Come to the Water (Lent 1, Feb 26)

Readings Revelation 22:1-5, 16-17, Matthew 3:1-6
 
Lent begins, and here is your invitation for this whole season:
The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’
And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.
 
The vision of Revelation is of the river of life, which flows from the throne of God and the Lamb through the streets. The river gives life to trees on each side, the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations. 
 
Come to this river, come to these waters, anyone who hears this, anyone who thirsts, come to the waters, take the water of life as a gift.
 
You who thirst for righteousness and justice - come to the water of life, drink, and be refreshed for the work.
You who thirst for mercy and relief - come to the water, drink, Christ is with you always.
You who thirst for wisdom and truth - come to the water, drink, be nourished by the Word.
You who thirst for new life - come to the water, drink, and die and rise with Christ.
 
For just as the Spirit and the Bride say come, so too did John. John called the people to the waters of the Jordan, for here too the water brought life: repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near. 
 
You who mourn what has gone - the kingdom of heaven has come near, Christ sets us free from the past.
You who fear what is to come - the kingdom of heaven has come near, Christ gives us a future
You who don’t know what step to take - the kingdom of heaven has come near, Christ walks beside you.
 
Traditionally the church has practised baptisms on Easter Sunday. The Lenten season of preparation and repentance functioned well in readying new converts to immerse themselves in the water of life, to die and rise with Christ. The Lenten season, echoing Christ’s time in the wilderness, teaches us to rely on Christ for everything, even life itself. Lent readies us to answer Christ when he calls us from our boats, to live lives that prepare the way for the Lord!
 
We who have been baptised are also invited to come, come and drink the waters of life. The invitation is not to be baptised again, but to remember your baptism, remember the new life inside you, remember Christ’s claim on your life, remember that the kingdom of heaven has drawn near, has sprung up within you! For those of us already baptised can still grow thirsty, we too need to be refreshed and nourished, we too need to be led to water and reminded to drink. Take this time to draw nearer to God, to reflect on anything that has grown up in our life which is interfering with our worship and witness, which is distracting us from the need of our neighbour, which is crowding out our seeking of the kingdom. 
 
The waters of our life can often feel polluted, or that their flow is being stifled somewhere upstream. Whether that be the industrial pollutants of systemic sexism, racism, economic scarcity, or ecological crisis, or whether that be the damming of potential caused by trauma, abuse, harsh words, undue pressure or low expectations. There are forces, and people, and moments in our past and present, or looming over our future that can muddy our waters. The waters of the world, so easily degraded, might not feel inviting, or refreshing, or life giving. But these are not the only waters… the waters of life, that flow from the throne of God and the lamb, these break through dam walls, these burst over the banks, these purify and transform stagnant waters, so that we might drink again! So that we might immerse ourselves once more, so that we might luxuriate in the waters that bring healing and wholeness, restoration and new life! 
 
So come! The Spirit says come! Let these waters cleanse and renew, let these waters refresh and remind, let these waters quench and revive. For the waters of life are a gift of God. In them we have the freedom to repent, in them we feel the closeness of the kingdom, and by following their stream we make the path straight and prepare the way for the Lord.
 
This Lent, all Lent, remember: 
The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’
And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.


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Image: Claude Monet, Banks of the Seine, Vétheuil, 1880