WILDERNESS STREAMS

 JANUARY 20, 2023

Isaiah 43:19

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 44:3

I will pour water on the thirsty land
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my spirit upon your descendants
and my blessing on your offspring.

John 4:10,14

Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water. . . those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”


I am going to invite you to use your imagination to picture in your minds eye a painting I want to describe to you. The artist created a painting that was inspired by our reading above, called “Living Water”. He painted a barren desert floor, so dry and cracked from the sun that parts of the hard ground started to lift off around the edges. Can you picture it? Then, hope arrives. A whole pool of water appears in the wasteland and sends ripples out from its centre. Looking closely, one can see that a shape becomes visible, it seems almost overlaid on the water. It’s the outline of Jesus with outstretched arms. The Living Water himself. I hope you can see it all in your mind’s eye.

Jesus told the woman at the well that whoever drinks living water will never be thirsty again (John 4:14). God says through Isaiah (55:1), "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters". Our readings today promise streams in the wasteland and water on the thirsty land.

I wonder are you feeling dried up at the moment? Is there a wasteland you are crossing? We have those times in our life don't we. Today we are encouraged to remember that the promised "Living Water" is right here now. It wells up inside us like a bubbling spring. With Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we will never thirst again. The water soaks the dried-up ground and transforms it, creating a new landscape. Now the ground is ready for new growth and renewed life. I pray that today will be a day in which a cracked patch of wasteland in your life is rejuvenated by a welling up of the "Living Water."

LET US PRAY

Holy Spirit, Living Water, flow in us and set us free.
Cleanse our unbelief and sorrow, wash our eyes and make us see.
Holy Spirit, come as wind and blow the dust of death away.
Breathe the gift of life into us, lighten hearts to laugh and play.
Holy Spirit, rushing fire, burn with truth and justice here.
Catch our minds alight with passion, perfect love that drives out fear.
Holy Spirit, come in silence, wordlessly to heal and bless.

Be the heart that prays within us; fill the void with tenderness. Holy Spirit, blessed Wisdom, teach us all of God’s delight. Offer us the wine of grace and make us children of the Light. Amen. 

(Elizabeth Smith)



Ephesians 3:17-19

May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.