Water, water...

The sea is essential for the existence of myriads of plants and animals, all sorts of creatures. Water is also essential for our existence and to sustain human life. We can’t go for more than a few days without water, or we will die. When the sea is rough, I think of the hymn – “O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds (or things in the world) Thy hands have made... then sings my soul, ...how great Thou art!” When the sea is calm and smooth, I find it restful, soothing, calming.

I am reminded of the waters of the atonement which are also essential for our life, our eternal life. The waters of baptism are essential for us to enter God's kingdom, as is the water of the sacrament when we renew our covenants which we have made with Him. Both cleanse us, heal us spiritually like physical water cleans and heals us physically. Euripides, the great Greek playwright who lived more than 400 years BC, wrote in one of his plays: “The sea washes away the stains & wounds of the world.”

There are many instances in the scriptures in which the Spirit is referred to as living water. Jesus said “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink… for out of his belly shall flow living water (but this He spake of the Spirit)” (John 7: 37 – 39). He also told the woman at the well that He could give her living water (John 4: 10). He spoke of Himself as the fountain of living water (Jeremiah 2:13).

Years ago I read an essay in which the writer told how, when we draw on the seasand, a wave can come and wipe the sand clean. If we build a sandcastle, a wave can not only knock it down, but smoothe the sand as if the castle had never been there. If we dig a hole in the sand, a wave can fill it with sand so that it is completely gone. She likened this to the waters of the atonement. As we sin, we damage our spirits, but the waters of the atonement, consisting of baptism and the sacrament, can wipe us clean as if those things had never happened. Maybe, somehow, Euripides knew this.

In the ancient Greek myth, Narcissus discovered himself in a pool of water. If you look at a reflection of yourself in water, the edges are softened. In the same way, the waters of the atonement can soften our rough, hard edges and our encrustations of bad habits can be washed away, like dirt is washed away in water. Just as our reflection in water flows with the movement of tides, currents, waves and ripples, so the cleansing of the waters of the atonement reinstates a level of innocence and impressionability, and we can flow with the Spirit, and be susceptible to the impressions we receive from Him. Just as water washes us clean, so the waters of the atonement cleanse and purify us so that the Spirit can be with us. Jesus said “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). (Thomas Moore, Dark Nights of the Soul, pg 61 – 63)