Sermon September 25, 2011

Revelation 22:1–5

Genesis 8:20–22; 9:12–17
Psalm 104:27–33
Matthew 28:1–10

“Waters of Life”

I've lived in southern Texas, about an hour from the Gulf of Mexico, a few years earlier I spent a summer near Austin, Texas near Lake Travis. And I grew up not far from the Eagle Chief Creek, the nearest river there was the Cimarron—usually a shallow and muddy river that ran through the dry plains of Northwest Oklahoma. I had traveled some, I once flew to Washington, DC and to Florida, but I had never really seen the Mississippi River until I drove to Illinois when I was called to serve my first church. And I have to tell you that that was when I knew I had left home for sure. I crossed the Mississippi at Quincy, Illinois and it was a big deal for me. I think I told my friends and family all about it several times—and some people in Cuba, too. Crossing a river—and that river in particular was a significant symbol of life passage for me.

Rivers as scriptural symbol are like that—any body of water, really, but rivers as symbol and object are full of meanings. Rivers mean transition, death and resurrection, cleansing, purification, transformation, life to some, death to others, irrigation of crops, flooding of cities and so much more. The Psalms cite rivers or waters as places for drink and water for crops and speak of the deep waters as blessing, power and danger—sometimes all at the same time.

⁹You visit the earth and water it,
   you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
   you provide the people with grain,
   for so you have prepared it.¹

. . . and . . .

²I sink in deep mire,
   where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
   and the flood sweeps over me.²

. . . and . . .

²⁴ they saw the deeds of the Lord,
   his wondrous works in the deep. ²⁵ For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
   which lifted up the waves of the sea.³

Rivers punctuate the biblical story—from creation where the Garden was surrounded by rivers including the Tigris and Euphrates, to the Promised Land bounded by the Jordan and including Ezekiel's visions of “the water flowing from below the temple sanctuary where God dwells (Ezekiel 47:1). Ezekiel sees trees on both sides of the river and hears the promise that wherever the river goes, every part of creation “will live” (47:9).” These provide the basis of John's vision of the river of life in today's scripture in the book of Revelation.

In Revelation, the trees on this river of life produce 12 kinds of fruit to feed and make whole the nations. They are the people to whom God's chosen were sent to be a beacon on a hill and a voice for God's message. The leaves and the fruit are on the tree of life which draws life from the river which flows by or from the throne of God and the Lamb. This reminds us that rivers symbolized the saving action of God and the interconnectedness of all life with the river!

When John's tells of God's intentions for the world through this book we call Revelation, we have at times seen this description as a violent overthrow of the created earth when in truth it is a restoration—a resurrection of all that God has made. This climactic chapter of John's vision reveals the river of life into which we are all invited to put our feet and feel its refreshing coolness—to pluck the fruit from this tree of life and eat of the healing goodness. Then we can reach out our hands and extend that healing like leaves on the branches that draw life, as John writes from God and from the Lamb.

In faith with this image, as life flows into the river and through the fruit of the tree of life, our movement is to carry that life into the places where we live. This river of life, though it flows through us, is a reliable source of God's strength and God's love. We are called then, to allow that love and life to flow and not be afraid of the consequences. If life and healing are where God's river flows, if this vision of movement and love is where we get our life and our hope then we are compelled to move toward that vision of healing, hope and sustenance for all in our lives.

So the river of God, the river of life into us and transforms our living.

In Genesis, we hear God's covenant of life, hope and healing with Noah and with all of creation, that God will never again destroy the earth, affirming this restoration and renewal in John's vision.

The story of the flood and its God's subsequent covenant through Noah is symbolized by a bow made of water—a river in the sky, though that may not have been obvious to the ancient observers—showing that God would be redemptive mover in the history of life and creation. In images of water, of rivers and depths, we are moved again to carry our own stories and experiences of how God has transformed us. The bow of Noah's story was set to remind him and all of us of God's promise of life—and we have our own symbols of that promise within our own lives.

The story of the bow was told to be told and retold so that all generations would know of God's promise. That's one of the purposes of God making a covenant with humanity—and through humanity with all of creation. It seems to me that a covenant is a promise to be carried into the world like a beacon of light or shouted like a word of joy and excitement or sung like a song of praise or persuasion. Or, as the most common covenants in this day and age are worn like rings on the hands of those who have promised to love one another for life. God makes a covenant—and we make covenants so that the promise would not be forgotten, so that we carry the consequences, the rewards and responsibilities of covenant with us throughout the movements of our lives.

And the river of God, the river of life flows through us and touches those around us.

The river reminds us that God became a part of the web of life that flows like water through all of creation in a very real and concrete way through the person of Jesus Christ.

This life and God's power of restoration comes to us again this morning in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his appearance to the women, Mary Magdalene and another Mary. Though there is no literal river in the text, we read again of the force and flow of life of God in Jesus Christ that cannot be restrained, that cannot be ended by the enemies of love and life.

We, too, live our lives as participants in Christ's resurrection because as Christians we have chosen to join our lives to the life of Jesus through a birth of water and Spirit. When we enter into this life—we welcome the movement of God into our lives—not only for our own salvation and redemption, but to share and spread the salvation and redemption that God has given us. We participate in this through the grace and gratitude we express to creation and through our behavior in creation, to the very God and creator of all things. We participate in the resurrection when we live in a way that does not dam the river of life within us—but allows its cheerful and exhilarating flow.

In our movement this month, in our celebration of several elements of God's creation—the forest, the land, the wilderness and the river—we have celebrated these particular ways that God's created world celebrates and glorifies God.

We can stand and raise a voice for the created world, we can speak with authenticity and hope and confidence rather than sentimental fuzziness. We can celebrate God's creation because God loves this world and in many ways it through that creation that God loves us.

To God's glory and in wonder at all that God has done. Amen.

1Psalm 65.9

2Psalm 69.2

3Psalm 107.24-25