed by new problems. The water supply dwindled and disappeared. Thirst quickly grew from a desire to a desperate need. The parched throats of the Israelites became the instruments for grumbling against Moses. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and cattle in this arid desert?” What did Moses do? He called on God for help and from a rock that Moses struck, fresh drinking water began to flow. Their question, “Is the Lord among us or not?” was answered.

Now we look the other way to our gospel for today as presented through both the children’s drama and children’s message. We’re taken to a well located outside a small town by the name of Sychar. As Jesus rested in the shade of a tree, a Samaritan woman with a shady reputation came to draw water. She had a checkered past of broken promises and shattered relationships. Her dignity and confidence had dried up like the bottom of her water bucket in the noon day heat. In a startling, but affirming interchange between the woman and Jesus, drinking water was shared and grace overflowed. The woman was changed and she moved from shadows to sunlight, from problems to possibilities.

The Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon, heard tales of an island in the Bahamas called Bimini which reputedly held a Fountain of Youth. This spring supposedly possessed living waters with the power to restore vitality to the aged. Ponce de Leon searched for these living waters, but never discovered them. We still engage in such quests, but the living water is more commonly known as hair dye, weight rooms, face lifts, diet programs, collagen injections, vitamin supplements and liposuction. Alas, such treatments are fleeting at best. However, the Hebrews in the wilderness and the Samaritan at the well were reminded that there is a source of living water that satisfies completely and eternally.

Deb and I had the privilege of getting away for a warm vacation the very last week of January. We rented a small townhouse on Sanibel Island off the Gulf Coast of Florida. She and I have been down on several occasions in years past, but this was the first time our children and granddaughter joined us for the better part of the week. At fourteen months old, Lauren was enamored with the beach. She enjoyed the warm, wide open spaces to run without bulky winter clothes. She loved making sand castles and picking up shells. But her biggest delight was trotting to the ocean’s edge with a little plastic watering can.

Lauren toddled as quickly as she could toward the wet sand and then would slowly inch forward, all the while watching the rhythm of the waves rolling in. She’d get out just far enough giggling each time a wave swept cool ocean water up over her feet and ankles and then receded again. Then she’d gesture for help filling her little yellow watering can with water, hold my finger to balance better as she navigated the uneven beach while carrying her new load, and then march right up to her sunbathing mommy and daddy and pour the chilly water over their feet. Their funny reactions touched Lauren with joy. And then she’d turn right around and repeat the process again and again and again…

It strikes me as an apt image of how we all receive and share living waters. In faith, we’re all called to venture out into the deep; to get our feet wet in new experiences and in the process to be surrounded by the love of God that steadily and consistently rolls over us like waves. Then we are to hold a measure of that infinite love in these stumbling, unsure lives of ours and reach out for help as we walk the rough and bumpy path of life; in community we trust that others will be there to hold us up, even as they trust in us to do the same for them. And then finally we pour the waters of grace over the feet of others, serving with joy in ways that meet heartfelt needs. Living Water flows from God’s love; Living Water flows in community; Living Water flows through service. In a world of figurative and literal longing for souls and bodies to be quenched, God’s gifts of creation and Christ pour out abundantly upon us!

I now invite you to participate in a simple ritual reminding us of how we are blessed by Living Water. Please come forward at the direction of the ushers. Our offering will be received at the sides of the aisles. Through the sounds of water that continue to play, images of water that will be shown, singing of the hymn about water printed in your bulletin, the touch of water upon your hands and the gift of a small shell from Sanibel Island; may you quietly reflect on blessings in your life; blessings like baptism, family, friends, a wonderful and fragile world, memories past and memories yet to be made, blessings that are all sources of living water! Jesus said, “The water that I will give will become a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)