Recently
in my ethics class at the community college we were discussing mental and
physical health as an issue of individual moral responsibility. The exploration
took an unexpected direction when a student consensus seemed to emerge that
unnecessary risk taking (using various drugs and engaging in sports such as
boxing or sky diving) and the resulting “rush” were more important
than considering possible side effects and negative - even disastrous -
consequences. There were no clear-cut explanations for the thirst for repeated
rushes, the continual quest for highs, and the repetitive search for peak
experiences.
After class
my mind jumped –not far – to the Olympics and so many other
activities in which a few participate and many watch intently. The public, both
youth and adult, jumps from holiday to holiday, from game to game, from concert
to concert, from fair to fair, from movie to movie with an unquenchable thirst
for more and more exhilarating entertainment. So-called realistic television
has become popular. The riskier and more heart pounding the event, all the
better. Get that adrenaline rush going!
I later
recalled a mediocre dean of instruction in a Connecticut college. He actually
created so many battles that the faculty recognized his preference for combat.
Regrettably, his style was “management by crisis.” When things were
going well, the faculty just waited. They knew that peace could not last; they
would not be able to focus on their teaching for long. When he needed another
fix, he’d create unnecessary wars.
Even some
churches measure their ministry by the quantity of people attending one parish
event after another. In winter resort regions some congregations seem to go
non-stop during the Season. It’s as if seasonal residents and vacationers
demand to be entertained while they’re here, and so that’s what some
churches offer. Never mind that parishioners are often at each other’s
throats during the seasonal frenzy, because they’re stretched with too
many activities! Never mind that some clergy pander to their revised job
description as entertainers and neglect the prophetic dimension of ministry!
Having become a cult of busyness, they take pride on counting the number of
bodies that whiz through various stimulating performances. Ironically, some
churches even offer an overabundance of groups searching for more and better
“spiritualities” – a rush of imaginary holiness. Never mind that
deeper thirsts go unsatisfied!
The sad
consequence for those who thirst for one rush after another is that
they’re never satisfied. Their lives are restless, filled with discontent
and focused on the next rush – wherever it might be. In between highs
their way of life feels flat, empty, and stagnant. They eagerly, even
anxiously, await the next performance, the next battle, the next high, the next
fix among equally needy individuals. They bond together in a futile pursuit of
a powerless savior. Such frustrated individuals and superficial gatherings are
the very underpinnings of our culture.
Among the
many wonderful meanings of tonight’s scripture readings is the symbol of
living waters offered by Christ. He promises that those who drink of the water
he will give them will never be thirsty. Their lives will never feel flat,
empty, stagnant, or wanting. They will need no temporary fix, no artificial
rush, no additional sanctity.
I suppose
Jesus could have said to the woman at the well a sarcastic “Get a life,
lady.” However, he patiently taught her heart, mind, and spirit that there
is an alternative to her present unsatisfactory circumstances. A central
feature of the story is her search for greater meaning in her life. Meaning is
so crucial that there is no satisfaction of thirst without a satisfactory
answer to the quest for meaning.
In the
setting by the well, Jesus counseled that one’s most basic thirst for
meaning is satisfied only by choosing to accept the invitation to
covenant living with God. In a trusting, awesomely reverential relationship
with the Creator, we open ourselves to God’s Spirit - who, in turn,
provides essential comfort, basic strength, vital love, crucial refreshment and
deepest joy. Love of God, neighbor and self as lived by Jesus is the Way the
creator intends human beings to live. No longer thirsty, we become fully
integrated as a whole and unified person, knowing a contented life in all its
height and depth. We are incorporated within a people of God, a church, not a
fan club or a hollow assembly of pretentious strangers.
This is not
to say that life becomes an even bed of roses; even within covenant living
there are disappointments, nuisances, tragedies, and, of course, the
separations of death. Additionally, fun filled recreation is not abandoned; but
there is a profound difference between the excitement of true recreation and
driven addictions for a rush that cannot satisfy a basic thirst.
Perhaps this
is all “old news” to you. Perhaps in these few moments something has
been clarified. Possibly I have obscured the story. In any case, I am clueless
as to how to offer this good news from Christ to those who crave rush after
rush. In a public classroom “preaching the Word” is inappropriate. To
criticize the functioning of the Olympics and other high-energy events would be
virtually treasonous in the public mind. Personalities (even deans) who are
combative need therapy, not mere counsel. Furthermore, frenzied clergy needing
crowds and a packed schedule of activities are in serious need of
rehabilitation, too; they need to be reminded that our Lord asked us to feed
his sheep, not count them.
Yet, there
they are: the woman at the well and Jesus with his offer of “living
waters” – the answer to life’s deepest thirsts. Although you and
I cannot change the world, or even the small regions in which we move about, we
can listen, pray alone as well as in this fellowship, share the symbolic
bread and wine, and have our most essential longings satisfied – all by
the Way of Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.