A Cup of Cold Water

July 2nd  2023
Year A; 5th  Pentecost
Genesis 22: 1-14
Psalm 13
Matthew 10: 40-42

Matthew 10:40-42

Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple-- truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

Homily by Rev. Megan Limburgh

 In the name of the Holy Three. Amen.

As we gather today, on the first day we are expected to reach 90 degrees, and as the humidity increases quickly, and the wild fire haze settles in, the image in our gospel reading  of a “cup of cold water” is still tangible and appealing to us, thousands of years after Jesus spoke of that cup.

When I served in school ministry, there were many images in the Bible that the children could not grasp, but this one they understood immediately.

The gift of receiving exactly what you need when you need it, water, no, cold water, when your mouth is dry, your face is hot, and you are parched, we all understand this image.

We humans can live many days, weeks and even months without food, but we can only last a few days without water. Water is such a primal and precious commodity, though we, living in a developed country, see it as always present and easy to access, while much of the world still struggles to have a safe “cup of cold water”.

According to the World Health Organization of the over 7 billion people in our world, 2 billion lack access to safely managed drinking water at home. In other words, about one in three folks in our world can’t easily access the quenching and crucial gift of “a cup of cold water”.

And of course, this problem is complex, as Kelly Ann Naylor, Associate Director of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene at UNICEF explains:

“Mere access is not enough. If the water isn’t clean, isn’t safe to drink or is far away, and if toilet access is unsafe or limited, then we’re not delivering for the world’s children…….Governments must invest in their communities if we are going to bridge these economic and geographic divides and deliver this essential human right.”

One in three people? This is a large and complex problem, and how can we sitting here this morning, even hope to help, to remember the vulnerable in our world, those who do struggle to access water, as our brother and savior called on us to watch out for those in need in our world?

Well, we go back to the simplicity of that “cup of cold water” that Jesus speaks of, and consider who is doing just one thing to help, one thing to make water safer and more accessible?

I have long admired the work of former President Jimmy Carter, a man of faith and compassion. After his term as president, he and his wife Rosalyn founded the Carter Center in Atlanta, aware that the opportunities they had had, called on them, pressed on them, to help others. Thus, the Carter Center was founded in 1982, in partnership with Emory University, and focuses on:

“a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering, the Center seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health.”(Carter Center website)

And in working to improve health, we return to that “cup of cold water”.

One of the first projects that the Carter Center took on was a commitment to eradicating guinea worm from the earth, a very old tropical disease, that involves this parasitic worm. The Carter Center explains further:

It is contracted when people consume water from stagnant sources contaminated with Guinea worm larvae. Inside a human's abdomen, Guinea worm larvae mate and female worms mature and grow. After about a year of incubation, the female Guinea worm, one meter long, creates an agonizingly painful lesion on the skin and slowly emerges from the body. Guinea worm sufferers may try to seek relief from the burning sensation caused by the emerging worm and immerse their limbs in water sources, but this contact with water stimulates the emerging worm to release its larvae into the water and begin the cycle of infection all over again. (Carter Center website)

Guinea worm is a particularly devastating disease that incapacitates people for extended periods of time, making them unable to care for themselves, work, grow food for their families, or attend school.

Thus, the lack of a safe “cup of cold water” causes great suffering to individuals and their families.

We cannot do everything, but the Carter Center decided to tackle this part of the problem of access to safe water. They established the  Guinea Worm Eradication Program in the countries of Angola, Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and South Sudan. The program worked through “…..community based interventions to educate and change behavior, such as teaching people to filter all drinking water and preventing transmission by keeping anyone with an emerging worm from entering water sources.” (Carter Center website)

We yearn to help and solve problems quickly, to alleviate suffering fast, but change takes time and change takes commitment.

The Guinea Worm Eradication Progeam was established in 1982. At that time the Carter Center estimated that 3.5 million people a year suffered from the parasitic disease.

Now 41 years later, the Carter Center, its partners and the countries they work in, have recorded just 13 cases of guinea worm.

From 3.5million cases to 13 cases.

And of course, the numbers do not speak to the increased quality of life and the ripples of hope this cup of cold water brings to the people helped by this program.

Former President Carter, now 98 years old, entered hospice care in February of this year, and is spending his final days at home with Rosalyn, who at 95 years old was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

Former President Carter taught Sunday School for years at Marantha Baptist Church in in Plains, Georgia. On the day word came that he had entered hospice care, his niece, Kim Fuller, attended the church and offered words of care and appreciation for her uncle.

She read these words of her Uncle Jimmy’s, often quoted: “I have one life and one chance to make it count for something . . . I'm free to choose what that something is, and the something I've chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands -- this is not optional -- my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”

And more cups of cold water, safe and fresh and lifegiving in the heat of the day, are possible now because of work and effort and faith.

Amen.