April 9: Living Water
♫ Music:
Day 36 - Wednesday, April 9
Title: Living Water
Scripture #1: John 4:5–15 (NKJV)
So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
Scripture #2: Matthew 5:6 (NKJV)
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Scripture #3: John 7:37–39 (NKJV)
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Scripture #4: Psalm 63:1 (NKJV)
O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.
Poetry & Poet:
“Ghazal: Woman at the Well”
by Carolyne Wright
In this late season, who is the woman at the well
drawing water, reflecting on the woman at the well?
Millennial fissures in the well-rim, weed-choked cracks
where brackish water rises for the woman at the well.
At the bottom of the well shaft, the sky’s reflective eye
opens, closes on the shadow of the woman at the well.
Where are the rains of bygone eras? Preterite weather
yields more rusted bucketsful for the woman at the well.
Ancestral well of Jacob, where a weary traveler rests,
where Jesus asks for water from the woman at the well.
Oh plane trees of Samaria, in whose shade a stranger
speaks of artesian fault lines to the woman at the well!
Chaldean fountains, oases of date palms and minarets—
how they flourish in the dreams of the woman at the well!
Mirages of marble, pomegranate flowers, cedars of Baalbek
shimmer in the sight of the woman at the well.
On the night of destiny, the angel Gabriel descends
and hovers by the footprints of the woman at the well.
Jacob’s ladder leans against the door of heaven—
on the bottom rung, the woman at the well.
Women of Sychar, women of Shechem! Draw aside your veils,
reveal the features of the woman at the well.
Wise ones, why do you weep? Do you fear your fate
tips a mirror toward the woman at the well?
Oh artisan of sorrow, mystery’s precision, sit down
beside your sister, second self, the woman at the well.
In memoriam Agha Shahid Ali
LIVING WATER
Rain, blessed rain. The first rain after nine months of nothing but grass getting dryer and leaves getting dustier. Precipitation that brings snow to the peaks above blackened Altadena, burned up nearly three weeks earlier in the Eaton Fire. It’s raining, finally, as I sit and write this.
These past few weeks have made the words of Psalm 63:1, “a dry and thirsty land where there is no water,” vivid for me. I can’t imagine how much worse it has been in the past (like the time of Ahab & Elijah—three years without rain) or how dreadful it is in other places (like South America where rivers responsible for hydro-power have dried up so there’s not only little water but also no electricity, or places like Somalia and Afghanistan where extreme drought is exacerbating other civil problems). When rain finally comes, it’s like heaven. It’s life-giving.
But our Scriptures for today aren’t about the life-giving properties of physical water (although, like much of creation, that points us to truths about God), but about “living water,” as John 7:38 puts it. I’ve heard of water that is clean, spring, brackish, stagnant, contaminated, purified, potable, alkaline, bottled, hot, iced, fizzy, but “living?” How can water be alive? I believe Jesus uses this phrase because of a life cycle. This is not the water cycle we learn about in grade school science (evaporation, condensation, precipitation), but the cycle in which we first thirst for God, then have hearts made alive again, and then experience life flowing from us to others.
The cycle starts with thirsting for God. Jesus tells a crowd of people, as recorded in John 7, that they should come to him and drink. Psalm 63 gives us a prayer that prompts our soul to thirst for God. We need to be deeply aware of what else we long for, crave, and seek. We need to know, as the opening verse in today’s music says, that if we turn to “everything our eyes can see,” our “thirst comes back.” Instead, we must daily turn our desire to God.
When we do, we get to the second stage in the cycle––the filling and renewal of our hearts. Those who receive what he offers, Jesus tells the woman in John 4, will never thirst. This echoes what he tells the crowds in Matthew 5, that those who thirst for righteousness will be filled. The image in our Scripture passages is that of a spraying fountain or flowing river. Do we trust God to truly satisfy our thirsts with this kind of sweet abundance?
Finally, this blessing is not just for us as individuals, not simply for our personal eternal life. Living water is to share with others (as we see when the Samaritan woman goes back to her village in John 4:28).
Today’s poem is a “ghazal,” an Arabic form of poetry with a repeated phrase at the end of each couplet. This phrase “the woman at the well,” again and again, like a rhythmic drumbeat, pulls us into the question, “Who is she?” The poet’s conclusion is that “she is us.” So, let’s read John 4 as if we are that Samaritan woman encountering Jesus. We too are desperate for a solution to the daily burdens of life (“I wish I didn’t have to do this day after day”). We too have back stories of shame (her series of husbands) and of fear (coming to the well at noon to avoid seeing others). We too are over-confident in our religious heritage (“our ancestor Jacob”). We too are bowed down by systems of injustice that make life oppressive (like this woman who lived in a culture where, in order to survive, she had to live with a man). And Jesus meets us and gives us living water to share with others.
I love the art for today because it reminds me that living water doesn’t come from people whose lives are sparkling like mountain streams or impressive like the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Rather, we are ordinary and varied, like the garden hoses in artist Lynn Aldrich’s Never Thirst Again. We are even quirky, like the twisted steel gutter pipes in her Quench. It is the Spirt flowing in us who provides the living water.
Prayer:
Where are the droughts in my life? What parts of my life are dried up and as prone to disasters as southern California hillsides are to wildfires? Why can’t I recognize my thirsts? Why don’t I trust you, Lord, to satisfy? Will living water really flow from me to refresh others? Heavenly Father, you are my God; my soul thirsts for you. Jesus, give me your living water. Holy Spirit, flow out of me so you can bring life to this world.
Amen
Dr. Kitty Barnhouse Purgason
Professor Emerita
Department of Applied Linguistics and TESOL
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Art #1:
Never Thirst Again
Lynn Aldrich
2011
Cut garden hoses, plastic tubes, acrylic paint on wood panel
16 x 13 x 1.5 in.
About the Art #2:
Quench (overall and detail views)
Lynn Aldrich
2008
Galvanized steel, plastic hoses, oil
94 x 17 x 25 in.
Artist Lynn Aldrich creates sculptures, wall constructions, and installations using a variety of ordinary, mass-produced objects and materials. Signature works assembled from garden hoses, rain downspouts, and plastic sponges are clear references to the world of everyday consumption and utility. Metaphors associated with water are combined in these two works by Aldrich with a reminder to conserve what we increasingly recognize as a precious but precarious resource. Unlike ordinary water which only quenches our physical needs, God’s living water satisfies our spiritual thirst.
https://www.artspace.com/lynn-aldrich/sprinkler
About the Artist #1 & #2:
Lynn Aldrich is a contemporary Los Angeles artist who employs meticulous craftsmanship to transform common consumer materials into artworks that reflect what she views as the “excess, spectacle and artificiality” of Los Angeles culture. Often filled with humor and playfulness, many of her pieces have an undeniable subtext of ecological concern, accompanied by a spiritual longing. Her sculptures usually mimic phenomena in nature through artificial means—water and waves, flora and fauna, skies and galaxies are all rendered in plastic, vinyl, fake fur, or foam. This visual and conceptual tension between the natural and synthetic reminds us of the precarious condition of the human-made world and our own temporality. Aldrich received a B.A. in English Literature from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; a B.A. in Fine Art from California State University, Northridge; and an M.F.A. from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California. Aldrich has exhibited widely and internationally. She received the J. Paul Getty Individual Artist Fellowship (2000), a United States Artists Project Award (2013), and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (2014). Her work is included in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Neiman Marcus, Inc., Dallas, TX; Neuberger Berman, Inc., New York, NY; and the New York Public Library.
https://lynnaldrich.com/home.html
About the Music: “The Fount” from the album Carry Me, Father
Lyrics:
I was seeking for a sparkling stream,
And found fulfilling every fancy dream.
While their waters tasted oh so sweet,
My thirst came back to me.
My thirst came back to me.
Craving everything my eyes could see,
And chasing waters from a shallow sea.
Still so dry in such a desert land,
My thirst came back again.
Until I turn to him, turn to him.
Now I drink till I am full,
Of living water, I have tasted.
And I know, all grace,
And goodness from God
The fount, the fount of living water.
Living water.
Ever flowing like an endless stream,
Rolls a river from inside of me.
Christ is dwelling in the inner deep.
His words abide in me.
His Spirit guides me.
I will drink of him I cannot see,
Oh, the sweetness of this mystery.
Living words are breathing life in me.
My thirst is leaving me.
My thirst is leaving me.
Now, I drink ‘till I am full of living water.
I am tasting and I know,
All grace and goodness, love flow
From God the Fount,
The fount of living water, living water.
Drink, drink from Jesus,
And you never die.
The source, the spring that brings eternal life.
This the promise of the living Christ.
You will never thirst again.
You will never thirst again.
Come and drink’ till you are full.
Of living water.
Come and taste of him.
And know, all grace and goodness flow,
All grace and goodness flow,
All grace and goodness flow,
Flow from God. above
The fount of living water, living water
Drink from the fount of living water.
About the Composer:
Heather Schopf is a composer/arranger who works with Forever Be Sure Music (FBS). Over the years, her skill and love of music led her to attend a Bible college, and there, she earned her music and Bible degrees in 2003. In 2006, she began focusing and expanding her musical pursuits by composing and arranging vocal music. She finds joy in ministering to local churches while traveling with FBS or in her own congregation, Lighthouse Baptist Church of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
https://foreverbesure.com/
About the Performers:
The mission of Forever Be Sure Music (FBS) is to glorify God by composing, arranging, and performing message-based music with fresh, appropriate sounds that help God’s people accurately and passionately worship our Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ. Since their first album in 2008, their aim and desire has been to help fill an increasing void and to provide beautiful music that will spark a connection with the generation of saints in our era.
https://foreverbesure.com/
About the Poetry and Poet:
Carolyne Wright (b. 1949) is an American poet. She graduated from Syracuse University with master and doctoral degrees. She has held visiting creative writing posts at Radcliffe College, Emory University, University of Wyoming, University of Miami, University of Oklahoma, and Cleveland State University. Her work has appeared in AGNI, Artful Dodge, Hotel Amerika, Hunger Mountain, Iowa Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, New England Review, New Orleans Review, North American Review, Poetry, Poets & Writers, and Southern Review. A Seattle native who teaches for the Richard Hugo House, a nonprofit community writing center, she has received grants from the NEA, 4Culture, and Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture, among others.
https://carolynewright.wordpress.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolyne_Wright
About the Devotion Writer:
Dr. Kitty Barnhouse Purgason
Professor Emerita
Department of Applied Linguistics and TESOL
Biola University
Kitty Barnhouse Purgason is professor emerita of TESOL at Biola University. She has a Ph.D. in applied linguistics from UCLA. She has lived, studied, served, or taught in India, Russia, Korea, China, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Mauritania, Indonesia, Kuwait, Oman, Vietnam, Spain, and Tajikistan. She is a three-time Fulbright fellow and a US State Department English language specialist. She is the author of Professional Guidelines for Christian English Teachers (William Carey Library).