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Paul Fromberg

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The Water I Give
Photograph

"The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  John 4:14

In January 2009 I traveled with a group of pilgrims to the festival of Timkat in Ethiopia. Timkat is the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’s celebration of the Baptism of our Lord. At sunrise we gathered in a pavilion in the middle of a huge field in Addis Ababa to witness the patriarch’s blessing of water. Thousands filled the field outside the fenced enclosure, hoping to receive some of the blessed water. Those of us on the inside filled as many water bottles as we could to give them.

What does it mean when blessing is divided between insiders and outsiders? John’s Gospel declares that the living water is within us. It is given to both insiders and outsiders; both strangers and members. God’s pleasure is to freely give the water of life to all people. It is in this equitable refreshment that God’s culture of peace is founded, and nothing can stop it.

In the image the crowd stands outside the green fence. As I reviewed the image I discovered that the pattern of the fence places the cross between the viewer and the subject. It is through the cross that we have hope of drawing together in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

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