Living water

The Very Rev Dr John Chalmers reflects on the impact of the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic.

DEALING with the spreading pandemic of Covid-19 has brought with it an air of uncertainty, insecurity, anxiety and fear. It is remarkable that an unpredictable force of nature has had the power to sweep away any sense of economic security and has resulted in a Chancellor of the Exchequer saying, “this is not a time for ideology and orthodoxy.” He’s right, we are moving into new territory, life will never be quite the same again and many of us are wrestling with questions about the long-term impact of this virus on the life of the Church.

Already we have seen the worst and the best in human nature. On the one hand supermarket shelves emptied by hoarders and on the other hand acts of generosity, neighbourliness and imagination ensuring that the vulnerable, the housebound and the lonely are not forgotten.

In our time we have advanced medically, scientifically and socially beyond the imagination of our ancestors, but when the chips are down we are still people who can become prisoners to the same fears, doubts, suspicions and worries that have captivated and constrained women and men throughout the centuries. We may think that life is very different now (and in so many respects it is) but there is a layer of the human psyche that hasn’t changed. We harbour stuff in our heads and in our hearts, in our consciousness and in our sub-consciousness that are the self-same as those of previous generations.

Back in the middle of our Lenten journey the lectionary took us to the story of Jesus sitting by the side of a well (John 4). He meets a woman there who has been too ashamed to come to the well when others come. She is from the despised edge of society. She has found survival very hard and she is nobody’s friend. He is a Jew and she is a Samaritan so they should not really be in contact, but that doesn’t stop Jesus from wanting to engage her in conversation. Her fears are so close to the surface that it takes no time to discover that she is a prisoner to her insecurity and that freedom from what possesses her, freedom from what she fears most – lies deep inside.

The material circumstances of her life might be changed by a win on the lottery, but the underlying thirst in her life will not be quenched by the water that she can draw from Sychar’s Well. She needs to acquire deeper qualities – such as peace, composure and tranquillity. These are the things that will make a difference and Jesus suggests that she should try breaking into the aquifers of God to find the peace that has escaped her.

He describes what she needs as living water and I believe that that living water was already flowing in the care, concern and empathy that Jesus had for her.

Already we have seen the worst and the best in human nature.

Right now most of us need some of that living water.

I think of the frontline workers who are battling to save lives. I think of the people who need spiritual comfort and sustenance, but their church is closed, and they have been told they are too old to go out. I think of the people who are trying to maintain businesses or those struggling to pay their rent, and I conclude that there has never been a time when it was so selfevident that we are deeply dependent on one another. This is a key moment; social distancing may have changed the way we live, but it mustn’t be allowed to stop the living waters from flowing among us.

And when this crisis has passed I hope that we remember the depth of our connectedness and that we did not wash our hands to keep ourselves free from illness but we washed our hands to keep others safe.

This article appears in the May 2020 Issue of Life and Work

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