A Cup of Cold Water - Sermon Pentecost 3 2014
Grace and Peace to you from God our
Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who welcomes us with a cup of cold water.
I
have lived a life that has always contained one great luxury, air conditioning
in my car. I have never experienced a extended length of time having to drive
during summer heat without the benefit of putting up the windows and turning
the air on full blast. There was once when I was working in the Black Hills and
driving to Rapid City with my 89 Oldsmobile Station wagon it was rather hot out
and when noticing that my engine temp was rising rather well decided to turn
the air off and open the windows to give the engine a little less workload.
But, those 15-20 mins are the longest I’ve ever really gone driving without the benefit of being able to
control the temp.
It
has always made me wonder about just how people travelled so much before car
air conditioning. Both of my parents talk about long family trips, and each
family had 4 kids, so a big sedan still would seem crowded, driving long
distances, even with the windows fully open would have been rather
uncomfortable.
It’s no wonder when people think of
South Dakota there are a handful of things that usually come to mind. One is of
course the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore.
Associated with that is number two, the Sturgis Rally. Next it is the
large population of Native Americans in our state. But, always near the top of
things people think of is the little town of Wall, SD and Wall Drug.
Now
days I usually stop in Wall when crossing the state mainly just because it’s what you do, it’s the place to refuel and stretch a bit.
And frankly after seeing signs for it every quarter mile for what seems like
forever you are somewhat brainwashed into stopping. One sign I saw the first time
I crossed the state many years ago surprised, well, not surprised, it intrigued
me, because I couldn't reason why they would feel the need to advertise for it.
Free
Ice Water, Wall Drug. Huh, that’s
interesting, a funny little sign offering something like a novelty that we can
get anywhere, especially in my nice air conditioned car. But, then a few miles
down the road I saw it again, this time in a different sign with a different
picture on it, but still in big letters, Free Ice Water, Wall Drug. And a
little bit further along, again, Free Ice Water, Wall Drug. For me it seemed
like a funny joke advertising campaign. But, what about 50 years ago before Air
Conditioning was standard in cars. You drive for hours, full sun, 90+ out in
the middle of summer, the three oldest kids crammed in the back-seat, the
toddler smashed between mom and dad, all sweating despite the full open windows
keeping the air moving nicely. And then you see a sign, Free Ice Water, Wall
Drug. There is no way you skip that. It’s not a novelty, it would seem like life itself, the only cold
thing between the plains in the east and the hills in the west.
Now
imagine it’s not South Dakota
in late June, but we are in the middle of the summer in Palestine during Jesus’ time. Not only is it blazing hot
out, but there’s no car roof
to keep the sun off, no wind slashing through the windows to even somewhat
bring a breathe of coolness. You’ve
been walking all day long and you stop in a village for the night looking for
lodging, and the owner of the place comes out and gives you a cup of cold
water. That is again the giving of life itself.
To
our ears when we read this text and hear about giving a cup of cold water we
think, that’s no big thing, I
can do that easily. I have bottles of water right here, there are two drinking
fountains, 6 sinks, one water dispenser, and 6 outdoor faucets just connected
to this one building.
But,
to someone without water, it’s
life.
And
that is what Jesus calls us to do, to give life, and to be aware that sometimes
that’s not as difficult as we
think it is. It's just a cup of cold water. Ten bucks is nothing really to me,
but using it to buy a baby chick for a family in need through ELCA Good Gifts?
That means both food through eggs and income in selling the extra. It means
life. $30 for me means a nice meal, but giving to an organization like Iringa
Hope which gives out micro loans to poor farmers in Tanzania means that a young
widow raising 4 kids can afford to buy the seeds she needs to plant a small
field which will raise enough for her family to eat, and have enough left to
buy other things they need. It means life.
And
when Jesus says little ones, it means more than just the least, it’s a term Jesus uses often in
reference to all children of God, us little ones. Figuratively giving a cup of
cold water to someone can mean simply asking how someone is doing when you see
them in the grocery store or at a coffee shop. It can mean something that seems
as trivial as clicking like on a post on Facebook. Our speaker at Synod
Assembly was Pastor Keith Anderson, Author of a book called Click to Save. He
talked about a woman he met in his community. They had started up a community
discussion group on Facebook and she made a small post about something that
happened in the community for her. And Keith simply clicked like on it. For
those who don’t have
Facebook, it’s simply
clicking a button saying that you think whatever it is is interesting. Someone
can put up a pretty picture and others can click like to say they, well, like
the picture. Now, Keith and this woman didn’t know each other in any way besides this online group, had never
met in person, but Keith thought her comment was interesting enough to like it.
And as happens with someone likes someone but you don’t really know who they are, she decided to
look him up online, and found that he was a pastor. So, She then decided to
come visit one Sunday, and has since joined the church and become an active
member. To him it was simply a click of a button, to her it was someone
acknowledging who she was and caring about what happened to her. To him is was
insignificant, to her it was life.
How
can you give out cold cups of water this week? How many have you given out in
just the last week? I’m
thinking it’s more than you
understand.
May
you feel the comfort and cleansing of a cold cup of water, may you feel that
small trickle of life, and may you know that giving that small trickle to
someone in need may lead to a torrential river of life. As you leave today
there will be a station at each door, I invite you to pour a cup of cold water,
but not for yourself, but to give to your neighbor. Let’s pass it on here, and then pass it on in
the world around us. Amen.
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