Spiritual practices & resources
By Benjamin M. Stewart Stream, fl ood and spring We are drawn to clear, sparkling streams of
water. Since prehistoric times, these streams have attracted our wonder and attention. We linger on a footbridge over a creek. We pull off the road by a waterfall and post the photos online. Maybe we stay for an impromptu picnic lunch. Scientists agree that these powerful instincts tell
us something important. Clean, free-flowing water is one indicator of a healthy place to live. Many species make a home in or near such water. It is often literally an oasis of biodiversity and life. Our instincts tell us before we learn it in school: flowing water is an ecological sign. But this same flowing water also serves as a
theological sign of God’s renewal of the church and the world. In fact, especially among Lutherans, we
Water renewing the e arth and the church
can even say that the flowing waters of the earth have helped inspire our own Reformation. This month the world celebrates Earth Day
and the church continues its celebration of the great baptismal festival of Easter. So April may be an especially appropriate time to consider how water brings a sort of springtime renewal to the church’s life. In a baptismal season, around Earth Day, during
springtime, here is a little pilgrimage to three forms of water: stream, flood and spring. Across continents, out under the sky, these forms of water are actively renewing the face of the earth. In Lutheran traditions, that same water may also shimmer and flash with theological meaning, reforming and renewing the church.
STREAM
Have you ever paused beside a stream to listen as the water rippled by you? Or stood in awe as it cascaded down? If you were in the wilderness, you might have knelt down
to drink or to wash your face. You have at least seen photos: a flourishing creek flowing down over rocks and logs, in and out of sunlight, nourishing the landscape.
Water flows Water seems to want to flow. We speak of a
water cycle that is constantly in motion: rain, cascades, rivers, seeps, waves, tides, clouds. Our bodies are mostly water and can only survive by being part of the watershed: drinking, pulsing, excreting, bathing, exhaling, birthing. In a laboratory we can isolate water and consider
its molecular structure. But imagine what would remain hidden if we didn’t step back to see water in motion. A map that traced water’s path would reveal that it touches and flows through every living creature in earth’s history, connecting us all. At least on our home planet, the flowing nature of water is key to its significance.
14 APRIL 2016 Water flows down In its liquid, visible form, water not only flows,
but flows down: it rains from the sky and pours downhill. Because water does this naturally and dependably, and in doing so gives life to everything under the heavens, water has helped us know God. God’s mercy comes down like “rain on the righteous and unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). We pray that God will “pour out” the Spirit on the baptized. God’s call for justice is that it will “roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream (Amos 5:24). We confess both that Jesus was born of Mary and that, like rain, “he came down from heaven.”
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