water
August 12th, 2005 by Andy
We’ve been working hard to develop ‘elemental’ metaphors for our basic values at the Branch. We’re pretty close to having it worked out so, I thought that I’d blog about each element and get some feedback from y’all.
The first element I want to talk about is water. We are using water as a metaphor for community and here’s why… with water we are baptized into community. Water gives life just as it cleanses and renews. Together we form streams of living water and offer love and hope to a spiritually thirsty world.
The above description is what will make it on the info cards that we’re working on, but the symbolism goes much deeper. There is a theme that runs throughout God’s word about ‘living water’ or, the ‘river of life’. Jesus references it when he tells the women at the well about ’springs of living water’. Erwin Mcmanus describes the way that baptism forms community in this way:
Every believer passes through the waters and becomes a part of the river of life. Alone, you are only standing in a puddle. Together we become an oasis where those searching for genuine love and acceptance can come and drink deeply.
Almost everyone I’ve ever met has a desire to connect on a spiritual level with something larger then themselves. Most are unable to articulate how or why but they feel it in their bones. It’s just the way we we’re created. However, our culture is constantly telling us that the material world (the world that we can see and touch and feel) is all there is to life. Culture is telling you and I that we are alone and we best get used to it and learn how to cope. This makes for a whole lot of people wandering and groping in a spiritual desert. They have a deep thirst for spiritual connection but find nothing to drink.
Jesus said that if we ask, he would create in us a spring of living water welling up to eternal life. The community that follows Jesus is the oasis of God. Together, we are the place of love where a thirsty world can come and drink deeply.
The symbolism doesn’t stop there but I will, and invite others in to the conversation. Use the comments to throw your 2cents in. Do you see the symbolism of water and community in other ways?
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The symbol of water is definately very powerful, and I love the image Mcmanus speaks of in regards to an oasis. Something else that might be considered however, is that not only can a community of believers come together to quench the thirst of those who are seeking, we also become a tidal wave (do you prefer tsunami?) that can begin the cleansing of the surrounding areas around us. While normally a tidal wave leaves behind mass destruction in its wake, a community of Christ minded individuals can leave behind a markedly brand new (and better) world that shows others what the love and fear of the Lord does to the heart.
Comment by Michael — August 13, 2005 @ 1:38 am
Great all around. Good image but most importantly great metaphore for Community. While I agree with Micheals sentiments, I believe steams or rivers capture the essence of what’s being talked about in Christian community. Streams and rivers nourish the land and cleanse them by their ongoing presence in a region. They provide ongoing life within themselves (fish, algea, crabs, mites) and that life contributes to the life outside itself (bears eat fish, birds drink the water, man takes a dip for refreshent). Anyways that is my two cents.
Comment by Jeremy — August 13, 2005 @ 2:19 am
I really like both the idea of tsunami and river, because of what they have in common: movement. This got me thinking about what happens to a body of water that stops moving? Stagnation. Water that stops moving stops providing life. Take the Jordon river for example. As long as the Jordon is moving it provides life and growth all throughout the Jordon valley. Eventually the waters of the Jordon empty into the dead sea and stop moving. The waters of the dead sea have stopped moving and have ceased to be the oasis in a thristy land that the Jordon river is. I was thinking this is so similar to a community of faith that has stopped following the Spirit on mission. The community will no longer be an oasis to a spiritually thirsty world but a stagnant and inwardly focused cesspool that ought to have a warning sign, “DON’T DRINK THE WATER”. What do you folks think?
Comment by Andy — August 13, 2005 @ 9:11 am
A body of water can still be moving and yet be so polluted that as it reaches the end of its journey it has tainted everything it has touched along the way. If a community is not careful in regards to listening the Spirit of Truth, then not only does it have to watch out for stagnation, it also needs to be weary of becoming a stream of toxicity rather than living water. I remember living right next to the Kalamazoo river, and the various smells and dead animals floating on top of the water made you want to stay as far away as possible, not to mention the hordes of insects that rose up out of the surrounding swamps. So perhaps this means the body of Christ needs to walk a balanced course to make sure it does not stagnate but also that what comes along with it brings life rather than more suffering.
Comment by Michael — August 13, 2005 @ 2:50 pm
Very good point Michael. Thanks for bringing it up, it will be important to talk about the nature of the mission(wind) and transformation(wood) when we get there. Speaking of which, I better get blogging…
Comment by Andy — August 15, 2005 @ 1:30 pm
Nice, friends. A couple other cool water images that I like: the cup overflowing– that as the Holy Spirit pours truth about Jesus into our hearts and as brothers and sisters pour refreshment into each others lives, we won’t be able to help but spill over and slosh on the person next to us. the waterfall– an allegory I once read talked of each individual drop giving itself up in abandon and joy to reach the valleys below because they knew who they served… a little sappy, but we girls like these things
Comment by Wendy — August 15, 2005 @ 5:51 pm
Man Alive! Water is amazing, I’ve always been blown away at how many metephores can come from the single idea of Water. I’ve thought of a couple and I always thought that they were too cheesy to bring up to anybody, but this seems like the perfect oppertunity!
One being that water has no color, yet it can appear to be every color imaginable at the same time. I relate this to the idea of “race” that we humans have created to seperate ourselves from eachother. Yet God and his people as the living moving water of the world can transcend those boundaries of color and culture.
Another one is how there are many different kinds of liquid all around us. e.g. pop, beer, juice, rain, acid rain, etc. All of which contain water (some more than others). I relate this to the idea that water is the truth. Yet as humans we manage to distort and misunderstand truth, and we create our own versions of it. Such as different religions. Some religions are closer to the truth than others but none has the complete, pure truth (even Christianity).
Comment by Ben — August 30, 2005 @ 2:14 pm