Message in a bottle

 Let’s be honest – water is bland, tasteless and downright dull!

If you’re anything like me you will get the sporadic jolt of motivation to ‘drink more water’, whereupon you will dutifully line up eight glasses of water on the windowsill of your kitchen, take one look at them and retreat, defeated, to a darkened corner.

Yes, water is the lack-lustre epitome of monotony in a glass.

That is, until … you need it. When you need water there is nothing else in the world that will suffice. The desperation in you grows. Your mouth becomes drier and drier. You are filled with self-loathing, ‘Why, oh why, oh WHY didn’t I take water with me?’. And then it hits you, ‘That’s right … I think water is boring’.

When you need water there is NOTHING ELSE in the world that will suffice.

No other scene in cinematic history quite demonstrates this desperation for water as that iconic moment in Ben Hur, in which we find poor old Ben, having suffered umpteen upsets to his pleasant family fortunes, reduced to a slave in the Judean desert. With very little understanding of the concept of ‘happy worker equals good worker’, his Roman slavedrivers forbid him to stop for a 15-minute water break. And thus, parched in the desert, with a backdrop of sand, sand and more sand, and a heart-wrenching musical theme, two hands appear. The hands are those of Jesus, holding a small, artfully crafted wooden cup of water. With absolute desperation Ben lustily quenches his thirst with the life-giving liquid and finds the strength to carry on.

It is this very Christ-like behaviour that the members of St Paul’s, Glenelg, have emulated annually, during Adelaide’s famous 12-kilometre City to Bay Fun Run (now known as Bay-City), when they hand out bottles of water to parched and despairing runners.

Congregation member, helper and encourager Claire Kleinig explains the initiative’s conception, ‘The whole thing began when one of our members was participating and they commented that our church building is so close to the route’.

The church was so close in fact that congregational runners were able to complete the Sunday morning run and, with one final sprint, make it to communion on time (just!). ‘This one particular woman asked our pastor at the time, David Altus, how we could minister to the runners. The obvious way was to supply water’, Claire says.

Pastor Altus (now SA-NT district bishop) was very keen to support the idea and in 2007 the first crate of bottled water was purchased. In the first year each bottle had a small label affixed, prior to distribution, with the words ‘Living water, St Paul’s, Glenelg’.

In recent years the labels have grown in size and the words have become bolder, reading, ‘Water is a gift from God. May you be refreshed and blessed’, followed by the church name. The labelling usually happens after church on the Sunday before the run and is something that the children are very keen to help with.

‘God has PROVIDED so richly for us. We want to share what he has given us, not only in a material way, but we want to pass on SPIRITUAL BLESSING too.’

‘On the morning of the race a prayer is said over the water in the service before we head out with it. We ask God to bless the people to whom it is given and ask that in their hearts they acknowledge the water as a gift of God and give him thanks’, Claire says. ‘Pastor also prays for the people giving the water out, that they receive joy in their service and are kept safe.’

After the blessings a small number of congregants, armed with love and water, troupe to a designated pedestrian crossing along the Fun Run route and pass out the bottles as runners come across. ‘They do so in waves and in a rush so activity is frantic for a couple of minutes and we stand with four or five bottles ready to distribute as people come.’

Claire is happy to say the reaction of Fun Run participants has, for the most part, been very positive. ‘Most love to see the children handing out water. The children stand there and call out “Free water!”, although I think a younger one once said “Free water for sale!”.

Most receive the water with a smile and a thank you. Some of them ask “Do I pay?”. A few have looked suspiciously at the label and one I approached actually said, “Church group”, and refused it!’

It would come as little surprise that the church’s community care motto is ‘We care because God cares’. ‘God’s love initiates and moves our every action’, Claire reflects. ‘God has provided so richly for us. We want to share what he has given us, not only in a material way, but we want to pass on spiritual blessing too.’

‘Perhaps the little boy who said “Free water for sale” knew something of the way God operates with us.’ She laughs, ‘I am constantly reminded of Isaiah 55:1 which says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”’

Rebecka Colldunberg is mother to Tevye, Rivka and Avraham and wife to Adam. She runs a noisy Brisbane household of fun and frivolity.

This feature story comes from The Lutheran March 2016. Visit the website to find out more about The Lutheran or to subscribe.