How do we capture and drink the living water of which Jesus speaks, which never runs dry, which is always available to quench the parched soul? As the psalmist says (42:1-2):
As a hart longs
for flowing streams,
so longs my soul for thee, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
Daily disciplines which our forebears knew and observed have been grossly neglected by many of us. Without the steady drinking at the wellsprings of life, we will soon dry up and be cut off from the source.
Equally important is the fellowship of the company of believers that we share in the gathered congregation — in twos and threes, in groups of more, in the class gathered for study and in other activities designed for fellowship, mission and service. Here, too, God’s grace is poured out, and the solitary individual, apart from the community — no matter how close the relationship with God — is missing out on the reality of the communion of the saints in which the gifts of grace through Word, Sacrament and prayer are fully present and efficacious.
In today’s world, the small comings together in twos or threes or fours, are especially hard to come by. In days gone by, observant families, then differently structured and ordered, never broke bread without grace being said, never began or ended the day without prayers being said, and regarded the Sabbath as a special day of rest, spiritual renewal and self-giving in works of mercy and compassion.
That world is gone and in its place is the hurried trip to the soccer field after (and in some cases, increasingly, during!) Sunday morning church activities (Wednesday “church” nights are long gone in most communities); family members, each engaged to the hilt in the full range of secular activities — sheer business abounding — rarely have time to be together to read Scripture, to prepare for, to conclude the day’s activities with prayer and thanksgiving in the presence of God.
A very special way of partaking of the wellsprings of the faith is through what we might call a prayer partner or partners, a person or persons with whom we share deeply our sadness and our joy, our fears and our hopes, our disappointments and our accomplishments — in the Lord.
One approach to such partnership found helpful is the memorizing and reciting of Scripture — especially the psalms — and praying together. In such moments, where two or three are gathered, Christ has promised to be with his people, and for those who have practiced these disciplines of shared scriptural recitation and prayer, they know how strangely the heart is warmed and how Christ is really present in remarkable ways.
The structures and processes of modern life militate against such close encounters. We are a nation of people who treasure our independence, our ability to be self-sufficient and all too often judge adversely those who are needy and cannot live their life without much support.
But God’s people know their deep spiritual needs, their absolute dependence on God, and when they draw deeply from the wellsprings of faith, with their fellow Christians, God will not disappoint them. They are
like a tree planted by streams
of water,
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does he prospers.
— Psalm 1:3
Send your comment on this editorial to The Outlook. Please give your hometown.
