Some faces behind the numbers
More faces behind the numbersI was given the privilege of leading a bible study during our last morning together in Guatemala. Below is the text of that study:
Some facts about the global drinking water crisis:
-More than 1.1 billion people in the world, 1 in 6, lack access to safe drinking water
-More than 1.5 million children under the age of 5 die from water borne illnesses each year, like the equivalent of 16 Boeing jumbo jets crashing each day, no survivors.
-Diarrhea is the second leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children.#
-Five times more children die due to diarrheal diseases than HIV/AIDS.#
-220 million of the 1.1 billion lacking access to safe drinking water live in poor, urban communities around the world.#
-The growth of these urban slums is so rapid, it is predicted that by 2030 they will include 2 billion people.†
-Poor, urban communities of the developing world pay the highest prices in the world for water.†
These are numbers. Numbers and statistics are important for us to try to understand the depth and breadth of a problem, but numbers never tell the whole story.
These numbers have faces, and we have looked in those faces each day we have been here.
Ours is a story of hope, because each one of you are here working to change these numbers, but just as important, looking in these faces and building relationships and solidarity with the people that represent these statistics.
We have been working on building houses and working with projects that distribute safe drinking water to poor people. I don’t think we can overlook the theological significance of either of these things.
Water is used as imagery throughout the bible. One of my favorite stories is in John, Chapter 4. The story of Jesus and the Samirtan woman at the well. This version is from The Message, interpreted by Eugene Peterson:John 4:7-13 (The Message)
7-8A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, "Would you give me a drink of water?" (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)
9The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, "How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)
10Jesus answered, "If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water."
11-12The woman said, "Sir, you don't even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this 'living water'? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?"
13-14Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life."
7-8A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, "Would you give me a drink of water?" (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)
9The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, "How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)
10Jesus answered, "If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water."
11-12The woman said, "Sir, you don't even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this 'living water'? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?"
13-14Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life."
We are here working to offer water, and hope, to the people of Guatemala. But there is an incredible thing that happens in that exchange, we begin to feel a renewed sense of hope, and we have a desire to drink that water, both physically because of the hot sun and hard labor we did, but metaphorically too.
The theological significance of house building is also strong
The parable of the builder in Matthew 7:24-27 uses house building as a way to talk about the importance of not only listening to the words of Jesus, but taking those words to heart and putting them in to action. This version is from “The Message” bible interpreted by Eugene Peterson, Jesus speaking to his disciples:
Matthew 7:24-27 (The Message)
24-25"These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.
26-27"But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards."
The theological significance of house building is also strong
The parable of the builder in Matthew 7:24-27 uses house building as a way to talk about the importance of not only listening to the words of Jesus, but taking those words to heart and putting them in to action. This version is from “The Message” bible interpreted by Eugene Peterson, Jesus speaking to his disciples:
Matthew 7:24-27 (The Message)
24-25"These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.
26-27"But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards."
The NIV bible puts it a slightly different way, but equally poingnant. Jesus say:
26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
I just think about our time on the Habitat build this week, and how much cement we mixed to build a solid house that can’t be blown down, and how at the same time we have had little transformations in each of our lives, that we need to put in to practice so our spiritual house is built on a solid foundation.
So all of this really begs the question: What are you going to do with what you have learned and experienced this week? We need to take these words, the experiences we have had this week, the faces and people we have had the privilege of building relationships with, and we need to bring that spirit back to Denver with us, ready to keep fighting the good fight on behalf of our Guatemalan brothers and sisters
This is your call to action, remember you all took the H2OATH and wore your shirts this week:
Learn about the problem
Do something about it
Tell others
Let’s build our houses on a solid foundation of love for Jesus, and love for our fellow human beings in Guatemala. Let’s seek to drink that living water and live a life that shows an artesian spring welling up from within each of us. . .
26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
I just think about our time on the Habitat build this week, and how much cement we mixed to build a solid house that can’t be blown down, and how at the same time we have had little transformations in each of our lives, that we need to put in to practice so our spiritual house is built on a solid foundation.
So all of this really begs the question: What are you going to do with what you have learned and experienced this week? We need to take these words, the experiences we have had this week, the faces and people we have had the privilege of building relationships with, and we need to bring that spirit back to Denver with us, ready to keep fighting the good fight on behalf of our Guatemalan brothers and sisters
This is your call to action, remember you all took the H2OATH and wore your shirts this week:
Learn about the problem
Do something about it
Tell others
Let’s build our houses on a solid foundation of love for Jesus, and love for our fellow human beings in Guatemala. Let’s seek to drink that living water and live a life that shows an artesian spring welling up from within each of us. . .
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