Living water

"Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” John 7.38

Today is World Water Day. According to Tearfund, 2 billion people still lack access to a clean and reliable source of water. This in a day when humankind can afford to wage unnecessary wars and extend tourism into space. Shame on us!

When Jesus stood up in Jerusalem on "the last and greatest day of the feast" and proclaimed himself to be the source of living water, he was not spiritualising this essential element of physical existence so much as emphasising the significance of faith in him - as revelation of God and captain of our salvation.

A formidable proportion of the world's population needs a reliable source of physical water for drinking, cooking and washing. The entire population of the world needs the source of both physical and spiritual water, who is active within and beyond God's church in making disciples: life's work for the life of the world...