Why name a church Coolwater? 

I can't tell you the number of people who when they heard the name of the church asked me, "Are you familiar with that old-timey country song called Cool Water?"  But as much as I like the tune and as much as I find the lyrics to be quite suggestive spiritually ("Way up there He'll hear our prayer/ and show us where there's water--/ cool, clear, water"), I want to set the record straight.  The name Coolwater is inspired not by a song by the Sons of the Pioneers but by a promise made by the Son of God.  Namely, the promise Jesus made to a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well when he said to her, 

"Everyone who drinks of this water (well water or tap water) will be
thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give them will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life" (Jn 4:13-14).     

In other words, the inspiration behind the name of this church is not a country song, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ and my  prayer is that Coolwater Christian Church will grow up to be everything its name suggests: a cup of  cool water -- living water!-- offered in Jesus' name to all who yearn to drink deeply from the wellspring of life. 

 Now, there are several things about the story of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman that have important implications for this new church. 

The Water

 For instance, what brought that woman to the well in the first place was her need for water.  Ancient Palestine was an arid land and as we desert-dwellers know all too well, it's water that makes life possible here.  Given that fact of  life-- the necessity of water for life in the desert -- a church named Coolwater ought to strike a chord with people who live here.  When it's July and it's about 115 degrees (It's a dry heat, of course) and someone's thirsty and you say, "Would you like some cool water?" chances are you'll get a favorable response. 

 But take it one step further.  How does the offer of cool water sound when you take into consideration that there is also a thirst deep down inside every man, woman and child for God.  I'm speaking now of a spiritual thirst that longs to be quenched and won't go away until it's satisfied.  The Psalmist said, "As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you, O God" (Psalm 42:1).  I pray Coolwater Christian Church will be a place where people's deep-down spiritual thirsts can be quenched.

 I had a blessed elder in my very first congregation twenty years ago named Mr. Bill.  His name was Alexander Campbell Read, Jr. to be precise, but everybody knew him as Mr. Bill.  It was the custom in that little church to have a pitch-in dinner after church on Easter Sunday.  I'll never forget my last Easter with that congregation, sitting down next to that dear man, each of us with styrofoam plates groaning under the weight of fried chicken, home-made dumplings, green beans, fresh-baked biscuits and a slice of Miss Billie Ruth's homemade chocolate cake (and that was just the first time through the line).  As I was about to dig in (the blessing had already been said), Mr. Bill reached out and put his hand over mine.   Then, with his other hand, he panned the entire sanctuary in a long, sweeping motion:  the pulpit, the communion table, the baptistery, the piano, the little fellowship room where we had done Bible Study, joined hands in prayer and drank countless cups of coffee.  With his hand he swept past the entire cadre of men, women and kids I'd come to love so dearly in my years there.  And then he looked over at me and said, "David Shirey, it don't get any better than this!" 

 That's the testimony of a man who has tasted living water!  I want this church to be a place where people can come and taste the cool, clear, refreshing, living water that flows into a life lived in relationship with God through Jesus Christ to the point that they can understand what Mr. Bill was referring to when he said of life in Christ:  "It don't get any better than this."     

The Well     

 Speaking of relationships, in Jesus' day the village well also served as a public meeting place.  By necessity, people went to the well each day to draw water.  And while they were there they would see, greet and speak with their neighbors and fellow villagers who were also there drawing water.   

 Which raises a question:  Do you see, greet, and speak with your neighbors and fellow villagers day in and day out?  Now don't get me wrong-- I'm all for progress.  Indoor plumbing is a great thing and I'm quite thankful I don't have to walk miles to a well for the water my family needs in order to live in the desert.  I have the convenience of my very own faucet that's in my very own kitchen sink that's in my very own kitchen that's in my very own house, all of which are enclosed behind my very own automatic garage door opener which effectively seals me off from my neighbors and fellow villagers to the point that it would be quite possible for me to live my life day in and day out without ever having to see, greet, or speak with any of them.  Which leaves me all by myself. 

 Unfortunately, "all by myself" happens to be the very first thing the Bible calls "not good."  What I mean is that in the first pages of the Book of Genesis God creates earth, sun, moon and stars, flying, crawling, and wriggling things, sees it all and says "It's good.  Very good."  And then God sees Adam there all by himself and God says, "It's not good that the man be alone" (Genesis 2:18).  I thought of that when someone told me not long ago that for every 5 people who are moving into the Valley, 3 to 4 are moving out.  Why?  Because they say they've failed to make any meaningful relationships.  They don't know their neighbors.  They're lonely.  That's "not good."  Oh, it's nice weather out here, but many people have reached the conclusion that the forecast for making close friendships is bleak, bleak, bleak.   

 Given that, I'm wondering if Coolwater Christian Church could be a modern-day well, a gathering place for people who are thirsty for caring, lasting relationships with others and with God. 

 Do you remember the TV show Cheers?  Do you remember the theme song?  It included the lyrics "Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name/ and they're always glad you came./  You wanna be where you can see/ our troubles are all the same./ You wanna go where everybody knows your name. "  What's it say  that for millions of TV viewers the place where people know your name, share your troubles, and are glad you came is a bar rather than a church? 

In an article in Journal for Preachers (Pentecost 1994, pp. 20,21), Joanna Adams recalled that the last show of Cheers, watched by millions of people, ended with the cast engaged in a conversation about the meaning of life.  The mailman ruminated for a while and then suggested life had to do with finding a pair of comfortable shoes.  Carla said it had to do with having children and watching them grow up.  The psychiatrist mumbled something about existential angst and no one was sure what he said, but he was listened to respectfully.  Then somebody, Norm perhaps, summed up the whole thing whe he said-- "The point of life is that we all need to know we are not alone. " 

 Isn't that the point of the church also?  Isn't the point of the church to remind us that we're not alone, that God is with us always "to watch over our going out and our coming in from this time forth and forevermore (Psalm 121:8), that Jesus is "with us always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20), and that we have each other 'come what may.'  I hope and pray this church will be a modern day well where people can come and find the living water of caring relationships formed in Jesus Christ that will quench our thirst for true community.

The Welcome

 Speaking of community, it's important to note who Jesus offered water to at the well.  From the standpoint of popular culture and religion, she had three strikes against her.  1)  She was a woman and rabbis did not speak with women.  2) She was a Samaritan and Jews did not have dealings with Samaritans.  3)  She had, shall we say, "a history" (but don't we all?)-- numerous husbands and the man she was currently living with was not her husband.  But whereas my math says three strikes and yer out, with Jesus that Samaritan woman with a history had three strikes-- and was still in!  Jesus saw her, openly greeted her, spoke with her, listened to her, offered her living water... and changed her life.  

When I pondered that I thought to myself, "Is it possible to be a church where everybody is truly welcome?"  The sad truth of the matter is that across the ages and still today the church has not always welcomed everybody but instead has excluded people, shunned people, villified people for any number of reasons-- because of their beliefs, their race, their behavior, their sexuality, their looks, their "history."  The list goes on and on.  Maybe you or someone you know has been on the receiving end of the church's sharp elbow rather than her warm embrace.  All I know is the Lord of the Church reached out to, welcomed, spoke, ate and drank with everybody.  Here it's a Samaritan woman.  Elsewhere it's "tax collectors and sinners."   At still other times, "scribes and Pharisees," lepers, fishermen, political revolutionaries-- terrorists (zealots).  The word is everybody.  And the question for a new church is:  Can we be as welcoming at our church, at our well, at our Table, as Jesus was? 

The World

 And while we're picking out pieces of this story that have obvious implications for a new church named Coolwater, do you know what that Samaritan woman did after she tasted the water Jesus offered her?  She went back to her city and told her friends and anyone who would listen about the man she had met at the well and what he had given her.  In a word, she went to other thirsty people-- the physically as well as spiriutally thirsty-- and offered them a drink.  

 The scriptures are filled with references to God's people offering drink to the thirsty.  In Matthew's Gospel Jesus thanks the righteous who are seated at his right hand of God by saying among other things, "I was thirsty and you gave me drink" (Matthew 25:35).  Elsewhere he says, "If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward" (Matthew 10:42).  Paul says in Romans, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink" (Romans 12:20).  The prophet Amos cries out, "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" (Amos 5:24).   Given all those biblical images of God's redeeming work portrayed in terms of offering drink to the thirsty, can we pledge as a church to pour ourselves out in service to a thirsty world, offering a cup of cool water in Jesus' name? 

 Do you remember the movie The Miracle Worker about Helen Keller's life?  Helen's teacher, Anne Sullivan, tried everything she could to get through to Helen who was blind, deaf and mute, but without success.  But one day it all finally came together for Helen.  Do you remember what it was that finally got through to Helen so that for the first time in her life she understood?  Do you remember when she finally "got it?"  When her world suddenly opened up?  When she could finally communicate?  When her life changed forever?  Do you remember what it was that made all the difference in her life? 
 It happened at the well when she placed her hands under flowing water .  Beside herself with joy, she leaped up, took her teacher's hand in hers and and in sign language "said"-- Water! Water! Water! 

If anyone asks you what's behind the name of this new church, tell them, "It's all about the water."  Living water offered through Jesus Christ.  Water gushing up to eternal life.  Drink of it and you will never thirst again.  Water.  Water.  Living Water!           
   
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