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| Image by Theo Crazzolara |
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A GREETING
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
(Psalm 42:2)
A READING
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart [belly] will flow rivers of living water.”
(John 7:37-38)
MUSIC
Note that video ends suddenly (as does the youtube recording).
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
And in that day it shall be
That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem,
Half of them toward the eastern sea
And half of them toward the western sea.
(Zachariah 14:8)
A POEM PRAYER
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
- Adaptation for meditative prayer of Psalm 46:10
by Richard Rohr
VERSE OF THE DAY
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
(Isaiah 58:11b)
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| "Yukata selection," by Ayana Otake (2010). The painting shows women of all ages participating in choosing a 'yukata' or a bathing kimono. A visual line is formed by the "obi"s or sashes that comes across the middle of the torso in a kimono. Originally developed to help keep the kimono on the individual, it now serves mostly as decorative. The obi is one of the most intricate and delicate parts of a kimono, often decorated with themes of nature. It also signals immediately to the viewer a number of key identity aspects, including the age and marital status of the wearer and their economic means. The middle of the body is not at eye level; but when a greeting bow is engaged, the eyeline lowers, and the obi becomes a useful way of understanding who you are meeting. |
Yesterday, we reflected on how the lower part of the torso holds, in the ancient world, the place of all our most primal emotions. Our "inmost parts" were considered to be where our first place of response takes place. By contrast, the stomach in the biblical eras represented earthly and material desires that were more likely to get a person into trouble. The belly is where gluttony is born. While we might be tempted to put our entire torso into one area of experience, the ancient world embraced each part of the body in its particularity.
The appreciation of the stomach in the New Testament changes meaning. By contrast, eating is a primary value in forming community. Twice Jesus feeds large crowds of people through simple means. The narrative of Jesus' life culminates in the meal he shares with the disciples the night before his death. His appearance in Emmaus takes place through food and he also makes breakfast on the beach for his friends. Jesus calls himself the "bread of life" making clear that food nourishes the spirit as well as the body. Then, however, Paul's writing takes the belly back to the place of material and fleshly desires and indulgence. How can we reclaim the gospel meaning?
In today's brief verses from John 7, Jesus compares himself to the waters flowing out of the Temple in Ezekiel 37 and the the waters flowing over a dry land in Isaiah 58. The word in Greek is actually "belly," though most translations make it "heart." The King James Version uses "belly" but the New King James Version (above) says "heart." Reading the John verses through the lens of the "belly" allows us to hear how divine life flows from the body's core. Some scholars believe that this verse is the origin of the description in the Crucifixion for how water flows from Jesus' pierced side.
Our bodies are made up of more than sixty percent water. How might we think of the waters of the body as holding that eternal flowing water Jesus speaks of?
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| Image by Judy Dean |
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Scripture passages are taken from the New King James Version.
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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!