<html><body><div>Part 2</div><div><br></div><div><p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Hebrew Scripture professor, Cameron Howard, wrote:</span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“As I reflect on (the verses of the first reading), I’m drawn first to the reminder that water has been, since the beginning of the earth itself, the most essential resource for life. The United Nations <a href="http://send.luthersem.edu/t/l?ssid=13694&subscriber_id=akzgoakopricnwkmcghscggtcxqkbie&delivery_id=ankszcbjmvcffuheqlceewcxkyxxbed&td=9gUr9ryLX59GA1tClOGWXQXtka1jb6PIQE1TxNRwBqominGiSyJoF62OQz4YfPFpBLe5LpRrHMA4ZEhAls0fuEUHRQYcF5ykVpczg31go7mDC0GspHPWguij3-bkqj0kUDipkJWy8zqnewl5sjFgCr_LpfDry-ab2IQTRyqmlNBNYrvw1ZoKxY-u9PQkYWtEnsAtNHPMLP2LvGB6NrbY3zNRs3qO9MyQzCGHeZPTi1vLwbSvO4uYY4Ng" target="_blank"><span style="margin: 0px; color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">reports</span></a> that </span><strong><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;'>783 million people in the world do not have access to clean water</span></strong><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>, </span></b><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>and global water supplies continue to <a href="http://send.luthersem.edu/t/l?ssid=13694&subscriber_id=akzgoakopricnwkmcghscggtcxqkbie&delivery_id=ankszcbjmvcffuheqlceewcxkyxxbed&td=oOExi4mV3vC2ILFa3RKmPgjS4rjozS7-jRKZX5wMBWu_OJ9m5nZkzwx5hAgCfRSiS2J3YHVZ8HngezifKZ18sFDEF0XH45MPDp6x7JBYDvClNeHnRXxL16lY9bgrRPlJOZfGED-DXHk4vqS21kMIt7qK6UAWJjNtGQgxhRqUfS1K-Me8J89OrCLQ6wfRQ4fxSci8NY_CHS53KylHkjW2N7Ol5cTB5O-VNr1XXmhNAMNRlGNHZQAq61vQ" target="_blank"><span style="margin: 0px; color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">shrink</span></a>. We may not have Moses’ staff around to coax water out of rocks, but churches can take concrete steps around their own buildings and property to lead communities in conservation efforts.”</span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Water, as plentiful and as common-place as it is for most of us here, represents the difference between life and death for many. It represents whether or not one has any power to help one’s self, or whether everyone one does and lives is dictated by someone else. Literally, water is life.</span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“Several years ago,” Cameron Howard wrote, “my own congregation turned the mundane task of replacing the parking lot into an <a href="http://send.luthersem.edu/t/l?ssid=13694&subscriber_id=akzgoakopricnwkmcghscggtcxqkbie&delivery_id=ankszcbjmvcffuheqlceewcxkyxxbed&td=6jY-P8VduCKffpE90Tk68AHKoYMIXTKjlvUPQPZd5b53LKD4COBt4GVzA19Pcr16i3nH07ezC-RvMEw0SRVED5bsgyeJft5T6MOfPRFFJMx8mwWV99-gSqttNftdvEWMsn6mU6OKy3VivBCQPredQ_-rZaYQ35hATn5gDtOw_TOzV9FsNLP83Q3J_j7ZXNqAeUId4ufGPnh-p3hegC_nWN2y0gPuHFIcNLmabF4qpziat4K0QmkVxUng" target="_blank"><span style="margin: 0px; color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">opportunity</span></a> to add pervious pavers and multiple rain gardens to the property, dramatically reducing storm water runoff and providing space for native plants and trees to flourish. As Lent ushers in the spring, it can be a great time to conduct a water audit or research local grant opportunities for conservation-oriented property improvements.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“At the same time, this text also moves me to consider the way lack of water can operate as a metaphor. Many congregations and faith-based institutions I know are ‘thirsty’ right now: thirsting for money, for human resources, for strong leadership, for survival.” <sup>4</sup></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The Hebrew people in the desert, the Samaritan women. The early Christians in Rome – they <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><u>ALL</u></b> sought ways in which their lives could be sustained and enriched. We here in this room, as well as folk across Albany and beyond – we too long for a sense of security and fulfilment. Like the Hebrews, like the Samaritan women, like the Roman Christians, we need to find assurance that we’re cared for, both as individuals and as communities. We need to find experiences which talk about the Presence of God in our midst. We need water and all that it represents, and we need, desperately need, to learn to share water that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>ALL</u></b> may have life, both the Living Water of which Jesus spoke and the physical water which He needed also.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The twentieth-century Welsh poet and priest R. S. Thomas’ work didn’t catch the imagination of many right away. He dealt with difficult subjects. He wasn’t one for painting altogether cheerful pictures. He recognized not only our hungers and thirsts but also the way that we cause hungers and thirsts. Thomas’ “<span style="background: white; margin: 0px; color: black;">work continues to resonate with compelling freshness and urgency as a new century of uncertainty unfolds. … (Former) Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has written, R.S. Thomas was … a ‘great articulator of uneasy faith.’”</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The Hebrew people, the Samaritan woman and all the townsfolk she brought out to meet Jesus, we here – all of thirst because we’re not sure of the Presence of God. All of us, no matter how often we may have heard the words, “The Body of Christ” “The Blood of Christ, given for you”, all of us run into dryness in our lives. We need to have our thirst assuaged.</span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the poem, “The Coming” Thomas “alludes in its own fashion to the Good Friday story:</span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><em><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>And God held in his hand</span></em><i><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>A small globe. Look, he said.</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The son looked. Far off,</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>As through water, he saw</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>A scorched land of fierce</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Colour. The light burned</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There; crusted buildings</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Cast their shadows: a bright</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Serpent, a river</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Uncoiled itself, radiant</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>With slime.</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>On a bare</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Hill a bare tree saddened</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The sky. Many people</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Held out their thin arms</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>To it, as though waiting</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>For a vanished April</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>To return to its crossed</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Boughs. The son watched</span></em><br><em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Them. Let me go there, he said.”</span></em></span></i><em><sup><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal;'> </span></sup></em><sup><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>5</span></sup></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><em><span style='margin: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We need to find a way to remove all the slime from others’ lives and our own. We need to find water for all that flows clear and pure. As Jean Vanier summarised, </span></em><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>“Jesus is revealing that if we drink from the fountain of the love and compassion of God, we become a fountain of love and compassion. If we receive the Spirit of God, we will give the Spirit of God. The life we receive is the life we give.”<sup>6</sup><b><br></b><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Let it be so!</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>NOTES:</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>[1]</span></span></span></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2"> </font><span style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2"> </font></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><font size="2">“The Samaritan Woman”</font></i><span style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2"> </font></span><font size="2">by Duccio. See</font><span style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2"> </font></span><a href="http://www.artbible.info/art/large/801.html"><font color="#0000ff" size="2">http://www.artbible.info/art/large/801.html</font></a><span style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2"> </font></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></b></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>2</span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></b><span style='background: white; margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><a href="http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54775"><font color="#0000ff">http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54775</font></a><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><sup><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>3</span></sup></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">“</i></span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John”</span></i><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> by Jean Vanier. Paulist Press,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"> </b>Mahway, N.J.(c) 2004. Page 93. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;">Quoted by Suzanne Guthrie in <i>“At the Edge of the Enclosure: Soulwork Toward Sunday: Self-Guided Retreat </i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"> <span style="margin: 0px;">Lent 3 (Year A)”</span> </i><span style="margin: 0px;">March 19, 2017 </span></span><strong><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;'>"The Well of Love"</span></strong><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> <span style="margin: 0px;">Suzanne Guthrie <span style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 51);"><a href="http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/lent3a.html"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/lent3a.html</font></a></span></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 51); font-family: "Eurostile","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><span style="margin: 0px;"><font face="Calibri" size="3"> </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="margin: 0px;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>3</span></b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“</span></b><strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;'>Water of Life” </span></i></strong><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>By Cameron B. R. Howard 14<sup>th</sup> March, 2017 Luther Seminary <span style="margin: 0px;"><a target="_blank"><span style="margin: 0px; color: windowtext;">communic@luthersem.edu</span></a></span> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2"> </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2">4</font></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2"> </font></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><font size="2">“The Coming”</font></i><font size="2"> by R.S. Thomas. See the essay at </font><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2011/04/20/r-s-thomas-poet-of-the-cross/8661/"><font color="#0000ff" size="2">http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2011/04/20/r-s-thomas-poet-of-the-cross/8661/</font></a><span style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2"> </font></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style='margin: 0px; color: red; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></b></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>5</span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>Jean Vanier, Op. cit. Page 94.</span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p></div><div><br></div></body></html>