The sermon was delivered by Canon Patrick Comerford, Director of Spiritual Formation at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, on the theme ‘Holy Wellspring’.
Rev Comerford talked about how St John, more than any of the four Gospel writers, drew constantly on water for his images of God, of God’s action in the world, of Christ’s bounty and generosity, and of the Kingdom of God. “It is as if he is drawing from a deep well for his inspiration,” he said.“But we take water for granted in this country. We use it freely. We baulk at any efforts to charge us for it in restaurants. I can imagine that the great political battle in a few years to come may not be over the cost of recapitalising the banks but on the follow-up to introducing water charges.
Rev Comerford said we took water for granted at the moment in Ireland. “But last winter’s water crisis was created precisely because we take water for granted,” he said. “It was not caused by us using too much water, but by us wasting too much water, mainly through not maintaining the pipes that bring water from our lakes and rivers to our homes, factories, offices and schools.
“If this problem is not addressed, and water charges are introduced, then we can be sure, that like all taxation, those charges will rise steadily, drip-drip-drip, that people will be cut off, that major health problems will arise, and that eventually – as so often happens – there will be pressures to privatise the water supplies. When that then happens, profit, not health and cleanliness, will quickly become the primary motive for supplying water.”
“When water finally flows from Christ’s side on the cross, we know that he has given us all. God gives us all in the water of life. Yes, we ought to be in wonder and in awe,” he said.
● Creation comes on the first day, in the story in Genesis, and life begins to have possibilities and to take shape on the second day, when God separates the waters.
● The exiles weep and dream of promise by the waters of Babylon.
● Water flows from the side of the Crucified Christ.
● And then, God’s creation reaches the climax of its potential, its potential beauty, with that image in Revelation of the City of God with the River of Life running through its centre.
“Too often we see water as a problem – rivers to be bridged, tsunamis to clean up after, storms to clear up from, leaky roofs, dripping drains, flooded fields, stormy shores, barren deserts when water fails … “And we blame not ourselves.”The gospel reading during the service was John 4:5-15 when Jesus shared water with the Samaritan woman at the well – “an outsider in so many ways”. “Sharing water with her, he tells her she is not an outsider, she is accepted by God, she is truly called into the Kingdom of God,” said Rev Comerford.
“It is water that cannot be tainted, water that cannot be commoditised, water that privatisation cannot stop from flowing freely.
The service included excerpts from two reflective DVDs – The Cry of the Earth DVD, which accompanies the Catholic Bishops’ pastoral letter of the same name, and Love for the Future, which was produced by the Diocese of Bath and Wells.
Go forth now to care for God’s world,
Use energy wisely,
Sacrifice where necessary,
Go out into all the world as prophets of a new way of loving,
And the blessing of God Almighty,
Be with us all now and always.