Heather's post is part of our Lenten Water Project. Throughout this Lenten season our writers will be focusing on the subject of water and what that means to them. Please donate to our well-building efforts, and if you have something YOU would like to say about water,let us know and we'll post it here!
Well, I'm finishing up two weeks of only drinking water. I had read about the Lenten water project. At first I thought, "there is no way that I could ever do that." So I just put it out of my mind, forgot about it and started Lent without adding a spiritual practice or giving something up. Then this year for spring break I got to take my first trip out of the country to Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. During the week that I spent there, one thing that was a huge change for us was not being able to drink from the faucet. Here we can just grab a glass in the kitchen and fill it up with tap water and be totally fine after we drink it. If I had done that there, the next few days would not have been very fun. So, after having to be very careful with the water I drank and even the food I ate that could have been washed with the unclean water I began to really think about the world's water crisis. So on World Water Day, March 22, I decided to jump in on this challenge.
I applaud any one who started this journey at the beginning of lent. After day 2 of only drinking water I wanted to quit. It is much harder than I expected to give up everything else. I am glad to say that I have stayed strong in these two weeks but it hasn't been easy. I am so looking forward to something with flavour. But more importantly these last two weeks has given me the opportunity to talk to people about the water crisis and hopefully got people thinking about how they use water and what they can do to help.
So for everyone who is on this journey and are doing what they can to help end the world water crisis, The 40 days is almost up but that doesn't mean that we can stop raising awareness.
Stay strong and keep being the rock stars that you are. -Heather
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Heather Scott is a senior in Audio Engineering and Music Business at Belmont University, an active participant with the Presbyterian Student Fellowship in Nashville, and resident Audio/Visual Queen at Montreat.
Kim's post is part of our Lenten Water Project. Throughout this Lenten season our writers will be focusing on the subject of water and what that means to them. Please donate to our well-building efforts, and if you have something YOU would like to say about water,let us know and we'll post it here!
It is Holy Week, and the long Lenten journey is nearly over. We began that journey in the desert, where water is scarce and the wilderness is harsh. Still dripping from the waters of his baptism, Jesus was sent out into the desert, propelled by the same Spirit who had just come upon him in the form of a dove. He had no food, no drink, and only the devil for company. For forty days he was tempted by Evil incarnate, who did everything in his power to get Jesus to deny his identity as the beloved son of God.
Because Jesus defeated evil – not only in the desert, but on the cross – we are safe from the worst that Evil can do. During the Lenten journey, however, we come face to face with our vulnerability, beginning with an ashy cross that reminds us that we are dust. Yet God makes that journey with us, never abandoning us to hopelessness, never allowing us to be claimed by the sin that clings so closely.
Even in the desert, there are signs of hope. On the final Sunday of Lent, we heard the faint sound of water trickling. It started with the prophet Isaiah:
Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise. (Is 43:18-21)
Then the psalmist replied with a song of hope:
When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them." The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced. Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb. May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves. (Ps. 126:1-6)
The journey is not quite over; we still must walk the path Jesus walked, to the upper room, the foot of the cross, and – thanks be to God – the empty tomb. Throughout the long journey, though, the God who causes water to spring forth in the desert is with us, reminding us that in the waters of baptism we are claimed once and for all, never to be abandoned, until we are raised on the last day and our joy will be complete.
Charles Wesley captured this whole journey in a single stanza of his hymn, “Jesus Lover of My Soul:”
Plenteous grace with Thee is found, Grace to cover all my sin; Let the healing streams abound; Make and keep me pure within. Thou of life the fountain art, Freely let me take of Thee; Spring Thou up within my heart; Rise to all eternity.
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Kim Long is the Assistant Professor of Worship and Coordinator of Worship Resources for Congregations, at Columbia Theological Seminary, in Decatur, GA.
David's post is part of our Lenten Water Project. Throughout this Lenten season our writers will be focusing on the subject of water and what that means to them. Please donate to our well-building efforts, and if you have something YOU would like to say about water,let us know and we'll post it here!
“Remember David, ‘you are dust and to dust you will return.’” (Genesis 3:19)
With that my professor dipped his thumb in the small cup of ashes and oil that he held against his chest, lifted my hair, and wiped his stained finger on my forehead.
First down.
Then across.
The smudged cross left on my skin in that Ash Wednesday ritual signified the beginning of the Lenten season; a time of preparation, repentance, and reflection.
Lent leaves space to reflect on many things.
Our finitude is one of them.
Among other things, the ashen cross is supposed to point us to the temporal nature of life. I think that is why the words of my professor wrapped themselves around me so tightly.
I am dust. We are dust. Particles of dry earth.
I guess it makes sense that we are dust. After all, a potter formed us (Isaiah 64:8), and potters work with things of the earth, even dust. Dust that with the help of minerals and water and time has become clay.
On its own, dust is just parched dirt, but when water enters the equation, something new happens. A new substance is created. One that with some time between the hands and fingers of a caring potter becomes a beautiful creation.
That cross of ash on my forehead is gone, long since washed away, but it still challenges me, and perhaps it challenges you. What if we could spend a few moments reflecting on the role that water plays in transforming our substance from dust…to clay…to a beautiful creation?
This is the season for just that sort of reflection.
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David Powers is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity at Columbia Theological Seminary, which he will finish up in May. His interests include running, learning new things, and Clemson Tiger football.
In the days and weeks after the Haiti earthquake, the Church is ALIVE team - like so many others around the world - watched in horror as images of destruction flooded our television and computer screens. Feelings of hurt, sadness, and helplessness filled us as we were reminded of the great need in our world each day of the week, let alone when a natural disaster strikes. As a team we donated and prayed - and continue to do so - but we felt that we should be doing more. This led us to conversations about mission, and ultimately to ideas of partnering with an organization so as to raise awareness and liveinto the call to help our sisters and brothers in Christ. That is, we sought to break out of our shells of apathy and take action.
Thus, we chose to launch a “water campaign” at the beginning of lent. We do this because instead of giving something up, we wanted to add something to both our lives and our world. There is something so somber and real about the Ash Wednesday services we attended today; something very poetic - very soul filled - to be reminded that our lives will come to an end and to dust we will return. We believe that the charity:water initiative - the organization we have chosen to work with - reminds us of this message. After celebrating Fat Tuesday (in which we gorge ourselves on pancakes and whatever else we will soon be giving up during the season of lent) we gather on Ash Wednesday as a community of faith that marches together into the reflection, confession and prayer of this season. As we walk away from the music and celebration that is Fat Tuesday, we walk into the silence and quiet of Lent.
Again, we as a Church is ALIVE team want to begin this Lenten season by adding something to our lives and to the lives of other. We are reminded in the stillness and silence of Lent that many of the world's needs fall on deaf ears, and those who suffer in this world do so in silence, despite lacking in food, medical care, and water. We posit that we cannot be a people of faith who stand on the sidelines and watch helplessly. We are called to take action and care for our sisters and brothers in Christ.
Thus, we seek to raise money to build a well somewhere in the world. Right now, almost a billion people on the planet don't have access to clean, safe drinking water. That's one in eight of us. charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean drinking water to people who go without. We give 100% of the money raised to direct project costs, funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need. Just $20 can give one person in a developing nation clean water for 20 years. A single well can provide an entire community with clean water for 50 years.
We have set up a charity: water campaign page to help raise money to build a well that will provide a community with water! We recognize there is a great need for water throughout the planet, and we will leave the "where" of the well-building to the professionals of charity: water.
So - we ask that you go to our charity: water page and donate! Give up your birthday, get people to sponsor the miles you run, sell lemonade, do something! Get your friends involved, your youth group, your Church, and your family! Together we - as a community and a church - can do make a difference!
We are excited about this project, and we are excited to see people come together to make this happen. If you have any questions ask them in the comments section below this post, we will respond to all of them!
In order to get the message out, we ask that you change your Facebook statuses to, "Help build a well - thechurchisalive.com!"
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Heather Scott is a senior in Audio Engineering and Music Business at Belmont University, an active participant with the Presbyterian Student Fellowship in Nashville, and resident Audio/Visual Queen at Montreat. 
