Hydration

Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won’t lose out on a thing. (Matthew 10: 42, The Message)

I have a beautiful New Guinea Impatiens plant on my front porch that blooms and blooms, cheerfully and gloriously, with bright pink flowers. That is, unless I forget to water her. Just once. When that happens, the very next day when I step out onto the porch, I see her drooped into a sad heap, stems sagging, blossoms fading. She looks lifeless. Hopeless. I think, “There’s no chance for survival. I have done it. I have killed her.” But just on the off chance…I pour from the slender tip of the watering can and cross my fingers. I go inside the house to give my attention elsewhere, and when I step back onto the porch in an hour or two, resurrection has occurred! The stems are plump now, and they have righted themselves. I pluck off the formerly pink flowers that have withered to sad bits of brown tissue paper, and to my delight, new buds are already swelling into replacement blossoms. To see the plant spring back to life in such a dramatic way reminds me that plain old H ₂ O is the stuff of miracles.

Then I remember to sip from my own water bottle. The dull headache I didn’t even realize I had dissipates. A wiltedness I hadn’t even recognized is replaced by a sense of well-being I didn’t even know had been missing. Hydration.

It’s a basic kindness to offer someone a drink of water—an act of hospitality that is not at all elaborate, and yet, so rejuvenating. Jesus sometimes speaks about doing so as a simple act in support of God’s realm. As usual, Jesus’ message works on more than one level. The physical endeavor of handing a thirsty person a beverage IS a beautiful deed in itself. At the same time, such welcomed refreshment wets not only the whistle. A cup of cool water offered in Jesus’ name hydrates body, mind, and spirit.

I’ve been touched to read about the work of the organization Humane Borders, founded in 2000 by the Rev. Dr.  Robin Hoover.  “Motivated by faith and the universal need for kindness,” Humane Borders maintains a system of water stations in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert on routes used by migrants journeying to the U.S. The focus of Humane Borders is strictly humanitarian assistance. Humane Borders does not engage in the immigration debate, per se.  The organization’s primary mission “is to save desperate people from a horrible death by dehydration and exposure and to create a just and humane environment in the borderlands” ( https://humaneborders.org/ ) where, on average, 150 people perish annually. Volunteers here literally give a cup of water to human beings dying of dehydration. No more. No less.

To give a cool cup of water to someone, or even to receive one graciously—these are actions that make us accomplices of Jesus! These are actions of mercy and compassion, tenderness and justice. These are actions that bring lush hydration to a parched people.

In the name of Jesus, who soaks us and seeps into our hearts so that we might perk up, green up, and flourish, who will you, in turn, water today?

Thirstily,

Pastor Chris

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Here’s how to find our online events for Sunday, June 21.

1 0:15 a.m. Virtual Fellowship Time

If you’ll be joining via computer, tablet, or smart phone, please use the link: 
  https://zoom.us/j/91671628972

To join by phone only, please dial +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) and use the meeting ID: 916 7162 8972

11:00 a.m. Moravian Church Without Walls Worship

 Zoom Link:      https://us02web.zoom.us/j/310492867

Tip 1: If you are a Facebook user, many of your friends are likely to be hosting “Watch Parties.” (Pastor Chris tries to do this when she can from her page: Christine Sobania Johnson.) This is an alternative way to wander into the same MCWW worship service and does not require the Zoom link.

Tip 2: To discover even further Moravian worship opportunities, please consult the updated list at  https://www.moravian.org/2020/04/online-worship-opportunities/  .

6:30 p.m. Zoom Prayers  — Praying together for one another, our community, our nation, and our world.

If you’ll be joining via computer, table, or laptop, use this link:   https://zoom.us/j/91961743369

To join by phone only, dial +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) and use Meeting ID 919 6174 3369