The Rev. Melissa Hollerith

Today’s Gospel: John 7:37-52

Every summer of my childhood my sister and I spent a week at my grandmother’s house in McComb, Mississippi. Each weekday morning we attended Vacation Bible School at her church, Centenary Methodist. It was here that I learned all kinds of wonderful scripture verses and hymns, beautiful gems like “Blessed Assurance” and “How Great Thou Art.” At lunchtime our grandmother scooped us up and we were off to different adventures for the afternoon. Sometimes we would shell butter beans and snap green beans on her front porch. Other times we would drop in on a friend like Mrs. Emmerich and watch her coy fish, or we would go say hello to her friend Mrs. Shamis who owned a dress store in town, The Hollywood Shop. And still other days we would head to the pool at Fernwood and show off our latest swim moves.

These summer days are sacred to me. It is here that I learned how fully I was loved, how much Jesus loved me, and the holy gift of ordinary days. It was here that I learned the joy of friendship, the importance of hospitality and the love of family. These summers became touchstones for me, living water as our gospel says today, and when I didn’t have them anymore I became thirsty.

Have you had experiences like these, experiences that carry you through the droughts of life, experiences that remind you that to live you need the living water of our Lord? This life can leave us parched. But we know the source of life, and we need to constantly realign our lives so that we can drink from that well.

Melissa+

Lord, I am weary, I am broken, I am tired; I have wandered in this desert too long, parched and longing to feel you close to me. Come to me, fill my heart with your living water and quench my thirst forever. Place people in my path to illumine the way to you when I am lost and to give me a cup of your water when I am thirsty. Amen.