by Rev. Don Schatz

Living Water

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

Our older son always loved fountains.  He and I finally built one in our backyard, years ago, with a pond and a little stream.  To this day, whenever I encounter a fountain, I think of him.  Now I am landscaping yet another backyard in our current home.  Sure enough, between two raised beds, I have saved a spot to put a fountain.

I once served a church named ‘Fountain of Life’. We had baptisms, at the fountain, in the church courtyard.  At the close of the service, the congregation would leave the Sanctuary and gather in a large circle around the fountain.  The people of God surrounding their young sister or brother, the cloud of witnesses giving a living testimony to the grace of God, in the fountain waters of Baptism.

The living water of Baptism is a fountain that never stops blessing.  Baptismal grace surrounds and washes over us daily.  Washing away sin, washing away the facade of spiritual death, and bringing to light, and nourishing daily, the new creation we are in Christ Jesus.

Was the Psalmist thinking of Baptism when he wrote these words?

“With you is the fountain of life.”
Psalm 36:9, New International Version

Likely not.  May we?  Absolutely!  We read the Old Testament through the eyes of the new.  Jesus said those Old Testament Scriptures testify of him, and for my money, this simply profound verse is one of those testimonies, made full and mature in the person and work of Jesus.  We are touched by it in the wet waters of Baptism, and in the continuing flow of daily Baptismal grace.

We are still in the rich wonder of summer.  In the summer sun, a refreshing fountain is often not only a welcome sight, it can be a welcome relief for tired, hot feet!  It can bring cool water from the depths of the earth to refresh us.  Just so is the Lord.  He is such a fountain of life, of relief, of the soul’s refreshing, and yes of summer fun.  Find a fountain today and dip a toe!

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO