Tonight at our College Group Dinner, we read a passage from this upcoming Sunday’s lectionary: Isaiah 43:16-21. In that passage, it talks about water in two different ways. Verses 16-17 talks about water as a powerful barrier, as something that could bring about death (in the allusion to the crossing of the Sea of Reeds):
“The Lord says—who makes a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters,
who brings out chariot and horse, army and battalion;
they will lie down together and will not rise…”
And then a few verses later, in verse 20, it talks about water being something that brings new life, something that creates life where there was no life.
“…because I have put water in the desert and streams in the wilderness
to give water to my people, my chosen ones,
Water can be a force to be reckoned with, or it can be something that brings new life, that brings much-needed refreshment. Hopefully during this Lenten journey, I’m being aware of the ways in which I can drink from those streams in the wilderness.
