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SERMONS

The Second Sunday After The Epiphany
January 19 , 2003

By David Christian

I have a very vivid memory from one summer when I was young. I was about 13 or 14. It was a typical hot, humid Mississippi summer. I had been playing outside and was exhausted. I was sitting in the shade of a tree watching the heat waves rise from the street in front of our house. I was bored, listless. I had no energy or interest in doing anything.

While I was sitting there my mother came out of the house. She walked over with a tall glass of water and offered it to me.

"No thanks," I said. "I'm not thirsty."

"Take just a sip," she suggested.

To get rid of her, I did. With that first sip, I realized just how thirsty I was. I downed that glass of water in one, long swallow. Then I walked back to the house with my mother and had two or three more glasses of water.

Nothing had ever tasted so good. I had never needed anything more. But sitting under the tree I had been unaware of my need. All that I knew was that I felt lousy.

In today's gospel Nathaniel is also sitting under a tree. His brother Philip comes up to him and says, "Come and see who we have found." Nathaniel is skeptical, but goes along anyway.

He meets Jesus.

As he talks to him, he begins to realize that in this man Jesus he has found something important. This man Jesus holds the key to something he lacks; something he desperately needs. To find out what it is, he follows him.

There is a deep thirst in our world today. There is a sense that something is wrong, something is missing. People are restless, they are searching. They try to quench that thirst with possessions. They try to quench that thirst with activity. They try to quench that thirst with power.

Or people just give up. They sit on the porch or in front of the television. Bored, listless, uninterested. Without even the energy to realize that something is lacking.

They need a Philip. They need someone to remind them that there is something more to life. They need someone to remind them that they are thirsty. They need someone to offer them a sip of living water. They need an invitation to come and meet Jesus.

Even we who are here- we who claim to have found the source of life and of meaning- even we lose touch with that source. Our lives fill up with the daily routine of work and school; responsibilities to children and parents; lists of things that must be done; the busyness of living each day. I know hardly anyone who doesn't have enough to do.

In the midst of all this activity we can lose our way. We can lose touch with that which is not urgent, but which is most important. We can lose the joy and the peace which come from a living relationship with our Lord.

We need our Philips. We need Philips to remind us that we too are thirsty. We need Philips to offer us that glass of water. We need Philips to show us the Lord. And we need to be Philips for one another.

As the body of Christ we are called to the ministry of evangelism. We are called to the ministry of invitation. We are called to invite others to come and see what we have found: the One who gives water to those who thirst; food to those who hunger; life to those who live in death.

Can I offer you a glass of water?

David Christian
The Chapel of the Cross
Madison, Mississippi

1 Samuel 3.1-20
1 Corinthians 6.11b-20
John 1.43-51