Father Anthony De Mello, Jesuit priest and psychotherapist, was well-known for his powerful writings about spiritual matters. One of his most provocative stories, in our opinion, concerns some shipwrecked folks floating on a raft somewhere off the coast of Brazil. As time passed for those poor souls their fear mounted. They reminded one another that the ocean water that surrounded them was, of course, undrinkable, and they had no other source of water. Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink. They anticipated perishing soon, from their unquenchable thirst.
But what the desperate shipwreck survivors did not know was that the water on which they floated was actually fresh water. It seems a vast river emptied into the sea not very far from where the raft was floating. And because of the strong flow of the mighty river, the water was actually drinkable as far as two miles from the point at which that river emptied into the sea. Clean, safe, refreshing, drinkable and life-sustaining water was right there and readily available to the shipwreck survivors, but they had no idea. “In the same way,” says Father De Mello, “it seems we’re surrounded with joy, with happiness, with love. But most people,” he concludes, “have no idea.”
Christians are heading into the season of Advent. It’s a term that means “coming,” and what we Christians are anticipating coming to us is the birth of our messiah, Jesus. Naturally, sometimes people are a little mystified by the claim that we followers of Jesus make that his birth was a special demonstration of God’s love and care for the world. Arguments abound about whether or not such special manifestations of God’s love make sense. After all, the alleged event may seem exclusionary, or untimely or illogical. And couldn’t we human beings become alerted to God’s love for us via other more commonsensical means?
Perhaps we could. After all, the argument could be made that God’s grace is so abundant and free-flowing, so available and life-changing, that we all ought to be aware of it and drinking it in all the time. But it seems that like the shipwrecked folks on the raft, though we are surrounded by the very thing we yearn for and require most, we often have no idea it is available to us. We become discouraged, fixated in our belief that what we need and want is unobtainable.
If you feel a little like a stranded soul afloat on a raft without a drop to drink, then maybe this Advent season will serve as a gentle reminder that you are not alone. Long ago, and across the years, many have felt desperate, frantic and hopeless. But the Advent story says that to just such people, waiting for rescue, help was sent: someone capable of showing them where life-sustaining resources could be found.
Do you know anyone in need of that Advent reminder of the presence of grace and hope in the world? Maybe in this Advent season we will all be spurred to help someone in need of rescue recognize that they are floating in a sea of God’s love. They just had no idea.
