Fathers in Our Lives
We give our thanks, Creator God, for the fathers in our lives.

Fatherhood does not come with a manual, and reality teaches us that some fathers excel while others fail.
We ask for Your blessings for them all and forgiveness where it is needed.

This Father's Day we remember the many sacrifices fathers make for their children and families, and the ways--both big and small--they lift children to achieve dreams thought beyond reach.

So too, we remember all those who have helped fill the void when fathers pass early or are absent; grandfathers and uncles, brothers and cousins, teachers, pastors and coaches and the women of our families.

For those who are fathers, we ask for wisdom and humility in the face of the task of parenting. Give them the strength to do well by their children and by You.
In Your Holy name, O God, we pray.

Amen.

Happy Father’s Day!

“Abba, Father, Papa, Dad” are terms we use daily, but often, the ocean of value within the meaning of those words escapes us. We see fathers perform the simple act of waking up their
children in the mornings to live the profoundness of Life. In the same way, Christ, used to wake me up precisely at 3:16 am every day; upon rising, I would read John 3:16, recite it, and
pray. But today was different. Today, the time was 4:14 am. I arose and went to the verse John 4:14, which said, “…but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” These were the words and promise that Jesus gave to the woman at the well in
Sychar, a town in Samaria. And, these are the words and the promise He gives to us when we CHOOSE to believe in Him.

To understand the saying, let’s first look at the circumstances of Christ’s encounter with this woman at the well. Christ had sent His disciples to the city to buy food, so He would be by Himself. The woman was not a Jew; she was a Samaritan woman who was not only a social outcast of the Samaritans due to a complicated marital history, but she was also an enemy of the Jewish people because of deep ethnic and religious hostility between the Jews and Samaritans. So, being a social outcast, she would not go to the well in the mornings like other Samaritan women but later in the day when the other Samaritan women would have already gathered their water and departed for home.

Let’s read the lines here. If you have your Bibles, you can read along with me beginning with John 4 beginning at verse 5-30 (READ). Then, we’ll get deeper into the meaning of all this.
So – back to the story: A Jewish man speaking to a Samaritan woman (especially an outcast) was a serious violation of societal rules. Still, Jesus speaks freely with this woman, treating her as a
respectable human being worthy of dialog — something radical in that cultural moment.

Now, let’s go to verses 39-42. What a special gift He gives us. Jesus offers the woman “living water.” This is a metaphor with layers of meaning. On the surface, it means fresh flowing water, but what is water? It’s Life itself. What is Life? Life is God. Hence, one could conclude that Jesus offered the woman a Life with God or blessed her to achieve the state of Godliness. Jesus
did not judge her; Jesus did not condemn her. He did not look down upon her. He simply treated her as an equal. He accepted her fully, and this was his grace. And with that, he showered
upon her spiritual salvation, Godly realization, Godly knowledge, and Godly enlightenment. This grace transformed this woman who later ran to town to share what had been disclosed to her. She had been blessed with the most precious gift possible.

That “special gift” is discussed a second time in the Book of John when Jesus tells those at in the temple for the Feast of Booths, or Feast of Tabernacles, exactly what that gift is. The
Feast of Tabernacles was one of the most joyous festivals of the Jewish people. A water-pouring ceremony happened daily for seven days where a priest drew water from the Pool of Siloam
and would carry it in a grand procession to the temple where the water was poured at the altar as an offering. The ceremony commemorated Israel's 40 years of wilderness wandering, when
God provided water from a rock. The crowds celebrated receiving life-saving water in the desert. The story goes that on the eighth day, Jesus stood up and made direct and clear declarations. (read John 7:37-39).

“Long ago, God told His people, Israel, not to fear, giving them this promise: For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon your
offspring, and my blessing on your descendants” (Isaiah 44:3). The Spirit, whom the Father likens unto water, was indeed poured out on all those who put their faith in the Son. “I am
giving you “a divine, life-giving presence that quenches the soul’s deepest longings and provides continual renewal” (Bible Gateway).

The picture of the Spirit as “living water” should lead us to the following three conclusions:

1. The Spirit gives life-
Just as water refreshes, vitalizes, and is necessary to a thirsty person, so the Spirit gives life to the believer, enabling God to produce fruit in his or her life. “Afterall, according to the U.S. Geological Survey taken from Water Science School, “Up to 60% of the human adult body is water: the brain and the heart are composed of 73% water, the lungs 83% water, the skin64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are 31% water.” God created us with a need and a thirst of water to give life to our bodies. So, the Spirit enlivens the followers of Christ.

2. The Spirit is active-
He is “living water,” as opposed to still, standing, stagnant water. As one of my favorite hymns says, “He is alive within me. My Spirit is alive and well within me, because He died for me.” People should be able to see the “Spirit within you—alive and well
within you.” That’s how bright our divinity must shine within us.

3. The Spirit is a channel for believers to work-
“At the well in Samaria, Jesus said the water would be ‘in them’ to well up and overflow” (John 4:14[am]). Then, during the Feast of Booths, Jesus said the water would ‘flow from within them’” (John 7:38). “The Spirit gives gifts, and the believer ‘shall receive
spiritual blessings, or communications of divine. Grace, in so great an abundance, that he shall not only be refreshed and comforted himself, but shall be instrumental in refreshing and comforting others’” (Benson, J., Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, 1857). This is exactly what we see in John 4 as the Samaritan woman, “leaving her water jar, . . . went back to the town and told everyone about
Jesus the Messiah (John 4:28). Not only was she refreshed and comforted herself, but she freely helped in refreshing and comforting others (true discipleship).

So, what can we do as children of God:

That special “Gift. The Holy Spirit” that Jesus left us, along with His special “Gift” of dying on the cross so we might have eternal life with Him, are gifts that must not be wasted. We must let the Light of Jesus shine through us so fervently that others know that we are born-again Christians, and we must let that “living water” overflow to the extent that it will “refresh, comfort and teach others. Share your love of Christ with others. Afterall, that’s why He gave to the “Woman at the well,” to those at the “Feast of Booths,” and to us that “special gift-the
Holy Spirit to guide and help us. Many times, I have had special gifts that I want to share –so I regift them. SO, REGIFT THAT SPECIAL GIFT just the way a father passes on his learnings to his children, and the children pass these on to their children. The flow of divine knowledge is the flow of water – the divine water of Life!