The Park Road Pulpit
Sermons from Park Road Baptist Church
Russ and Amy Jacks Dean, Pastors
got water?
Exodus 17:1-7 and John 4:5-15
Amy Jacks Dean, March 3, 2002
“In 1993, milk consumption in California had declined steadily for 20 years, so milk processors from all over the state banded together to do something about it. The research that followed revealed some very interesting insights. First, people know just about all they need to know about milk. It’s white, comes in gallons and is good for you. Second, you can’t substitute any other beverage for milk when you’ve got a mouth full of oreo cookies or a bowl of your favorite cereal. Finally, and most importantly, people notice milk most when they suddenly run out of it. Thus was born [the advertising campaign for got milk?] . . . Has it worked? Indeed. The decline in milk sales has been halted. But beyond sales, got milk? has become part of the American vernacular. People like Cosby, Roseanne, Rosie and Leno have done got milk? comedy skits. [Hundreds of stars – movie, music, and athletic stars have posed with mild mustaches.] They’ve even heard from consumers that their kids come into the kitchen, cookie in hand, asking for a `glass of got milk?’” (Taken from a got milk? website www.gotmilk.com)
I wish Park Road Baptist Church could start a campaign entitled got water?. Throughout Scripture, water is used as a symbol of God’s presence and God’s work in this world. The first words of our Biblical story are “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1) What a beautiful poetic telling of a story of creation – a beautiful image of the Spirit of God hovering and brooding over the waters - and the rest of creation sprang from the stirring of the water. The story was told that the people, who wandered in the desert, trying desperately to escape bondage, crossed the Red Sea as if it were dry land. Those waters were a symbol of their rescue. John the Baptist spent many a day in a river, preaching with all the charisma he could muster, that he baptized with water, but there was One would come after him that would baptize with the Holy Spirit.
There was a pool at Bethsaida where those with illness and disease would wait at the edge of the pool, because legend had it that when the angel’s wings stirred the water, the first one in would be healed. There was even a telling that the first miraculous sign of Jesus had something to do with water and wine.
And so water is important to the Biblical story. Two of the more notable stories of water are found in our texts for today. First we have those folks who wandered and wandered and wandered in the desert – aimlessly circling the desert sands searching for a land of promise. They were tired and fed up. Mostly they were thirsty and very irritable. The people say to Moses got water? and they get water enough for the moment.
And then we find a certain man named Jesus, traveling through the town of Samaria. He finds at the well a woman – alone – getting water. Not only should Jesus not talk to a woman, he really should not fraternize with a Samaritan. These two – the woman at the well and Jesus – begin an exchange that had to do with water. At first the woman thought Jesus was talking about the drinking water. Soon she realizes that he was talking about something far greater than quenching a thirst. He was talking about life lived to the full. This is the longest recorded exchange between Jesus and any other person. For the persons telling this story, it must have been an important tale. She says to Jesus got water? – and she gets water enough for the moment.
And so I ask you this day, those of you who sit in this place, got water? And I’ll oblige you with a definite answer. Yes, indeed, we do have water enough for the moment. I’ll tell you how I know. Today, in just a few hours, 25 of you will board a plane with me headed for New York City. Our team, the largest one sent by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to work in the disaster relief effort, will work in shifts literally around the clock for the next three days to serve food to the men and women working to bring some order out of the chaos of that city. We will be providing nourishment to those who work, and I wonder how many will ask for a cup of water. “got water?” they’ll say. “Yes,” we’ll reply. And we’ll be talking about H2O and much more. You see, the 26 of us have water to serve because this church has water to send, and you send us out to serve and to listen. I told the team to be prepared for changes in schedules and changes in work assignments – that’s just the nature of this kind of work. The best two things we can carry with us are patience and flexibility. But for me, the trip will have been a success if each one of us listens – really listens – to one person’s story – to one person’s pain. That’s a long way to go and a lot of money just for that, you may think, but the truth is those thirsty people in the desert and that woman at the well had a story to tell more than they needed water to drink. And Moses listened. And Jesus listened. We’ve got water at Park Road Baptist Church – I know because of the generosity of those going and those staying has allowed up to keep $2000 that was earmarked for this trip in our Mission Action budget to do something else with in 2002. I know because I was expecting 8-10 to go and got panicked as the number kept rising. I know because Gray Clark and I gasped when we were told that 12 of the group had to work the 11:00 PM-7:00 AM shift, then I had to start begging people to not take that shift. We’ve got water?
You need to know that plans are in the works for an extraordinary Missions Weekend coming up in May. Building on a great tradition, we will work in the greater Charlotte area on a Saturday. We will worship together on Sunday. On Sunday afternoon, we will work in the neighborhood behind the church to help some of our elderly and disabled neighbors. We will cap off the weekend with a concert in the courtyard to celebrate our time together of worship and work. We’ve got water? enough for the moment. Russ and I are pushing the United Baptist Association, of which our church is a part, to build a Habitat for Humanity house this fall. We need to be the ring leaders in this effort where our commitment will be manual labor. The people wandering in that desert were thirsty and searching for a land of promise that they could call home. The woman at that well was alone. We don’t know why she was alone, and there has been much brow-raising speculation about that, but women did not usually get water alone much less in the middle of the day. The women usually stuck together. Nevertheless, with an encounter with Jesus she immediately went back to her town to tell her tale. She got water? enough for the moment. We can pull off this trip to NYC, Missions Weekend and a Habitat House because we’ve got water? enough for the moment.
I tell you this: we sit, as a church, on the brink of something. And I’ll call it something big. We stand at the threshold of really being the church. And I tell you to keep your eyes and ears open. There are those who are very close to us that are going to call on us to be The Church for them. One of those has sat in my office last week and said, in so many words, “got water?” And I told her that we did. I told her that Park Road Baptist Church would not let her be homeless. I’m going to be calling together another team, and this team will work with her in finding home, in finding work, in finding water. She needs it as much as those wandering people and as much as that woman at the well. And we’ve got water? enough for the moment.
Every time we fill up this baptistery behind me, we should dip out a big bowl of water and put it in the Narthex for you to dip your hand in on your way into worship and then again on your way into the world. You should be reminded of your baptism every once in a while in tangible ways. “Buried in the likeness of his death. Raised to walk in the newness of life.” Yes, we need reminding that we’ve got water? enough for the moment. May it be so. Let us pray.
Like the woman at the well, I was seeking –
for things that could not satisfy.
And then, I heard my Savior speaking
draw from my well, that never shall run dry.
Fill my cup Lord. I lift it up Lord.
Come and quench this thirsting of my soul.
Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more.
Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole.