More Than Water
by Rev. Dr. Kathryn Johnson Cameron
Matthew 10:40-42; Jeremiah 28:5-9; Psalm 89: 1-4, 15-18
Once you walk up the stairs of First Presbyterian Church, Lincolnton, North Carolina, and open the door, you see a water cooler to the right of the entrance. If your eyes are drawn to the sanctuary through the glass interior doors, you might miss seeing the water cooler until you get thirsty and ask someone for a cup of cold water.
Until I came to this church as a guest preacher, I had not seen a water cooler at the doors leading into the sanctuary of a Protestant church. Oh, I had seen the holy water basins at the back of some churches, and I had seen baptismal fonts at the entry to a sanctuary, just not a water cooler.
When a congregation places the baptismal font at the sanctuary's entry, they are making a statement. Because baptism opens the door for us to enter the church, a baptismal font placed where we come to worship each week reminds us of this truth. As Paul taught the Corinthians: we were all baptized in one Spirit to form one body, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
[1]
Passing by the font each week reminds us that we are God's baptized people.
Our Westminster Confession reminds us we participate in a
"sacrament ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the persons baptized into the visible church; but also, a sign and seal of the covenant of grace. We give up our selves unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life."
[2]
The baptismal font at the entrance to the sanctuary makes sense. But a water cooler?
Jesus says, "
whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple ... [will not] lose their reward
."
In these last verses of Matthew's Chapter 10, a part of the gospel unique to Matthew and known as the Missionary Discourse, Jesus sends out disciples in mission with instructions and offers words of warning and promise.
Warning! "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town."
Warning! "See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves."
Promise. "So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered."
Promise. "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me."
Jesus says:
“
Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. Whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous. And, whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward
.”
Rolf Jacobson, Professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary, points out that often when we have heard these words we have concluded that Jesus is telling us what to do in order not to lose the reward:
"In this way of thinking, since Jesus says, "Whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me," this means that I am supposed to welcome the stranger and, by doing so, I am welcoming Jesus and the God who sent Jesus.
Since Jesus says, "Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward," this means that I am supposed to welcome prophets and I will receive a prophet's reward. (Warning: you might not want a prophet's reward since most of the real prophets were rejected!)
Since Jesus says, "whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous," this means that I am supposed to welcome the righteous, and then I will receive the reward of the righteous.
And since Jesus says, "whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones ... [will not] lose their reward," this means I am supposed to offer "a cup of cold water" to needy and vulnerable people that I might not lose the reward."
[3]
The most helpful conclusion of this way of thinking is for us to hear, as we hear elsewhere in scripture, that God bids us welcome the stranger, the vulnerable. I know I've heard these words in such a way before. I've preached just such an interpretation of this passage.
But that was before I saw the water cooler at the entrance to the sanctuary and just inside the access through the church doors at First Presbyterian, Lincolnton.
What happens when these doors soon close as our congregation concludes its ministry? Where will we find water?
If the water cooler greets us as we enter the church sanctuary, does it not send us out into the world as we exit? What if when we hear this passage today, we are meant to remember water carriers await us out in the world who will welcome us and give us a cup of cold water? What if we, with the disciples, are meant to hear that we are the vulnerable, the little ones? What if, for this time, and for a little while yet, it will be better to receive than to give?
Water carriers are those who transport water in buckets, on their backs, balanced on their heads. They serve up water in cups, glasses, water bottles, cupped hands. They transport and share the deep well water that quenches thirst, cleans soiled hands, and heals wounds.
We find the image of a water carrier around the world and in our salvation history. Abraham and Sarah carried water to fulfill their obligation of hospitality to the three strangers who visited them in the desert. Today more than water, Jesus invites us to receive the hospitality of our ancestors in the faith.
People of Malawi carry water for miles to provide sanitation and healing, an act of righteousness. Today, more than water, Jesus invites us to receive the moral justice of those who provide for our cleansing, and healing.
Kaitlin B. Curtice writes about the women of her Potawatomi culture, where women are water protectors. "To be women who are water protectors means that we know that the water that runs through our bodies is connected to the sacred waters that give sustenance to the lands around us."
[4]
In an epiphany about water and her mixed Indigenous/Christian identity, Curtice poses this question: "What if our stories of baptism in the church were rooted in the same idea of our new beginnings of person-hood?"
[5]
Or, as Matthew put it: to be baptized in Christ is to know the human need for water. Today, more than water, Jesus invites us to know our need.
Grace Baek, a prophet of recent news, reports that 1/3 of the population in the Navajo Nation "does not have running water in their homes during a time when hand-washing is critical. It also has one of the highest
COVID-19 infection rates
per capita in the U.S."
[6]
Baek also mentions a nonprofit Prophet, George McGraw:
"George McGraw is the founder of
DigDeep
, a nonprofit focused on water access issues. He said the Navajo Nation isn't alone in its need for water. Over 2 million Americans across all 50 states don't have any running water or a flush toilet at home, but Native Americans have trouble accessing water more than any other group.
The United States built one of the world's most successful water and sanitation systems, with the New Deal expanding the development to include rural areas in the 1930s. Still, McGraw said that system was never designed to serve everybody. '"If you were poor or a community of color, you were deliberately sidelined out of the infrastructural development built to serve the rest of the country.'"
[7]
Matthew might ask us, have the Black and Indigenous People of Color in our country been rewarded for receiving us?
While we might want to reject these prophetic voices as outsiders, today, more than water, Jesus invites us to be welcomed by what they have to say, to receive their wisdom.
Matthew invites us to hear the promise of Jesus' invitation to receive as part of Jesus' broader commandment to follow him into the world in mission. Jesus tells his disciples as it were, "I am sending you into a dangerous world as part of my mission to love, save, bless, and be reconciled to that very world. It is dangerous out there. But you will find welcome. Those who welcome and receive you, also welcome and receive me—and they will be rewarded."
What does this mean for First Presbyterian Church Lincolnton as we conclude this ministry and our congregation is dissolved?
In part, it means that our ministries must exit the building. It means that we do not take the water cooler with us. We don't fill our extra water bottles and canteens. It means that we must now get out there and offer ourselves up as the guest of other peoples' welcome.
Jesus says, not all will welcome you, but some will—and by offering yourself up as the guest for those people to welcome, you will be manifesting for those people the blessings of both Jesus and God who sent him. You will be manifesting the Spirit of which we all are invited to drink.
Imagine. In the newness of life that awaits us, by simply offering ourselves as the guest of another person's welcome, as guests of other peoples and nations, we will be received as partners in Christ's new ministries of grace. Amen.
[1]
1 Corinthians 12:13, part of Paul's teaching on spiritual gifts, precedes the well-known passage on love's kindness, patience, and endurance.
[3]
A Risk Worth Taking by Rolf Jacobson - Craft of Preaching .... https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=5441
[4]
Curtice, Kaitlin. "Water That Knows Me." The Christian Century, vol. 137, no. 9, Christian Century Foundation, Apr. 2020, p. 32.
[5]
Curtice, Kaitlin.
NATIVE: Identity, Belonging and Rediscovering God
. Brasos Press, 2020, p. 11.
[6]
Navajo Nation residents face corona virus without running water. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/navajo-nation-residents-face-coronavirus-without-running-water/ar-BB13OvaI.
The picture of the water cooler at the entrance to the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church, Lincolnton, was taken by Anne Godfrey, June 27, 2020.
