The Flash! – May 22, 2014
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
God’s a-gonna trouble the water
God’s a-gonna trouble the water.
During the recent storms it became clear that the time had come for me to commune with our gutters. Water flowing everywhere but into the downspout served as evidence that the device designed to channel water was not doing its job. So out came the extension ladder, gloves, bucket, snake, and hose for my bi-annual gutter cleaning dance.
When I got to the top of the ladder I couldn’t believe the sight, and could hardly bear the smell. The gutters were so clogged with stagnant, stinking sludge that it was impossible for any water to flow, rendering the whole system ineffective, if not useless.
Climbing back down the ladder it occurred to me that God’s love for us is poured out like the rain: pervasive, inclusive, all-encompassing, and that it supports and sustains new and renewed life.
I confess that my spirit is already anticipating our celebration of the Holy Spirit that will happen in two weeks. Each year on Pentecost we are challenged to understand and imagine the purpose, presence, and power of the Holy Spirit. Well, it seems to me that the Holy Spirit serves like a good gutter system: channeling God’s love so that it flows freely to its destination.
The greatest threat to faith is that it becomes stagnant. So God commits to troubling the waters by sending the Holy Spirit as stagnation prevention, to keep the waters of God’s love flowing freely to us and through us. Just as the Spirit channels God’s love to us, we are called to be channels of God’s love for the world.
As we anticipate the coming of the Holy Spirit, may we have the faith to wade back into the waters of our baptism, and may we be channels that flow freely with God’s love.
Peace,
Andy