Our ancestors in faith were dry-land people. When they described the ultimate it was always in terms of plenty: streams of water cascading down from the heights, healing pools, baptismal rivers. The descriptions pictured flowing wells in the midst of arid thirst.
Long ago, my father-in-law packed up his farmhouse to move into town. He told us to take whatever we wanted, and he’d get rid of the rest. As I looked around, I found the old baptismal bowl from church. (When a new silver bowl had been purchased, they sold the old bowl at a rummage sale.)
The bowl now sits on a shelf in my dining room. When I look at it, I think of all who came to that source of cleansing water. These baptized ones walked through the years they were given—born anew of the water in that old bowl and the Word of God.
The old bowl doesn’t have any pretty roses painted on it, just rust stains from well water. It would not draw much excitement form the “Antiques Roadshow” crowds. It is less than its contents. Yet its water flows freely for everyone. The baptized people live on, and so shall we.
Today we remember Michael and all Angels. This message was adapted from “Less Than Its Contents” written by Marj Leegard that first appeared in the June 2008 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine.
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