In a late-night Clean Water U-21 conversation with another CWU instructor—a conversation that turned to “things Presbyterian”—this phrase was used: “If the way be clear…” It is a churchy-legal way of saying something like, “We’re going to do this if at all possible.” Or, as my grandmother used to say, “Lord willing and the Creek don’t rise…” At the end of this conversation, a low-wattage flash-bulb fired in my brain, giving me cause to jot the phrase, “If the way be clear…” on a napkin and tuck it away for later reference.
In turning this phrase over in my mind, I found the reason for the flash. “If the way be clear…” easily morphs into, “If the water be clean…” Living Waters for the World teams often find themselves beginning (both at home and abroad) in situations where “If the water be clean…” seems nearly as impossible as “If ice becomes fire…” How can we, in our congregation and/or civic group, possibly raise enough awareness, concern, human resources, and capital to source a system and team? How can the people of a rural village in a developing country possibly build a room (or a building!) to house the system or find the people to operate/maintain the system and educate the public?
As a friend of mine taught and reminded me in a recent sermon, the answer to these and other questions of impossibility is, “These things can’t be done… until someone actually does them.” The English poet Ralph Hodgson wrote, “Some things have to be believed to be seen.” That’s the way it often is with Living Waters for the World in particular and mission in general. We may start with the caveat, “If the way be clear…” but there comes a time when the faith of a few suddenly becomes the pathway through impossibility toward a reality that has never before existed. That’s when, “If the way/water be clear/clean…” becomes, “The water IS clean!” or, as LWW ambassadors like to put it, “Let clean water flow!”
© 2009 Todd Jenkins
No comments:
Post a Comment