Tag Archives: Nurtured by God

Living Water

Lent

March 14, 2020

Scripture Reading: John 4:5-42

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’—John 4:7-15

When I lived in Colorado back in the 1970’s water was a precious commodity. Colorado is an arid land with limited water. I learned new habits and quickly quit taking water for granted. Israel, too, is an arid land and the well described in the story above was an ancestral gift to a people who valued its presence in their lives. The Samaritan women understood well the value of an abundant, permanent source of water their very lives depended on it. She also understood that this man Jesus was talking about a source of nurture beyond the routine needs of human bodies. Our souls also require nurture.

In Times Like These
By Ruth Caye Jones – Mother Jones

In times like these, we need a Savior
In times like these, we need an anchor
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock

This Rock is Jesus, Yes, He’s the one
This Rock is Jesus, The only One
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock

Prayer: Lord, we need your nurture now as we deal with deadly viruses and environmental threats. Guild our actions in responds to these challenges while undergirding with your loving nurture.  Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Bounded by Love

Kingdom Building

August 13, 2019

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7

And now I will tell you
   what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
   and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
   and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste;
   it shall not be pruned or hoed,
   and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
   that they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
   is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
   are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
   but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
   but heard a cry! –Isaiah 5:5-7

As I read this, I remember a sermon I heard many years ago when I was in grade school that obviously left an impression. I do not remember the preacher and thus it must have been one of the interims from Phillips Theological Seminary then located in Enid, Oklahoma. Between student preachers, professors would fill our pulpit at times until a new person was selected. In my naivete I did not know I was being blessed by some outstanding theologians in my tiny rural church like Craddock and Carstensen.

The preacher had us image God as being like a fence in the front yard of a home enclosing a beautiful lush lawn and trees where a small child was playing enjoying the wonders of God’s good earth without restraint as cars and trucks sped by the busy street next to the yard. Then he said image allowing the child to play in the yard with no fence with nothing to stop her from running into the street after a wayward ball and no one there to keep out the weeds and maintain the grass. I wonder if the preacher’s scripture for the day was the one quoted above.

We bristle at being restrained by even Jesus’ simple rules of loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Willfulness stretches us to search beyond God’s common sense and self-righteousness asserts we do not need anyone or anything, we’ve got this.

I think most of us would say after watching the evening news that as a society we cannot say we’ve got this. We are missing the mark as individuals and as society. I think a little soul searching would benefit us all and call us to implore God to help us repair our fences.

Prayer:
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
forgive our foolish ways;
reclothe us in our rightful mind,
in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence, praise*. Amen

*First verse of Dear Lord and father of mankind, written by John Greenleaf Whitter, see at https://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Dear_Lord_and_Father_of_Mankind/

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

On Being Like a Green Olive Tree

olives_close_upLiving in the Spirit
July 13, 2016

Scripture Reading: Psalm 52

But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
for ever and ever.
I will thank you for ever,
because of what you have done.
In the presence of the faithful
I will proclaim your name, for it is good. –Psalm 52:8-9

The olive tree, Olea europaea, is very hardy: drought-, disease- and fire-resistant, it can live to a great age. Its root system is robust and capable of regenerating the tree even if the above-ground structure is destroyed. The older the olive tree, the broader and more gnarled the trunk becomes. Many olive trees in the groves around the Mediterranean are said to be hundreds of years old, while an age of 2,000 years is claimed for a number of individual trees; in some cases, this has been scientifically verified.*

Followers of God are called to be like green olive trees. Resilient in all kinds of weather, even if they seem to die from the cold, they regenerate. I find it interesting that they do better in less than perfect soil. Apparently, green olive trees do not know how to deal with nutrient-rich soil. I am not exactly sure what that means in light of the parable of the sower. It may be saying that necessary spiritual nurturing accompanies our call to be conduits of the kingdom of God even when addressing the worst of conditions. It could mean that once we create rich soil, we are not just to rest in it and quit producing quality fruit where it is needed. We should never waste good.

I grew up on a farm, and remember one year in particular after receiving a lot of rain, we had gorgeous tomato plants. While they grew tall with beautiful leaves, only a few flowered. Thus we had very few tomatoes.

Never finished, our work must continue to bear fruit until righteousness is a reality for all of God’s children.

Prayer: Lord, continue to nurture us wherever you plant us. Amen.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive#Ancient_Israel_and_Hebrew_Bible

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.