Easter V
Sunday 2 Mayl 2010
St. John’s Church in the Village
New York City
The Rev’d Lloyd Prator

I am not a major fan of the book of Revelation, but there it is, every Sunday during Eastertide, and it should be considered by the preacher from time to time. Revelation was written during a time of serious persecution of the early Church. One of the most aggressive of the anti Christian emperors would take off against the Christians from time to time, and the lions would get a higher level of protein for dinner. .

And during this terrible persecution, John the theologian wrote Revelation. The main purpose of Revelation was two fold: One, it would give encouragement and strength to those suffering persecution, by reminding them of the vision of heaven which awaited them. And, second, it would picture, in uncompromisingly unpleasant terms the unhappy fate of their persecutors, such as being thrown in a lake of fire.

So while Revelation sounds strange to modern ears, it was written to express ideas entirely consistent with a community suffering the severest forms of persecution.

The lesson we just read concludes in an interesting way. The writer promises that he has heard that there will be no more suffering, mourning crying and pain, these bad things have passed away. In heaven, god sits on a throne, all things are being made new. And this new creation has been finished, in Jesus Christ. It is done! I am the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

That last line is just a little bit odd. Surely in the vision of heaven, there will not be any more thirst. Who needs water in heaven?

The need for water is an earthly need. If you have followed the crisis in many developing countries, for example, in Africa, you notice that good, clean drinking water is exactly what is needed. But it is needed not in heaven but on earth. There are still many thirsty who need the water from the spring of the waters of life.

Some would just settle for ordinary water which was not infected with malaria. That would be enough for many around the world today.

Some of you are aware that today we bring to a close the program called the Wheels of Hope. Wheels of Hope is a program building on the work of two of our communicant members, Cherian and Kalindi Thomas. The Doctors Thomas, as we have come to call them, have been engaged for years in work bringing health care to Africa, where so many people suffer from AIDS as well as other dreaded diseases. In one town, in Zambia, a group of women have formed a visiting nurse corps. They go out every day into small villages and settlements to care for those suffering, mainly, from AIDS. They bring the only medical care which can easily be got to these suffering men and women. A couple of years ago, the Doctors Thomas mentioned that their work would go faster and be more effective if they had bicycles.

St. John’s Church set about raising money sufficient to buy about 25 bicycles as a part of a Lenten campaign. We achieved that goal almost immediately. In fact, this morning, we will present to the Thomases a check for $4100.00, enough for a great many bicycles, and, perhaps, for other things these good women need to care for the suffering.

We did this project, or rather, I should say YOU did this project And you did it for many good reasons. There are humanitarian reasons. There are secular compassionate reasons. There are personal reasons.

But there are also reasons of faith, and one such reason of faith is contained in the reading from revelation, and that promise that there shall be water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Our God, who is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, is also the God who dwells as much on earth as he does in heaven. Yes, he lives in heaven where countless thousands stand around his throne and praise him forever. And, yet, more meaningfully, he lives in the wasted, suffering bodies, covered with dry skin, distorted and distended bellies and parched lips. Whenever you serve the neediest, Jesus reminds us, you serve himself. If you give a drop of water to those who suffer so profoundly, you are giving water from the spring of the water of life.
As baptized Christians, you once went through the waters of life when you put on Christ and were clothed in new life. But when you give water to the thirsty in sub-Saharan Africa, you are engaging in nothing less than the work of heaven.

It was not a slip of the tongue or a smudge of the parchment that led John the Theologian to speak of God being the giver of the water of life. In heaven such water is not needed, for God is there in all his fullness. But this side of heaven, in the places where lips are still parched and skin is still broken and dry, the water of heaven is still poured out.by those who engage to do the work of heaven within the bounds of earth. For them, we give thanks today, and to them we express our gratitude at being welcomed to share, however briefly and in however small away, work which extends the realm and reach of that heavenly city.

Where the father, the son, and the holy spirit live in eternal glory.