Daily Worship

Re: Start, Rivers of Living Water

Fiona Reynolds January 25, 2025 6 3
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John 7: 37-39 (NRSV)

37 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38 and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”’ 39 Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

It is perhaps unsurprising that life-giving water is a recurring metaphor that runs and flows throughout Scripture. In landscapes where water is scarce, the urgent necessity for it is immediate and visceral. In Scotland, we may have the opposite problem: water is so prevalent that it can be all too easy to forget its precious power. 

This might explain why I was so struck last year when offered a meditation based on the energy of the sun striking and entering my body. Throughout the year, but particularly in the depths of a Scottish winter, I know very well how sunlight (or the lack thereof) impacts everything from motivation to mental and physical health. It was a prayerful experience that stays with me, many months later. It has become a source of life and energy into which I can tap whenever I need it, and it always spills over into those around me.

What metaphor best conjures up the precious and life-giving power of God for you, today?

 

Prayer:

 

Well-spring of Life: gush up inside us and bubble over into the world beyond;

Sun of Righteousness: pierce our skins and warm our hearts into service;

Hovering Dove: sweep us up and off our feet, out amongst the mess of humanity;

Ever-loving God: Source, Word, and Spirit,

keep pulling us into the eternal dance of love,

and may we be ready to bring everyone else, too, AMEN.