O Healing River!

Amos 5:20-24; Luke 10:25-37

A Sermon Preached by Donald Mackenzie

August 1, 2004

University Congregational United Church of Christ

Seattle, Washington

“And who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:29b

There’s a song I heard Pete Seeger sing once and the word’s are these: “O Healing River, send down your water, send down your water upon this land. O Healing River, send down your water and wash the blood from off the sand.” Here’s my take on the meaning of these words. O Healing River is a reference to God, the water is God’s healing love, the sand is us, we are dry and in need of healing water and the blood represents the brokenness of the human condition—we need the healing that God’s love can bring. When I learned this song almost 35 years ago, I learned that water is a way of talking about what we need as well as a way of talking about the love of God. Given our great need for healing, the image of water is one that points to the most essential element in our need.

When I first heard the song, I liked it immediately because rivers have been a strong part of my experience. I grew up in central Illinois and when we went to visit my grandparents in Kansas City, we had to cross two rivers. First, we crossed the Illinois River. To get across, we drove onto a four-car ferry that was connected to a cable and pushed by a small tugboat. I used to get out of the car and feel the vitality of the river as it flowed south to join the Mississippi. Coming in sight of the river was like coming in sight of what as at the absolute center of life—vitality. Not far from the Illinois River was the Mississippi and we crossed that great river on a bridge at Hannibal and drove by Mark Twain’s house bringing up all the images of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The Mississippi at Hannibal is wide and mighty. All the vitality of the Illinois several times over. It was always a thrill and a source of new energy to cross those rivers.

Images of rivers begin very early in our religious tradition. The Garden of Eden is watered by a river. Psalm One tells us that we can be like trees planted by streams of living water or we can be dry, empty and blow away. Over and over again, we find the image of the river and the wilderness. The river brings life to dry places. Given that water is so essential to human experience, it should be a strong priority for humanity to be sure that everyone has enough water. But everyone in the world does not have enough water.

At our brunch today, sponsored by the Mission Board, we will hear from a group called Water Partners International who will help us to understand the nature of the crisis of water. For example, more than one billion people worldwide lack access to a safe supply of water. Water related diseases are the leading cause of death in the world today. Fourteen thousand people die each day because of lack of water or unsafe water. Eighty per cent of the sickness in the world is related to lack of or unsafe water. Water Partners International has taken on this worldwide crisis. Our speaker at today’s brunch will be Marla Smith one of the founders of Water Partners International.

As Christian people, we must ask, why it is that some people have enough clean water and others do not? The answer is that we have not yet reached that point where we understand the true meaning of community, of what it means to live together, to help each other and to provide for each other’s needs. This reality is not new. What is true today, was true in the time of Jesus—they had not yet learned the true value and meaning of community. That is why the Parable of the Good Samaritan is so important.

There was in the days of Jesus of Nazareth, as there is today, an attitude that we would describe as we/they. Life is divided into the familiar and the foreign or mysterious. In the novel, the Cider House Rules, the doctor who directs the orphanage called St. Cloud’s, writes in his diary every evening and begins in one of two ways: Here at St. Cloud’s or in other parts of the world. This we/they attitude seems to be ancient and a strong part of human nature. This makes Jesus’ parable all the more revolutionary. He is asked about the greatest commandment and he quotes Deuteronomy and then Levicitus—he says, “and a second is like it—love your neighbor as yourself.” Then comes the question, “And who is my neighbor?” The familiar story of the Good Samaritan tells us clearly that every one is neighbor—no one is to be left out or denied. Jesus might simply have said “everyone.” But the story makes it so much more real, so much more a part of our experience. The priest and the Levite could not help the one who had been left to die because of purity laws—an extreme case of we/they. But the Samaritan, not bound by such laws was free to have compassion. And of course, Jesus’ final word is “go and do likewise.”

This strong and revolutionary sense that community involves all of humanity and that we are called, as children of creation, to care for each other regardless of anything, were it to be fully understood in our world, would help us be sure that everyone has enough of life’s essentials, water, food, clothing, shelter, companionship. Perhaps the most poignant in that list is water because it is so life giving and because it parallels almost exactly the spiritual and emotional need for love—water is the physical counterpart to the spiritual and emotional love that is God, that God gives us and that we use to form and sustain our relationships.

I think this is why I respond to the story of the Good Samaritan and to rivers with equal energy and enthusiasm. These subjects are absolutely essential to the well-being of humankind.

So may the world of tomorrow be one where a strong sense of community provides for the essential needs of every human being and by loving our neighbors as ourselves, we feel the vitality and strength of God’s Healing River. Amen.