The psalmist says, “Like trees planted by streams of water.” We put that on verse on the church sign because frankly I didn’t have the energy for something clever or pithy. Sometimes we just need the Word of God that offers sustenance.
I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted by everything going on. The tariffs are on, the tariffs are off, some tariffs are back. There are think pieces detailing why US military occupation of Canada is impractical and unlikely. Economic chaos is enough to destabilize our country, so tanks really aren’t needed. One commentator in Macleans Magazine summed it up saying the US won’t pay for their own water bombers to put out wildfires in Los Angeles, so they’re not about to spend money on invading Canada. Meanwhile governments at home are telling us to fly more Canadian flags. Am I the only one who remembered “something something decolonizing Canada Day”? It also wasn’t that long ago we were aghast that Convoy trucks flying Canadian flags had encircled Ottawa. But apparently we’ve pivoted back to patriotism now there is an existential threat on the other side of the border.
This past week I visited some trees planted in streams of living water at PKOLS. I went for a trail run and got a little closer to the living water than I would have liked. At the top there was still snow pack, but down below the snow was melting and the water resembled more of a ice cold bog than a stream. But the trees seemed to love it. I think about the living water that we need. The waters of baptism and also water we need to drink. We need spiritual renewal and we need rest away from the news and constant barrage of chaos that is designed to destabilize us. The volume of announcements coming from the US is a tactic called “flood the zone.” The idea is to throw fifty things at us because we can’t pay attention to more than three things at once. And when we try to pay attention to more, we quickly feel overwhelmed and feelings of hopelessness or defeat are close at hand. By contrast Jesus proposes we flood the zone with love and resistance.
Consider the gospel reading today. Jesus floods the zone with healing, with casting out unclean spirits, proclaiming the poor and hungry will be satisfied. That people who are weeping now will laugh. That people who are hated will receive a reward. And for those who think they’re sufficient on their own. That they don’t need community, who will hoard their riches, that woes await them. Jesus is flooding the zone with blessings and there is no avoiding the messiness of life. Those of us who are hungry will be fed. Those of us who have enough are called join in community with those who don’t have enough.
Jesus words are baptismal waters remind me of the flood on the PKOLS trails. If you want to pass through on the trail, you’re going to get your feet wet. There is no stepping around on a few choice logs or rocks. The only way to the other side is through the water. You just have to embrace getting wet.
There is an annual trail race around Thetis Lake called the Gunner Shaw. Apparently Gunner Shaw was a figure in the Prairie Inn Harriers of Saanichton and they named this race in his honour. And they always make the runners run through water at least twice. Both along the trail through a boggy section in which you cannot see the bottom and don’t know what’s under the water. And then through the lake at the end. It’s almost a kind of baptismal trail race. I know plenty of road runners who dabble in trail running, refuse to run the Gunner Shaw, because they don’t like getting their feet wet. They do feed you chili and grilled cheese sandwiches afterward, very Jesus-like in feeding the hungry.
Jesus is flooding the zone with love. He is flooding the zone with Justice. Jesus is flooding the zone with resistance to everything that threatens to drag us down. Take from Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain whatever word you need to hear right now. Whether you need a word of rest or you need a word of resistance to strengthen you and give you resolve. Maybe it’s a bit of both. We all need to rest and we all need some courage and strength. We all need to drink enough water and eat enough health food to see us through the coming time.
Related to waters of baptism is the light of Christ. In baptism we give the baptized a candle symbolizing the light of Christ that burns forever within them. The other day we received a shipment of the light of Christ. To put it another way we received a shipment from IKEA for 2000 tea lights. I knew 2000 would be a lot but I wasn’t prepared for quite how many that would be. And in an ironic reversal where often we receive shipments for the Shelbourne Community Kitchen at the church doors. Our 2000 tea lights were delivered to the pink Kitchen doors on a Friday when the office was closed. Thankfully Nicole, a board member with the Kitchen, was driving by, saw the package and rescued the box. Then she dropped by one day before work. I was here but hadn’t unlocked the door. I heard someone pulling on the door. By the time I got there, she had already returned to her car. Then she came another time and dropped off the package. I mentioned she’s welcome to just leave it at the front, but she mentioned she needed help with the box because it is heavy. Then I more fully appreciated when I saw the box which weighed about 50 lbs and an awkward shape. Now we are well stocked with the light of Christ for some time to come. Our prayers will ascend like incense along the prayer wall. And great to have this kind of partnership with the Kitchen who feeds the hungry and raises the boats of so many neighbours.
Consider that we as people who gather around the table are fed by Christ. We who are baptized or discerning baptism, are trees planted by streams of water. Through the challenges life throws at us, Jesus sustains us. Amen.
