To mark the beginning of this year’s program, St Paul’s Frankston MU Secretary and Parish Lay Reader, Chris Hughes shared this Reflection with branch members as they sat out on the Church lawn under the trees, overlooking Port Phillip Bay. (St Paul’s is perched on the cliff).

The MU theme this year, Living Water, is a truly wonderful theme.  It conjures up in the mind so many things – the story of creation came immediately to my mind, not just because it happens to be my favourite reading, but verse 2 in Genesis says “The wind from God swept over the face of the waters” and in verse 10 it says “God called the dry land earth and the water sea”.

The form of service*** which we used today also refers to creation.  As we all know, to survive we must have water.  We are all of us aware of the water restrictions which are in place – a nuisance but necessary.  We have to have water for the crops and animals, for ourselves, to drink and wash.

Water plays a very important part in our Christian belief.  Through baptism Jesus was baptised in a river, babies and young children, sometimes adults are brought for baptism and are baptised with water.

Water and wine are used every Sunday in our Communion service and we are all familiar with the parable in John about turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana.

I’m sure that you can all think of a way in which water plays an important part in life.  But there is also visual beauty in water.  Just look at the sea on a day of sunshine and a little wind, how the waves move towards the shore.  Personally, I love to watch a rough sea.  Think of the beauty of a waterfall cascading down over rocks.  Sometimes you can see colours in the tumbling water.  Glance into a still pond and see the reflections there and most likely you will also see water insects but water can become stagnant, still and not useful, not able to support anything.  

We must not let ourselves become still and stagnant – not able to look into the future.  We must be like the sea, always moving forward, trying to get that little but further along the shore.

How lucky we are to be able to see, hear and feel the living waters of life.

***Our Relationship with God –A Litany’ p. 39 

"The Living Water" - poem by Marilyn Ferguson
© 2009 Marilyn Ferguson - http://www.marilynspoetry.com