I/ Water
My name is nibi, mayim, pani, water.
And I am here to inform you
and Jesus, too, that I am
very much alive.
And he would not be, save
for the fact that I am some
60 percent of whom he is.
I am ancient, and I am new.
I was born at
the time of creation.
And still I am being
birthed, wherever and whenever
a complex of carbon and
hydrogen sparks with oxygen.
I measure 1.4 billion
cubic kilometres
large on earth. Now
a cloud arresting your eyes, now
a single flake of snow so intricate it screams “glory!”, now
an iceberg, a diamond writ large, now
a dewdrop stopping creation as it sings from a petal.
I am waving at you from the ocean
I rain on both the just and reprobate
I slake your parched throat.
And I am happily recycled;
some of me-in-Jesus is
now Jesus-in-you.
You, dear hearer, have tears that
were once the sweat of Christ;
the water in this font
was once in the well of
of Sychar, of Shechem.
Now, I make alive. Now, I drown.
Now, I am the ocean all around
humankind in utero.
I am water. But I have no idea what
Jesus means when he promises
a well swelling and self-multiplying
into eternal life.
This is something new,
I know nothing of self-replication;
There is no spermatozoon in me; nor ovum;
no self-pollinating possibilities, even
though I am, where life is.
My name is water, pani, mayim, nibi
II/ The Hour
I am the hour. You have met me; you know me well.
I come around every now and then.
I am that time that wakens you
now with joy; now with terror.
I am that moment when the truth cracks you open
And you know you will never be the same.
I am that time the doctor sits you down…
And I am that time you open a letter and read
“I am pleased to inform you…”
I was your being born and I will be your dying.
I am haunting, I am holy. I am the hour.
I am burned in your mind, where you find traces of all of those little dyings, those little deaths:
That moment of being tongue-tied
That instance when you failed to look left
That time when you shied from speaking out…
I am also alive in your flesh.
I am that muscle memory of that first poignant fist pump
That instance of knowing that you could go further, bear more, be more
I am the hour: pounding your heart and clocking your time.
I am those poignant, agonizing, beautiful moments:
“When a woman is in labour, she has pain because her hour has come.”
I am also the hour at the other side of life:
A breath in, a breath out,
a breath in, a breath out,
a breath in, a breath out,
a breath in, a breath out,
and then silence – silence so sheer it could slice a mountain in half.
I am the hour, “coming, when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly of the Father.” Yes, I am that time of clarity, of insight, when you see that your seeing is mostly in the dark, with the odd and wonderous moment of lightning flashing across the screen of the sky: but will you look at the lighting or at what it illumines?
I am that hour
When you finally know that your knowing is fractured and through a glass darkly;
I am that hour
When you discover your doing is flawed, and awkward, and so, so beautiful that it makes angels weep.
I am that hour
When you finally feel your feelings; and live in your skin and rejoice, even though you know it is soon all over.
I am the hour… “for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you
unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it
remains a single grain; but if it dies it bears much fruit.”
I am
green…… green… green
cracking black…
I come around every now and then.
You have met me; you know me well. I am the hour.
III/ Food
I am food.
Are you hungry?
Are you looking for me?
Sometimes I am easy to find, too easy some say.
Other times I am as scarce as world peace,
ribs poke out and
bellies bloat with water retention.
I am the first thing on the mind of many as the day begins,
and I am the agony of those at enmity with me.
I am food and with every bite, I invite you
to fight for climate justice,
to battle for food security,
to leverage all your power so that no-one is ever without me.
I am food. I weep at my absence while Canadians throw away more than half of the food they produce.
I am food and finally, I refuse the logic of a zero sum:
When I am shared, there is always enough, there is always more.
You know me, because I am you:
Your planning in this garden’s graces.
Your loving hands in kneaded bread.
Your tears in soup, your song in salad, your laughter in a latticed pie.
I am your daily bread: I am
the farmer, and the soil she worships;
the seed so sacred: sown, for, given, for you
I am your daily bread: I am
the trucker and truck bearing me to the mill to be floured;
the worker who does a most holy thing: showing up day in and day out.
I am your daily bread: I am
the bright dawn beginning at the bakery and the miracle of scoring a loaf
now I am that aroma and texture, that delicate balance of air and flavour
“My food is to do the will of the One who sent me and to complete God’s work.”
I am that food: I sate you with service.
I am that food: I satisfy you by slaughtering greed.
I am that food: I content you with meeting needs.
“My food is to do the will of the One who sent me and to complete God’s work.”
I am food; I am mystery. I am Eucharist and this I want you to know:
The One whose food is to do the divine will, will never forsake you.
As you eat me you, too, become food…
Bread for the journey.
You become me, and we will be, together, eternally.
I am food. I am your hunger.
The above was presented in Keffer Chapel at the Open Door Service on March 11, 2020 as a reflection on John 4:5-42.
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