Living Water

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
During our recent beach vacation, Bambi and I took a day trip to the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando. Built around Universal Studio blockbusters, the park is full of glitz and glamour and adrenaline-packed excitement. Fans of Shrek and Harry Potter will think they have died and gone to heaven.

For me, however, the park was something of a disappointment. Yes, it was “fun,” but fun as cotton candy is fun, full of sensory stimulation but no enduring satisfaction. Watching the sun rise over the Atlantic swells the soul with gratitude and awe; disembarking from the “Revenge of the Mummy” ride at Universal Studios left me wondering, “What’s next?,” like an entertainment addict looking for his next hit.

Granted, I don’t exactly fit the park’s demographic target. I’m caught in the strange no man’s land between fatherhood and (hopefully!) grandfatherhood. No doubt having a couple of kids along to relish Universal Studio’s playground would have increased my fun by a factor of 10!

Still, I feel somehow out-of-sync with my culture’s love affair with the movies. Sure, I enjoy a good flick as much as the next guy, but I don’t believe Hollywood is nearly as important as all the hype would have us believe. The movies, like a theme park, reside in an artificial, make-believe world. But to learn the truth about myself and my world, I find myself hankering after Jesus. He is more sunrise than blockbuster, more soft light than spotlights, more beauty than glamour, more lasting peace than passing pleasure. That’s why I love him so.

In their book on the Lord’s Prayer, Lord, Teach Us to Pray, Will Willimon and Stanley Haueras point out that on any given week, about 50 million Americans attend a service of worship in their church; only a small fraction of that number go to a movie. Yet when you open your web browser or newspaper on Monday morning, you’re a lot more likely to read about Lindsey Lohan or Paris Hilton than Jesus.

That’s why the church is so vitally important: it helps us remember and see and feel what is essential and enduring and eternally true. No, Sunday worship at the top of Poplar (or anywhere else) is not as entertaining as the Universal Studios theme park or their latest blockbuster. But Sunday worship bears witness to the unseen but powerfully real Presence that gives  life meaning that doesn’t fade with the roll of the credits at the end of the film.

Jesus promised “living water” that would lead believers to “never thirst” (John 4:14). Maybe what he meant was that believers are the folk who remember--when lost in a wilderness filled with everything else--what they are truly thirsting for, namely, the life and love of God, radiant in and through the Risen One.