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| Image by B.A. Banks |
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A GREETING
O God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you.
(Psalm 63:1)
A READING
While Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”’
(John 7:37-38)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
The water that I will give will become in them
a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’
(John 4:14b)
A POEM PRAYER
Gradually, a miracle flows into me, a stilling
and filling of my anxious, empty self.
Now calmed, now capable of reverence,
I pour my awareness into you,
Only to receive much more than I give:
The prayer I pray, the very life I live.
- from "Ever Available" by Rachel Srubas
found in Oblation: Meditations on St. Benedict's Rule
VERSE OF THE DAY
As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
(Psalm 42:1-2)
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A rag tree at the Holy Well of Tobernalt, Co. Sligo, Ireland.
The actual well is at the bottom left of the frame.
The Christian story holds a strong value in the healing nature of water. Jesus calls himself ‘living water,’ which in his time referred to the water of a pool or well that was active or stirring. Throughout the biblical story, water that is flowing from a source is more beneficial physically and spiritually than stagnant water for those who come in contact with it. In the gospels, Jesus finds people who are hoping the waters will heal them at the pools of Bethesda. In John 9, he instructs the blind man whose sight has been restored to go and bathe in the pool of Siloam.
In the Celtic traditions of the Irish-British isles, both before and after Christianity, holy wells sprang up as sacred places for healing. There are an estimated thirty-two hundred holy wells just in Ireland, in a wide range of preservation and/or decline and neglect. Most holy wells are named or associated with a particular monastic figure who lived in that location, but the site was likely already sacred prior to Christianity from pagan Celtic veneration. Therefore, the power of water in the Christian story met and intersected with the power of water in the Celtic tradition. This might be part of why there are so many holy wells.
In the pagan tradition of the holy well, the surrounding trees of a well held spirits that helped to draw the unwellness out of the individual. Different wells were known for curing different ailments. When healing took place, and to appease the tree spirits, people left torn strips of the clothes they were wearing behind at the site. This tradition continues in the form of ‘rag trees.’ The very brief video above captures natural sounds at a rag tree at the Tobernalt holy well in County Sligo, Ireland.
Many of us experience the healing power of water in different ways. How is water important to your own sense of wellbeing? How is Jesus the living water of your own faith journey?
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| St. Finian's holy well. Image by Alan Cleaver |
LC† Come Holy Darkness is a project 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, and on Twitter. 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 to support extended offerings throughout the year.
Thank you and peace be with you!