Be a Water-Bearer

June 26, 2005 (Sixth Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 8)

By The Very Rev. Terry White, Dean

- Isaiah 2:10-17
- Psalm 89:1-18 or 89:1-4,15-18
- Romans 6:3-11
- Matthew 10:34-42

(From The Lectionary Page)

Thomas Troeger recalls a popular line of greeting cards that featured pictures of infants out of whose mouths came a cartoon balloon filled with a saying from the adult world. There was always a startling juxtaposition between the image of the baby and the language. For instance, an infant with a furrowed brow and stern eyes featured a cartoon balloon saying: “Never forget whose the boss around around here.” Inside the card read: Good luck in your new job.

The reason for the popularity of the cards was deeper than cuteness. Those infants disarmed the assumed values of the grown-up world, making the readers of the cards laugh at the presumption and self-importance we often acquire over the years.

Perhaps in a similar fashion, today’s Gospel gives us a caption to juxtapose with scenes of religious conflict, a caption that puts all of our theological warfare to shame. (T. Troeger, New Proclamation, Series A 1999, pp 135-6.)

Right now, in Nottingham England, some 80 representatives of the world’s 77 million lay and ordained Anglicans, are meeting as the Anglican Consultative Council. Topics include hunger, clean water, was, relieving debt, HIV/AIDS, and redevelopment following the tsunami. But sadly, sexuality has received the most attention.

The American and Canadian churches have made presentations concerning the ordination of a gay bishop and the blessing of same gender unions. Some Anglicans are anxious, others are determined to win a certain argument, some believe the Communion will not hold, and others are convinced that it should not hold.

So imagine this: A photograph taken of a crowded conference table, where those with divergent points of view scowl and wag accusing fingers at each other. The tension is so thick you can feel it by simply looking at the photograph. Then, up pops a cartoon balloon with the caption: “Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to a little one in the name of a disciple — truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

I hope that prevailing voices at this gathering will ultimately ask: “Are we sharing cold water to little ones in Christ’s name?” More to the point, it is a question we should ask ourselves as the people of the cathedral.

Of all the scriptural references to the Last Day and to the Final Judgment of the Living and the Dead, it is hard to find an account where Jesus asks, “Did you teach correctly? Was your doctrine clear and unmuddy?”

The judgment questions tend to go more like this: When I was naked, did you clothe me? When I was hungry, did you feed me? When I was thirsty did you give me drink? When I was in prison, did you visit me? For if you did so to the least among you, you also served me, and thus, for eternity, you will enjoy a reward.

This past week more than a dozen parishioners sent me a copy of a recent editorial in the New York Times, entitled Onward Moderate Christian Soldiers, written by a St. Louis resident, which included these words:

It is important for those of us who are sometimes called moderates to make the case that we, too, have strongly held Christian convictions, that we speak from the depths of our beliefs, and that our approach to politics is at least as faithful as that of those who are more conservative…

People of faith have the right, and perhaps the obligation, to bring their values to bear in politics…

Moderate Christians are less certain about when and how our beliefs can be translated into statutory form, not because of a lack of faith in God but because of a healthy acknowledgment of the limitations of human beings. Like conservative Christians, we attend church, read the Bible and say our prayers.

But for us, the only absolute standard of behavior is the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. Repeatedly in the Gospels, we find that the Love Commandment takes precedence when it conflicts with laws. We struggle to follow that commandment as we face the realities of everyday living, and we do not agree that our responsibility to live as Christians can be codified by legislators.

(Some thoughts of the Honorable and the Rev’d John Danforth, sometime Senator from Missouri, and a priest of this Church.  Read the entire editorial.)

Bitterness. Contention. An unwillingness to listen. A pre-occupation with winning and power. A blindness to that which we are truly called to do and be. All found in abundance in Congress, in board rooms, at the center of the financial world, in medicine from new research to end of life issues, and are no more rampant than in the Church. As the accusations fly, as God is blasphemed, as people are reduced to issues and causes – the cartoon balloon pops up: Whoever shares a cup of cold water with a little one in the name of a disciple – I, Jesus, truly tell you, none of those will lose their reward.

Tuesday I take part in an interview where I will be asked to complete this: “To be a Christian is to . . .” Right now I’m inclined to say: To be a water boy or water girl.” And if I’m wise, I’ll just sit down.

We are called to be bearers of cold water. “The best way to find the unity and community to which God calls us is not to work out a formal statement of common belief. It is rather to welcome and sustain one another with the elemental needs of life -- [physical, emotionally and spiritual needs of life. If we commit to giving literal and proverbial cups of cold water,] the unity that has so long eluded us may flow as richly as the grace that has redeemed us.” (Troeger.)

May the Lord’s Team never be short of water-bearers.