Friday, July 19, 2013

Thought for the Day

As delivered at BBC Radio Bristol this morning:

This guy is sitting by a well in the heat of the day. A woman approaches. She's from the wrong side of the tracks. Had some dodgy relationships. As she lowers her bucket the guy says 'Get me a drink love.'
 
Themes of sexism and hot weather in one beautiful package.
 
What do we think of him? The guy. Hold that thought.
 
On the occasion of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee piped water arrived in Nailsea for the first time. There's a commemorative stone.
 
Recently a group of people from the community have been doing something to mark Queen Elizabeth's jubilee. The Nailsea Uganda Water Project is imaginative and town-wide. Community groups, council, businesses, schools and churches partner. We hope to get safe water to one or more Ugandan villages to 'pay it forward'.
 
We take water for granted and, even in droughts, have more than many people around the world dream of. A few of us tried carrying a 20 litre container from Backwell Lake to Nailsea last year. It's a mile. We were exhausted. Ugandan women can carry two, five miles. Daily.
 
The apparently sexist guy I started with was Jesus. The woman a Samaritan. Jews didn't mix with Samaritans in those days. Their feud went back centuries. And men didn't talk to married women in public.
 
So although Jesus' behaviour sounds horrid in the UK 2013, it was ground-breaking then.
 
He went on to talk about himself as life-giving water. If you have a cool drink today maybe think about those who don't get one so easily. And ponder if your spirit needs hydrating too. That would be cool.

No comments: