This sermon was given at Foothills Congregational Church (UCC) on September 28, 2014.
It’s the final week of the creation series at our church. We started the month with a sermon from Rev. Matt about the forest. The next Sunday Rev. Evelyn talked with us about the land, and last week John and Wil Aney talked about the wilderness. This week our topic is rivers.
Rivers are wondrous. They’re powerful and deep. They may appear still and silent on the surface, but underneath they have enormous strength. Rivers are also a source of life – they feed and nourish the land. Here in California during our drought, we know how important it is for us to have water in our rivers.
Rivers appear throughout the holy stories that make up our tradition. We start out with Abraham, who comes from Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia means “between two rivers,” referring to its location between the Tigris and Euphrates. Later, we have the story of Moses and the Nile in Egypt, then the story of Jesus and John the Baptist in the Jordan. Finally, at the very end of the Christian scriptures, John the Evangelist tells us about a new river, a river that doesn’t exist yet.
