Beyond the Water Wars

We are at war. I’m not sure how many of yall knew this, but we are at war with the states of Alabama and Florida. And I’m not talking about college football, though it sometimes feels that way. I’m talking about water.

The “Water Wars” as they have been called are nothing new. California went through this not too long ago in attempting to make Los Angeles. Because LA is in a desert, and they needed water as the city expanded, so they fought with neighboring states to get access to their water. As in most cases, LA had more money…so they won.

But we have been at war for a little while. I don’t really know how long we have been at war. Probably longer than is reported. And probably longer than our current drought. As far as I understand it from my buddy who works for the public works of Georgia, this is the situation.

Lake Lanier was built and is maintained by the army corps of engineers. The original purpose of the lake was for hydroelectricity and flood control.

But, the Governor of Georgia took multiple trips to Washington to convince Congress to allow Atlanta the use of the newly formed lake in cases of emergency.

Well, almost immediately, Atlanta began to use the lake, much to the consternation of the states of Alabama and Florida. Why would they care, you may ask? Since the 1990s, the Corps of Engineers, Florida, Georgia, and Alabama have all been fighting for use of the water held in Lake Lanier. Federal law mandates that when a river flows between two or more states, each state has a right to an equal share of the water. Additionally, other laws such as the Endangered Species Act require that water be available for threatened or endangered species that live in or around Chattahoochee River and Apalachicola Bay.

And…the state lines are beginning to be called into question. Survey equipment wasn’t as sophisticated back when state lines were drawn. Basically local surveyors were tasked with the job of staking out the lines that were given to them by the newly forming colonies. And so the lines were drawn. The contentious point is up where Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia meet. A stake was put in as the corner, and where that stake is says everything about the river that Georgia, Florida, and Alabama are all claiming.

So that is where we are. Georgia, Alabama, and Florida are at war over water.

So at this point in the sermon, you are probably wondering, while some of you may find this interesting and informative, what does this have to do with anything pertaining to our worship service. That is fair. So I’m going to go ahead and tell you.

What we read today is a water war.

Just as our own current water war goes way back into history about who said and did what, who lays claim to what territory, and who has the rights to certain things…a similar situation was happening in Jesus’ time here is John.

The Jews and the Samaritans did not speak. Because, way back when, the Samaritans decided that Mount Garizim was the best location for worship of God, and the Jews decided it should be in Jerusalem. Both thought the other heretical, and banned them from intermingling with each other.

Now at the beginning of our story this morning, it says that Jesus had to go back to Galilee from Jerusalem, and that he first had to go through Samaria.

Geographically, it is faster to go through Samaria to get back to Galilee, but most Jewish people don’t take that route, because that would mean you would have to interact with the Samaritans. The hatred ran that deep. Almost as bad as Alabama and Auburn fans.

So in that short verse we find huge implications. By going through Samaria, Jesus is telling us something. Maybe our claims about who is right aren’t as important as who Jesus is.
And then, Jesus meets a woman. Who comes to Jacob’s well at high noon to draw some water, and Jesus asks her for a drink.
To which she immediately responds not with a yes, or a no, but confusion.

Doesn’t this man know that he is not supposed to talk to Samaritans or women? Doesn’t this man know social boundaries? Has he not heard of the war going on? Its not one fought with swords and shields, but with claims about who is right. And that war means that we aren’t supposed to talk to each other.

But this stranger that she meets tells her about the water war.
For so long, she and her people have been drawing from this miraculous well. Given to Jacob to feed his flocks. To this day, it does not run dry, but you have to keep coming back to it to replenish what you need.

And this is her life. This is the Samaritan’s life. Its not a bad one, but she and her kinsmen are settling for water on the surface…when Jesus offers something much deeper.

Jesus says, I will give you living water, all you have to do is ask.
But she still doesn’t get it. Poor woman. But instead of settling for ignorance, she continues the conversation. And Jesus patiently teaches her what he means.

He’s not talking about water anymore.

And maybe neither are we in our own “water war.” Maybe we think water is the issue, but to me, water isn’t the issue as much as our waste of it is the issue. We have gotten too big and too sure in our claims of ownership. Maybe it is water on the surface, but I think living in harmony with resources and with our neighbors is probably what our current water war is all about.

And what the Samaritan woman comes to realize about Jesus, is that the living water that he offers, is beyond her categories, beyond her past, and gives her worth. The categories of Samaritan and Jew no longer apply, because Jesus is here offering the Living Water to all who are thirsty. And it doesn’t matter why you are thirsty, your past doesn’t preclude you from taking a drink of this Living Water.

And so she wants the living water, instead of the well water that she, and we, so desperately cling to.

There have been so many times that I have mistaken well water for living water.

March Madness is going on right now and the NCAA has a commercial out that I think is really effective. It talks about how many athelets there are in the NCAA and how almost all of them are going pro in something other than sports. Statistically, they are right. For most student-athletes, the game is a means to go to college, and be a professional in something they are passionate about. They play because they love it, and because they love it, the game gives back to them. They learn how to be part of a team, and how to keep up with the disciplined demands that it takes to be a student athlete. And it is when you hear these personal stories that it dawns on you…we aren’t just watching a game. Like the kids who walk on and aren’t given any money in scholarships but continue to sit on the bench. Like the kids who earn scholarships and without them wouldn’t be in college.

And all of a sudden, we aren’t just watching strangers play a sport for entertainment, we are watching someone making a life. We are watching someone trying to drink living water.

And so I wonder when we get confused about the water war in our church. If giving goes down, do we blame people for not giving enough and so feel like we have to coax it out of them…or do we wonder if there might be a misunderstanding of what giving is, and wonder if people are doing okay spiritually?

There has been a little bit of nervousness on my part that I have to constantly come up with new ideas and fresh takes on sermons…but maybe I am mistaking well water for living water when I do that. Maybe I need to help you gain as much love of reading and living the word as I do.

Or, if people aren’t here week after week. Do we wonder about where they are and why they aren’t in church, or do we wonder if everything is okay…and maybe, they need the church to come in and help?

How often do we miss opportunities to drink deep of the living water of Christ, and make a change in our life, only to once again pick up our bucket, and dip into the well, knowing that we are going to have to come back again and again and again?

But remember Nicodemus? How he didn’t understand and just settled for not understanding? He came to Jesus in the dark…and the Samaritan woman comes at noon. Nicodemus had credentials, and she has nothing. But here is the main difference. Nicodemus didn’t ask questions to learn, but the Samaritan woman did. So much so, that she calls him savior, and goes to tell her town.

She learned who Jesus is. She was open to being taught, and she learned what Jesus is offering in living water.

And so I ask you…if you want to drink of this living water, what does that mean for your life?

(Pause)

I think, when we drink of living water, we are offered grace, and we offer that grace to one another. We are forgiving of one another.

Also, we offer hospitality. We offer a cool drink of water to any who ask of it, and invite them to be a part of our community here.

You all have been so hospitable to us. Watching our daughter for us when we need to do other things. You threw a baby shower for us and gave us so so much! Thank you, and you didn’t have to do that. But imagine if we could do that for everyone! That is what Jesus means by giving us living water. We are given nourishment to be this community’s church. To be this community’s center, and constantly pointing to Christ as being the center of our life, and so will be the center of the community’s life.

Whenever I am at preacher meetings I always have to clarify whenever I tell someone where I serve. “Bold Spring…without the S.” Because there is a Bold Springs United Methodist Church in Monroe, so I have to clarify. But maybe we need to add the “S.” Not because it’s plural, but add an “s” with an apostrophe. So we are “Bold Spring’s Church.”

And so, to me, this scripture becomes more and more challenging every time I read it. And I think today, it challenges us to find the places where we need living water, but still settle for well water.

Where we go beyond the surface of the issue, and get to the root of it. Where we go beyond the surface and realize that the change that comes from our faith isn’t that everyone around us needs to change to suit our needs, or believe exactly what we believe, but that the change happens within us. Living Water that comes from within.

The Samaritan woman changes, and goes, and becomes an evangelist, who tells her whole town about Jesus. And so they come to meet him as well. What is keeping us from making that change ourselves? Is it because we are set in our ways? We like coming to the well everyday? Is it because we like to keep issues at the surface, treating the symptoms, but not the disease?

Jesus tells us to go beyond the water war. Because Jesus tells us who wins. It is the water that does not run out, and is not claimed by anybody. But the water…the faith…that is everlasting, and is available to all.

Anothen

Bill Watterson is the author of a wonderful comic strip called “Calvin and Hobbes,” which I absolutely love. I have every book of every strip ever written, and on those days where I just need to read something for the pure joy of it…I pick up one of those collections.

In a running joke throughout that comic strip, Calvin, the 6 year old with a penchant for mischief and a terrific imagination so much so that his stuffed tiger comes to life and is his best friend, Calvin treats his dad like it is an elected position, and that he is his campaign manager.

So he makes these fake charts talking about what the “polls” say about his position as “dad.” How he is losing the votes of average household six year olds with his limited dessert policy, and how if he were to change his hard-line stance on a bath before bed-time, it could really boost his numbers going into the election season.

It is witty and clever, and disarmingly honest.

And after sharing with his dad some bad news from the polls, Calvin informs his dad that the voters are beginning to question his qualifications and credentials to be “dad.” And so Calvin asks him, how did you become dad anyway? And his dad told him that when children were born, all parents are given an instruction manual on how to be parents.

“Really!?” Calvin asks, “Can I see it?”

“Unfortunately no,” his dad says, “because when you were born they knew the rules wouldn’t apply so all we got was “good luck!”

We always want an instruction manual. Something that will tell us the way to do things. Whenever we get a new piece of furniture, it comes with instructions on how to put it together. The new crib that we got for our daughters had instructions, and Meredith read a review online that said her husband set it up in 20 minutes by himself the installation was so easy! She told me to set aside an hour and a half to put it together. But the instructions were great! I’m just a little slower I guess.

An instruction manual for life would be nice wouldn’t it? A reference book for all things that you are going to encounter? Like, when you graduate college, and start living on your own, this is how insurance works…or this is how investing works…or something that would be an easy instruction manual. So when you face questions and decisions, like we all do every day, there would be something concrete that would tell us what the right decision is. Its almost like almost every one of us is like Calvin and his dad. When we were born, all we got was good luck!

But I think so many people are hungry for this clear-cut answer to our decisions that they turn the Bible into that instruction manual. They look at it, see its diagrams and read its stories as if they were blueprints for their lives.

And this passage from John that we read this morning, is one of those passages that would definitely be included in a lot of people’s instruction manual. And it is frequently used that way.

“In order to have eternal life, you must be born from above.” Is the first of the two verses that is most familiar in this incredibly rich interchange between Jesus and Nicodemus. This verse, along with probably one of the most famous verses from John, “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but will have everlasting life” are two verses that if you put them into an instruction manual are used as spiritual tests. Are you born again? Becomes a code phrase used by insiders to determine if someone is also an insider.

But look at the whole story. Nicodemus doesn’t understand what Jesus is saying, and maybe neither do we that use this as our instruction manual. Nicodemus wonders how in the world he is going to get back into his mother’s womb. Which is a huge misunderstanding. But it is also a misunderstanding to think that “born again” has only one meaning, and to limit its power by saying it only refers to one kind of faithful person is, I think, an equally big misunderstanding.

Remember, John testifies about Jesus. And Jesus testifies about God. They are claiming what they have seen. And when Jesus says that we must be born again, or in some translations it says, born from above…he uses a word in Greek anothen, that literally means both. It means again, and from above. So it’s not an either/or choice, but both.

So as I began to read this with that new bit of information for me, I began to really appreciate the nuance and subtlety of Jesus’s words. And if you have ever read an instruction manual, nuance and subtlety are the exact opposite of what you need to get the job done. But when you face decisions, that all of us face everyday, nuance and subtlety are the precise thing that we need in a world that is becoming increasingly black and white. Insiders and outsiders. One against another. And I call that nuance; grace.

So I began to think about what it means to be born. On September 22nd, 2009, I became a father. And on that day I received a new appreciation for what being born means. So I want to share that with you.

When the child is in the womb, that is their world. Everything is provided for them. It is dark, and it is safe, and it is contained. And when they are born, reality completely changes. All of a sudden there is this much bigger world. There is a lot more stuff in it, and more people. It is dangerous, but there is also learning. The world into which they are born into is huge compared to the one they just occupied, and it is bigger and brighter, with more people and more possibility than they ever could have imagined.

And this is the change that I think Jesus is saying we must go through. Its as stark of a change as when there was chaos, and then God breathed over the waters and brought forth life in creation.

Jesus is witnessing to what he has seen. There is a bigger world than you one you currently occupy. It is a world filled with light. It is a world that forgives sinners, and cares for the poor. It is a world filled with blessings and happiness. It is a world where death has no power, and resurrection and redemption are law. And it is one beyond your imagination if you are limiting your imagination to things that only exist in the world you now occupy. So be born. Come into the light. Come into eternal life.

We will meet Nicodemus again. He shows up later in the Gospel of John when he calls out the leaders putting Jesus on trial for not giving him a fair hearing. He also shows up again with a tremendous gift of burying spices to put on Jesus body after he gave up his spirit. But every time Nicodemus shows up, it is in the dark. He shows up at night here. He sticks up for due process, he doesn’t stick up for Jesus. And he comes to bury Jesus when he is dead. He doesn’t stick around to Sunday morning.

And these words of Jesus keep coming back, almost like a song chorus for Nicodemus’ life. Be Born. Come into the light. In the dark, you only see so far. In the light, life is eternal. Come into the light.

And it could be a chorus for our life too. Nicodemus, I think, is a pretty relatable character. Be born. Step into the world that God sees. Get a glimpse of God’s imagination. Reconcile relationships that are hurting. Stop holding onto grudges, and talk with one another. Put your value in the things that last; community and family. Give. Give to eternal life.

When I got into Geometry in school, on the first day of class you get your textbook. I was non-chalantly flipping through the pages when I noticed that the answers were in the back of the book. To every odd numbered problem! I thought the teacher had made a mistake, and given me an old teacher’s manual. I thought I had struck gold. It turns out…every book had the answers in the back of it. I was extremely disappointed when I found that out. But through the year, I understood the reason for that. Because in math, just like in life, the answer is just the end point. What you really need to learn, and what you really need to concentrate on, is all the stuff in the middle. The work. The process. If you do that right, then you will come to the right answer.

And that is what I think Jesus is talking about. Being born Anothen, again or from above, however you want to translate it…isn’t the answer. It’s the process. It’s an every day process.

I talked to my friend Brad Sherill about Nicodemus. Brad, if you recall, is the man who has memorized and performed the entirety of the Gospel of John over 600 times. And he said that whenever he hears the question are you born again, he thinks to himself…every day. I wake up every day wanting to be born again. By the grace of God, God brings me into this world of light every day. It’s the important thing that we must concentrate on. To get to the answer, where we are born into eternal life.

Someone here may be facing a big decision. Someone here may be facing a big life change. Someone with whom we may come into contact may be dealing with a tough situation. We don’t need to throw words at them like they are the answer to their problems, because the Bible is not an instruction manual. We need to be born into the life God has for us, and see that we are called to walk with them…just as Jesus comes and walks with them too. And if we can touch this imagination. If we can be born into this world that Jesus is telling us to do. Come out of the dark and into the light…the possibilities of what Christ can do in this world are endless. They are eternal. And they bring life.

We Are All Witnesses

In Julie Andrews iconic portrayal of Frauline Maria in “The Sound of Music” she teaches the Von Trapp family how to sing. And she teaches the song “do-re-mi.” I was reminded of the first lines from that song while listening to John’s words this week.

Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.

We come into a scene at the beginning of the gospel of John, where the prologue has already been established, and we enter into the story from the viewpoint of John the Baptizer. Who argues with the temple authorities about why he is yelling these words of repentance. And then he sees Jesus, and tells everyone, this is the Lamb of God. The one we have been waiting for.

Davis Guggenheim has directed a film called “Waiting for Superman.” It is about the state of the public education system in America, the crisis that is there, the labels that are placed on kids at an early age due mainly to their socio-economic background, and how we need Superman to come in and fix it. To flip the script on all the kids who fall through the cracks.

Because we put our trust in people that can “fix” things. They show up, and make it all better. And that is who all of Israel, and all of history was waiting for. They also were waiting for Superman.

But we didn’t get superman.

They tried to make John the Baptizer Superman. He had droves of disciples and people coming from all over to be baptized in the waters of Jordan. Many thought, maybe this guy can fix everything!

He was charismatic enough. Eloquent enough. He had that rare ability to look into your eyes and see way down deep into your soul. But there was also a quiet grace to John. He had high demands that he asked us to fulfill, but there was always forgiveness in those wild eyes. He was so different than the rest of us, yet so approachable. Maybe he was Superman! He had the temple authorities shaking in their boots, and was beginning to be noticed by the Roman authorities. Maybe…

But today, John points out Jesus and says…here is the lamb of God!

That guy? From Nazareth? Joseph’s boy?

First of all, he doesn’t seem like the type that is going to come in and fix everything. He’s barely educated, doesn’t have any credentials…and how in the world is this guy going to stand up to the entire Roman army. He doesn’t have leadership skills…John does.

And secondly…we don’t want a lamb to sacrifice. We’ve been sacrificing lambs for years and we’ve been told that as long as we continue to sacrifice it will be for the greater good. No, we don’t want more sacrifice, we just want it to be fixed. You can keep your lamb, we want Superman.

And on this first Sunday of Lent, we hear the words, we want Superman, echo back in our ears as, “release Barabbas!”

But John sets us straight. He tells us, you don’t need Superman. Because superman can come in and fix things, sure, but the root of our problem will not be solved by fixing things. Unless you pull the root up when you dig out a weed, it will come back. We don’t need Superman, we don’t need someone to fix our problems, we need a lamb, who will pull the weed of our sin out of our hearts, so that we might have life, and have life abundantly. Maybe Mary wasn’t so off base when she mistook the Resurrected Christ for a gardener.

And the way that John convinced us is that he gave a testimony. He is an eye-witness to the light that Jesus brings. John saw Jesus and saw who he really was…and told us about it.

While I was in high school, I think I’ve told you this before, but my summer job was that I was a bailiff for the state court of Clarke County. And so I ran papers back and forth, observed the trials, looked up case law, that kind of thing. But every time a witness was called to the stand, Judge Kent Lawrence would ask them, “Do you solemnly swear you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

Those are familiar words. And words that need to be asked of all witnesses. Because witnesses testify to what they have seen, heard, and felt. And the world needs more witnesses for Christ.

This doesn’t mean go out on the street corner and yell at people and call it witnessing. It doesn’t mean handing out tracts that you put on people’s cars. It means telling people what you have seen.

And so this pulpit this morning has turned into a witness stand.

I’ve seen Jesus. He is alive. He has placed a call upon my life to preach, and to teach, and to care for the spiritual lives of God’s church. I am to care about the poor, I am supposed to enter into the dark places of life to help shine God’s light. I am called to give.

And this call wasn’t in a moment. It happened over the course of my life. I felt a strong call from God when I was in school. I was always in church whenever the doors were open pretty much because that’s where my dad was. And I sang in the children’s choir. Took confirmation. I was an acolyte. Asked my dad what my baptism was like, and began to understand what that meant. My baptism had set me apart in this world. It had placed a call on my life. Because Superman is not what we need. We were given what we need, and I was called to be his disciple.

And while in college the call upon my life grew. I didn’t know that it meant I would eventually become a United Methodist Minister, but I began to see Jesus even more. I saw him while I helped a family search for food in a garbage dump in Tijuana, Mexico. I saw Jesus there. I saw Jesus in the love and support of my family. I met Jesus in church where I witnessed dedicated men and women do incredible things, and gave me opportunities to see Jesus even more. By teaching my Sunday School classes. Encouraging my spiritual questions. Being interested in my life, and who I was turning out to be. Taking me to places where I could meet Jesus again and again and again.

I have seen Jesus here. I have seen Jesus in Scott Cole, in how loving and open and honest he is with everybody. I have seen Jesus in all of the children, and their families. Where we all think we are getting together just to have fun, but we are being a community together in love and support. Where adults are interested in the lives of children. Their hopes and dreams, and giving them the all important gift of teaching them about Jesus. And putting them in places where they will see him, and can become witnesses themselves.

I have seen Jesus in your care for the sick, and in your loving embrace of the community. In your desire to know more about him. Coming to the Bible study tonight. Asking good questions, and listening to one another. Being a neighbor.

Because that is the beauty of the lamb of God. And it is beautiful! I have seen Jesus in all kinds of grandeur in the world, and in nature, but the true beauty I think is that when Jesus tore the sin from its grip on our soul and healed us…now we can thrive. We can be the hands and feet of Christ. We can be the body of Christ!

Superman won’t change us. Superman will come and fix things, but we are given license to completely rely on him to fix the problems.

And yet we still wait for Superman. A political policy, a school board, a coaching staff; someone else who will fix the things that we are worried about.

But we are given a gift that is so much greater than that. We are given a life. A life to follow Christ.

At the end of Guggenheim’s film, we realize that we are the ones we are waiting for. That we are all called. We are all witnesses. And so I leave you with a question this morning…Do you solemnly swear to tell the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth, so help you God?

Dive Right In

I don’t usually like to separate people into “camps.” Making the statement that “there are two types of people in the world…”, because I think there is much more subtlety in life than we give it credit, but this morning, I’m going to break my own rule. I believe there are two types of people in the world, those that wade in, and those that dive in.

Let me explain. When you are entering into water, whether it be a swimming pool or a lake, the ocean, or river, anything….there are those who believe that the best way to enter into the water is to wade in a little bit at a time. You walk in up to your ankles, then wait. Then you go to your knees, and wait, then you go to your waist, and wait. Then you go in to your chest, and wait. Then your shoulders, then finally you get your whole head wet.
Those that dive in…don’t wait this long. They just dive all the way in, immersing themselves in the cool water. Getting it all over with at one time.

I’m in the second camp. I dive in. Going in a little bit at a time is torture for me, so whenever I go swimming at a pool, the first place I go is the diving board, and jump right in.

This used to drive kids crazy at camp glisson. As counselors, we would take the campers on “creek hikes” in Cane Creek Falls. Creek Hikes, while some peoples least favorite part of the week, was always my favorite. We would get down into the creek, and hike upstream to the waterfall. They usually had silly themes, and we dressed up, and played games all throughout the hike. Usually the intention of the game was to splash the campers.

But the water…was cold. Way colder than your normal water, because it was a shaded mountain stream. And whenever you would get in, you get screams from the kids that it is “TOO COLD!” And I would always get in the water…and it was cold…and I would lay down in the water immersing myself in that cold water. Letting it run all over me so I could be prepared for all of the water that was going to splash on me throughout the hike. The kids thought I was crazy, but it was how I dealt with entering into water…total immersion.

And today is transfiguration Sunday. A Sunday, that I will admit, is mysterious to me. It is the story of Jesus taking disciples with him up a high mountain. Hiking with them, and then, when they are at the top of the mountain, he changes in front of them. And a voice comes from a cloud telling the disciples who Jesus is, and that they should not be afraid.
For a long time, since Jesus called them, the disciples had been wading into a life with Jesus. They were following him around, seeing him do miracles, listened to him teach, kind of wading into their faith as they were learning about who they were following.

And today, Jesus takes them up a mountain, takes them over to the diving board and shows them and tells them…its time to dive in. Because when we wade in, it is in our control, when you dive in, you give your control away.

Diving in…is risky.

You don’t have time to make sure, and double check, and keep one foot on the side…because when you dive, you throw yourself through the air from one thing, into another.
And to follow Jesus Christ, is a dive. It is coming face to face with the almighty God, and asking to be changed. Yes, it is a lifetime of learning, and a lifetime of God working on our souls about what it means to follow Christ, but the decision to become a follower of Christ is a dive.

That is why we cover you with water with baptism when it happens.

But the disciples weren’t expecting this when Jesus asks them to accompany him up a mountain. I don’t think any of us expect to be asked to dive into the water of life when Jesus asks us to follow him. We just kind of expect to tag along.

I think that is one of the attractive things about sitcoms on TV. We just get to tag along. We get to sit for an hour and a half, sometimes an hour, tagging along with someone else’s life while we observe. We are entertained, and we get to watch other people make decisions and get themselves into and out of situations. While we get to tag along.

And the disciples are asked to tag along with Jesus. And they do. They observe and see and hear. But when they tag along with him up the mountain, everything changes. His life becomes our life. His fate, becomes our fate. Now when he says that we must take up our own cross as well…the reality of the words start to sink in.

When he tells us that we must heal the sick…we are given a new responsibility.

When Jesus tells us that we will be persecuted for our faith, we begin to understand what that means in reality. When we see fire hoses and dogs turned loose on peaceful, faithful people in Selma, Alabama, we begin to see ever so clearly who we are called to be, and what that means. Or when we see walls fall, and reconciliation happening, we see what that means.

We are called to be followers of Christ. To dive in. And the task looks huge.

It is a big calling.

And it was a big moment. And it is a big moment when we truly understand what it means that we are following Christ. We are following the one true God. We are following our Savior. We are following our friend. And when we dive in, the reality of our life comes into focus.

We are coming up on Lent. Spelled with an E. We are not talking about what your dryer traps when you do laundry, we are talking about the season of Lent. The time in our faith when we ask God to help give us clarity and focus as we enter into the rhythm once again of Easter. The rhythm of our life. The rhythm of our eternal life.

And during Lent people give things up, like coffee or chocolate. A new thing is that people add things, like a minister friend of mine who adds paying for the order of the person behind him in Starbucks.

But in its history, it is a season of fasting. It is a season of getting ready. Preparing ourselves for what it really means that Christ died and rose again and saved our life and rescued us from sin, and gave us life again.

Because like before any dive…there is a moment of nervousness.

While in college, I began to search out places that I could jump off cliffs into water. I secretly wanted to make my way over to Hawaii and do the giant cliff dives that they do over there. But before every jump, there is a moment of nervousness. That you have to go through before the power of the jump comes to you.
Lent is that moment of nervousness. It is the moment that we wonder what life will be like when we dive into Christ. When we totally immerse ourselves in the love of God.

And then we jump.

I hope we immerse ourselves in the love of God this Lenten season. As a church, we are immersing ourselves in the Gospel of John. With our worship texts, our bible study, and we even have a performance of the Gospel of John on April 3rd. It is my hope that this immersion will help us all immerse ourselves in our Christian faith. Where we don’t wade in inch by inch, but that we put ourselves completely in God’s love.

This means coming to church and being a part of this community. Where we aren’t affiliated with Christ and this church, but that we are a part of this church. We attend and are active. We immerse ourselves in its ministries, because we know it is who God is calling us to be.

This means giving. Our time and our gifts. Where we don’t look at what we are supposed to give to our faith as a bank account, but that we instead look at it as our privilege to give to the one who gives us life.

This means that we look at the world and proudly proclaim we are Christian. Sharing our faith and the motivations for our actions in being fair and loving and forgiving to all because that is what Christ calls us to do when we immerse ourselves in God’s love.

When Jesus transfigured, the disciples had no idea what was going on. They tried to build tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. They were afraid. The glory of Christ snuck up on them. They were following this man for months, and saw him do amazing things. And then, all of a sudden they realize…This is God, and he loves us! God is wrapped up as our teacher and friend, and he has been with us the whole time!

And we are about to share a meal together. An ordinary meal of bread and wine, but a meal we share together. But wrapped up in this meal is the love and grace of God. Where we are given a chance at life, and a chance to dive in and immerse ourselves in the glory of God. And so I invite you all, to dive in with me.

In the wonderful film “O, Brother Where art thou.” One of the characters named , Delmar gets baptized. And as he is coming out of the water he talks about how he has been forgiven from everything in his life. And as he is walking out of the lake he tells his companions, “C’mon in, boys, the water is fine.” I want to make that same invitation to you this morning. C’mon in, Bold Spring, the water’s fine.”