RIVERS OF LIFE

May 9, 2010

Easter 6
Revelation 21:10; 21:22-22:5

Acts 16:9-15




(prayer)
I learned how to canoe at summer camp on Pigeon Lake. Not the most challenging work. We always kept pretty close to shore. As a young camper, canoeing would often involve a whole day activity where we ventured over to a very calm stream that meandered through the farmers’ fields. Sometimes, we would combine it with an overnight sleepout and go along the shore to the provincial camp where we would spend the night. In my more recent camp experiences, canoeing was done mostly off in the waters just off the shore of the camp’s own beach.
Of course there was a time back in 1992, when a certain camp manger (whose maiden name was Patti Melnyk) made the news because a group of camp canoeists got caught in one of those sudden summer storms that Alberta lakes sometimes see. But for the most part, camp canoeing was pretty tame stuff.
Back in the late 70s, early 80s, the camp offered a specialized canoe camp. For a couple of summers, I went on those trips as the official “lifeguard” – now all I had was my Bronze Medallion, but that was all that was required. This canoe camp involved a couple days of instruction at the lake and then it was off to the Red Deer River for a 5 day trip from Red Deer to Drumheller. Now I was the life guard, so I was given one of the fastest canoes and was to bring up the rear, because if there was a problem, it’s easier to paddle down stream than up stream.
Now I was the life guard, so I had to appear confident. I didn’t want it to show that (other than that mini creek by the lake) this was my first river experience – [slide] The Red Deer River is a very calm river (running at only a few km/h), but it was surprising noticeable. I still remember the sense of panic that came over me as I walked the boat out in the water and felt the current sweeping against my legs and then the exhilaration of having that water “move” us.
Our first day was relatively short, but we did get to ride the only real set of “rapids” on the trip some where just before the Canyon Ski Hill (okay we called them rapids). My first experience as a 19-20 year old rookie canoe trip life guard, was to have to paddle back against the rapids and rescue “Liz”’s canoe which had lodged itself on a big flat rock right in the middle of the river. Baptism by fire.
The rest of my two summers with the canoe camp paled to that first day’s experience. I do recall the wonder of the experience: the landscape and the variety of plant life (in the river and on the banks - nourished by the river. This was my first time seeing the Alberta badlands; I remember the shallow water, the fish swimming by – I knew that I was traversing a river of life.
Later in my life, I would get to know the Naramata creek [slide] as it laps by the United Church’s Naramata Centre in (you guessed it) Naramata BC – As a visitor to the Centre, I was used to seeing in as it makes its way for its final metres as it enters the Okanagan Lake – but one day as I was hiking the old Kettle Valley rail bed, I came across the creek in a new way - up the hill, it was a water falling torrent. In its dynamic movement, in its sounds of water over rock, in it’s capacity as Salmon spawning stream – the Naramata Creek is a river of life.
And then I completed my river resume, so far going along with the St. David’s Youth Group: white water rafting almost two years ago. [slide] The rocky hills climbing out of the fast moving water – it all seemed to be alive.
//
Through the history of humankind, water has meant life. Life evolved and flourished in the fertile grounds near the waters of this earth. Great societies developed along the shores of the Medeteranean Sea, the Nile river, The Tigris, the Euphrates, the Yangtse, the Amazon, the Ganges, the Sea of Japan.
Our biblical story revolves so much around the Jordan river and the Sea of Galilee – the waters nourish life, annual floods re-new soil – these are literally “rivers of life” – a reality of the ancient world, and the very dawn of human civilization, not to mentions so many other species on this globe.
It should come as no surprise that central to the city of God envisioned by John of Patmos is a river of life – nourishing the tree of life, with its endless fruit and medicinal leaves that heal wounds of cultures and nations, not just wounds of the body.
Later we will sing the beloved traditional hymn,”Shall We Gather at the River. As we do, you might want to think of the imagery from our reading from Revelation.
//
Our other reading from Acts also takes place by a river. Paul felt called to take the gospel to Macedonia. As we read between the lines of today’s passage, we can presume that when Paul arrived in Philippi he asked around about local groups of faith-filled people. The message seemed to lead him to the river. Paul learned that on the Hebrew Sabbath day, there was a group that worship just outside the city gate – by the river. And so on the Saturday, he went and found Lydia and the other women gathered at the river – a place of life, a grove of trees serving as a refuge from the world of commerce, from the busyness of the city: in all ways that truly mattered, it was a sanctuary. It was a place and a space for prayer: a place (locale) and a space (environment) ... for prayer.
//
That is what we often need to truly find ourselves able to worship and commune with God: place and space.
The journey by Paul and his companions to Philippi is the first account of the gospel venturing from Asia to Europe. This is an unfamiliar landscape. And so, it is not surprising to see that Paul looks for something familiar – a group to share Sabbath worship.
Lydia is clearly the key person in this group as far as the rest of the story goes. She is described with two very telling ways: she is a dealer of purple cloth and she is the head of her household. These are two unusual descriptions for a woman of that age. Dealing in purple cloth means that she dealt regularly with members of the wealthiest families. The dye used to create purple at the time was exceeding rare and was therefore expensive. That’s why, purple is a colour that is often associated with royalty – they could afford it. Now we aren’t sure where in the commercial chain Lydia was – did she weave the cloth to be dyed purple, did she dye the cloth, was she a wholesaler, making the deals for the cloth for wealthy clients. Sometime, it is assume that she must have been somewhat wealthy herself, but that wouldn’t have to be true. What is clear is that she was well connected.
As the head of her house, she is likely a widow, with no adult sons. Was she barren, were her children young? What is clear is that was a woman of influence.
What a blessing that Paul’s journey lead to her. She was open to new and re-newed expressions of faith. And she was able to generate excitement in this new land for Paul and the gospel of Christ. We know from other parts of the New Testament that there was an early church community in Philippi. There is no reason not to assume that it began as a house-church – in Lydia’s house. Later in the book of Acts, after Paul has run into a bit of trouble with local authorities (which we will talk about next week), he goes back to Lydia’s house. That’s clearly his home base while he is in Philippi.
And it all began with simple, but faithful worship down by a river.
//
//
We gather by the figurative rivers because we hope that “worship” can be life giving. “Taking time to be holy” (as another old hymn puts its) is our attempt to be nourished in the spirit. We desire to be feed, to be encouraged to grow as members of the human and global society and as children of God. Worship can also be a time to grow in wisdom: to advance of knowledge and experience of faith. And sometime most importantly we can be part of the adventure of creating community with each other and with God, and that provides support and sustenance for the rest of life.
//
Sometime, we think of worship quite narrowly. We think of Sunday Church. Or in some denominations, “worship” is even further limited to the offering of sung praise.
In our United Church tradition, we have been good as seeing the whole of our Sunday experience as worship: from the announcements to the benediction – it is all acts of worship.
Now in a diverse worship opportunity, some parts might appeal to certain people more than others. What is worshipful for you?
· Is it the music – sung, listened to?
· Is it the sermon?
· Is it the prayers?
· Is in “sola scriptura” – the scripture alone?
· Is it the community of the people you are in church with?
· Is it the story time?
· Is in Sunday School?
· Is it the coffee afterwards?
· Does you mind wander and move you into a very personal worship?
· Is it some combination?
· Does it change from week to week?
My best hope is that, somewhere in these Sunday worship times, each of you find yourself at a river of life.
//
And I hope that, like Paul, you are able to find spiritual nourishment in non-traditional places and spaces.
As the United Church’s “A Song of Faith” words it:
God is creative and self-giving,
generously moving
in all the near and distant corners of the universe.
Nothing exists that does not find its source in God.
Our first response to God’s providence is gratitude.
We sing thanksgiving.
Finding ourselves in a world of beauty and mystery,
of living things, diverse and interdependent,
of complex patterns of growth and evolution,
of subatomic particles and cosmic swirls,
we sing of God the Creator,
the Maker and Source of all that is.
Each part of creation reveals unique aspects of God the Creator,
who is both in creation and beyond it.
//
When Jesus was told to quiet the worshipping praise of the crowd, he is reported as having replied, “If their tongues were stilled the rocks and stones would shout.”
//
For me, the image of the River of Life is very powerful. What has that worshipping power for you? Discover it. Let it discover you. Commune with God and know that you are not alone.
Let us pray:
God, open us to the paths you call us to travel. And lead us to the places and spaces where we can find you especially close. Amen.
#710VU “Shall We Gather at the River”