“I am haunted by waters.”
The last line of Norman Maclean’s book A River Runs Through It. The paragraph that precedes this sentence is often highlighted as one of the finest ever written in American literature, so rich in poetic depth and breadth that you could spend a lifetime searching and pondering its beauty and grace.
Lately, I feel like I am being haunted by waters.
This isn’t one of those scary movie hauntings that my 13 year old daughter is drawn to right now as she picks out movies at Blockbuster. I think it is more akin to Norman Maclean's haunting. It is more of an acknowledgment that there is more out there in my (our) reality that is related to water than I am perceiving, recognizing, and acting upon.
In some ways, perhaps it is just a confluence of water related events that has water bubbling in my consciousness: the 35W bridge collapse, a special baptism on Saturday, my family being at a wedding just a few hours before the flooding in Caledonia, the approaching hurricane and the upcoming mission trip in October to address the ongoing devastation of the last one, the ROJ fall focus on water, the research into global and local water issues I have been doing, the Biblical study related to all things water, and the roar of the neighbor’s lawnmower as I look out the window at four inch long grass that I just mowed a few days ago. Water. Bubbling in my mind.
The introductory address that I spoke at the beginning of little Bradley’s baptism said this:
The last line of Norman Maclean’s book A River Runs Through It. The paragraph that precedes this sentence is often highlighted as one of the finest ever written in American literature, so rich in poetic depth and breadth that you could spend a lifetime searching and pondering its beauty and grace.
Lately, I feel like I am being haunted by waters.
This isn’t one of those scary movie hauntings that my 13 year old daughter is drawn to right now as she picks out movies at Blockbuster. I think it is more akin to Norman Maclean's haunting. It is more of an acknowledgment that there is more out there in my (our) reality that is related to water than I am perceiving, recognizing, and acting upon.
In some ways, perhaps it is just a confluence of water related events that has water bubbling in my consciousness: the 35W bridge collapse, a special baptism on Saturday, my family being at a wedding just a few hours before the flooding in Caledonia, the approaching hurricane and the upcoming mission trip in October to address the ongoing devastation of the last one, the ROJ fall focus on water, the research into global and local water issues I have been doing, the Biblical study related to all things water, and the roar of the neighbor’s lawnmower as I look out the window at four inch long grass that I just mowed a few days ago. Water. Bubbling in my mind.
The introductory address that I spoke at the beginning of little Bradley’s baptism said this:
God, who is rich in mercy and love, gives us a new birth into a living hope through the sacrament of baptism. By water and the Word God delivers us from sin and death and raises us to new life in Jesus Christ. We are united with all the baptized in the one body of Christ, anointed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and joined in God's mission for the life of the world.
God, mercy, love, new birth, living hope, sacrament, Word, delivers, sin, death, Jesus Christ, united, one body, anointed, gift, Holy Spirit, joined, God's mission for life in the world.
There is enough spiritual (and poetic) depth and breadth in this paragraph that you could spend a lifetime searching, pondering and actively living into its beauty and grace.
And maybe
that is
exactly
the
point.
“Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Amen.”
And maybe
that is
exactly
the
point.
“Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Amen.”
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