Refreshment for Thirsty Souls

The scorching heat of August has given me an unexpected appreciation for rain. I never thought I would find myself looking forward to the prospect of a wet and dreary autumn, but after such a dry summer, I think I am!

The parched and thirsty ground is a significant image in the Bible, particularly in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah speaks of burning sands and empty wastelands being transformed into pools of water and flowing springs. But for him, this is more than a picture of the natural world. It is an image of what God does for weary and thirsty people.

“The desert and the parched land will be glad;

the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.” (Isaiah 35.1)

At the end of September, we will celebrate Harvest. This year, however, there will be plenty of people for whom the harvest is not a picture of abundance and plenty. Farmers have faced a particularly difficult year, with the dry weather affecting crops and livestock. Harvest reminds us to give thanks for what we have received, but it also reminds us that we are dependent on gifts that are ultimately beyond our control.

The Christian faith does not promise that every season will be fruitful or that every year will bring an abundant harvest. There are dry and barren seasons in our lives as well as in our fields. Sometimes we may feel spiritually tired, emotionally empty, or simply unsure where we are going. We can be surrounded by plenty and still find ourselves deeply thirsty.

It is into that thirst that Jesus speaks.

When he meets the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus promises that the water he gives will become “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4.14). And later, during a water festival in Jerusalem, he makes an even more direct invitation: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink” (John 7.37).

That is an invitation worth hearing again this autumn. As the summer comes to an end and the familiar rhythms of September return, perhaps you are looking forward to getting back to church after a summer away. Perhaps you have been coming regularly throughout the summer. Or perhaps it has been a long time since you last came through the doors of St James’.

Whoever you are, and whatever kind of season you have been experiencing, you are welcome. Church is not a place reserved for people whose lives are flourishing. It is a place where thirsty people can come and drink from the one who gives “living water.” Even in a dry and barren year, there can be refreshment for our souls.

So as autumn begins, and as we give thanks for the harvest we have received, I hope you will join us. Come as you are. Come with your thankfulness, your worries, your weariness, your questions and your hopes. And may we discover together that the God who makes rivers flow in deserts still brings refreshment to thirsty souls.