6-29-26 - Hidden From the Wise

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

Summertime – and the living is easy… or should be. This week’s gospel contains Jesus’ beautiful invitation to “come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Perfect for a holiday week, right? (Canada Day on July 1, U.S. Independence Day on July 4…)

In the section before this, Jesus inveighs against the faithlessness of his critics, chiefly the Pharisees and their ilk. He is also angered by the fickleness and lack of faith he finds among his own people relative to what he encounters in Gentiles. Forget the scholars, he says – give me the simple-hearted: At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”

Sometimes knowledge gets in the way of our understanding; expectations cloud our ability to see the surprising; familiarity obscures the fullness of revelation. People envy those who have a “simple faith,” an ability to say “yes” to the story of God’s revelation in Christ, and to participate in that story. Blessed are the simple-hearted – for they are often better at living by the Spirit.

And yet the Gospel is also given for those of us who think too much - we just make it harder for ourselves. In the final analysis, analysis will not yield full understanding, any more than playing with the food on our plate will get us fed. The Good News is a gift to be taken and received, ingested, allowed to play in our minds, hearts and spirits.

• Is the life of faith simple or complex for you?
• How do you most fully connect with God – through your mind or your emotions or both?

If your analytical self gets in your way spiritually, you might try on a prayer practice of inviting Jesus to make his presence known, and just be with him, letting your feelings become known. And if you tend to shy away from theological thinking, you might try a bible study and let your mind play.

Thanks be to God, even the most “wise and intelligent” among us are also invited to be “infants” in Christ, to learn to rely fully on the One who made us, loves us and renews us. He will not leave us hungry.

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.

6-26-26 - God's Free Gift

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's epistle reading is here.

In the passage from Romans appointed for this Sunday’s readings, Paul unfolds an argument to support his contention that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not through our own efforts. It is Christ’s sacrifice that sets us free, not our own will-power or ability to modify our behaviors… indeed, behavior change comes as we accept with relief the free gift of forgiveness and grace: But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In order to truly receive the free gift of God’s eternal life – which begins now, not just when we die – we need to allow God to free us from sin. Paul is concerned lest his listeners think this extravagant grace invites us to more sin. “Should we sin the more, that grace may abound?” he asks rhetorically, offering a resounding “No!” to the question. Rather, we should allow the gift of God’s grace to loosen sin’s grip on us.

“Sin” can be defined in many ways, but one way Paul uses the term is to name the purely human, self-oriented nature that exists in all of us. All those things we label as “sins” grow out of that basic sinfulness, an orientation toward self that can cause us to see other people as objects for our gratification, and God’s creation as something to be exploited. When Paul says we have been freed from sin, that is an “already” gift, given at baptism, secured by Christ’s sacrifice, made real in his resurrection. As we let that reality seep into our bones we are freed to choose the Spirit-led life Jesus won for us. The fancy word for that is “sanctification," becoming holy.

Paul adds, provocatively, that we exchange one bondage for another, as we now “become enslaved to God.” Yet such a voluntary relinquishing of our self-will and prerogatives invites us into a freedom unlike any other. It is a freedom that allows us to love beyond our capacity, to forgive more than we think possible, to walk into God’s dreams for mission, to offer healing and ministry in Jesus’ name that enriches our lives beyond measure and transforms others.

That’s the free gift of eternal life we have already received in Christ Jesus. Let's not leave it on the closet shelf.

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.

6-25-26 - Instruments of Righteousness

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's epistle reading is here.

For the rest of the week we turn to Sunday’s passage from Romans, which is such a deep and complex work of theology, it’s a hard to just take a quick dip in it. But let’s jump in anyway, because it contains a beautiful invitation to freedom in Christ – freedom from sin, and freedom from the effort to claw our way into God’s good graces. Paul writes, Do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

It doesn’t always feel like we are living under grace – the world lives by law, and we often ingest the message that we’re never quite righteous enough, no matter what we do. And on one level, we’re right – we’re not. In our own merely human selves, we are wired for self-gratification and self-righteousness. The Good News is that we are made righteous, deemed righteous by the righteousness of Jesus – we get to put on his goodness as we “put on Christ” in baptism.

I once explained this to someone who had grown up in a religious system of judgment and legalism, condemnation and never-good-enough-ness. She said, “Wait, you’re telling me I’m off the hook?” “Yes!” I said, “Jesus took the hook for us." We are off the hook of trying to save ourselves, justify ourselves, grit our teeth and discipline ourselves into better behavior. It is not about behavior; it is about belonging to the God whose love is so overwhelming it can set the whole world free, who can bring us from death into life.

As we take in that breathtaking Good News, we start to see that it is the power of Christ’s life released in us that enables us to “not let sin exercise dominion” in us. In the face of temptations to gossip, or judge, or exert power over another, or manipulate something for our own gain, we may be weak, but St. Paul tells us that God’s strength is perfected in our weakness. We don’t have to try harder; we have to accept the gift of God’s grace more deeply, and allow that life to flow through us in love.

We don’t discipline ourselves into being more loved; we are loved into making more holy and life-giving choices. Thus we become vessels of God’s goodness; conductors of God’s power into people and places in need of healing; instruments of God’s righteousness through whom the sweetness and grace and mercy of God’s song of love can echo throughout the universe.

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.

6-24-26 - Sent

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

I didn’t think I could squeeze one more word out of this this week’s short Gospel passage, but I might just manage one: Sent. It is implied in what Jesus says about people welcoming those who come in his name as prophets and righteous folks, that they are sent, as he was sent. “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”

What does it mean to be sent? Messengers are sent, ambassadors are sent, representatives are sent, teams are sent out on the field, troops to war, first responders to accident sites… To be sent means to be deployed for a specific purpose. Most often our being sent bears some relation to our skills or connections.

Jesus sent his disciples to proclaim Good News of God’s activity in the world, to announce freedom to the poor and those in captivity, to heal the sick and raise the dead. Those are still pretty much the reasons he sends his followers out. Do you feel sent to any particular place or people? Where do your skills and connections and passions point you?

It can take a while to discern where we are being sent – and those “in between” times can be hard to wait through. But I have learned it’s better to wait till things begin to become clear, not force a decision or make a choice out of anxiety or an excess of rational thinking; discerning God’s sending needs to come from both head and heart. And often we don’t fully know it is the “most right” thing till we arrive. The confirmation does come, sooner or later. (For me in this new call in Nova Scotia it was immediate and only keeps growing.)

In my experience, when I am sent by God, I'm also led and equipped. Unlike a courier who goes out and reports back, apostles of Jesus Christ get to carry his presence and power with us as we go. It takes off some of the pressure, if we can only allow the Spirit to do the work and stop taking it on ourselves.

• When have you felt sent by God, short or long-term?
• What inner urges are you discerning – or trying to push down? 
• Where would you like to be sent? Where are you afraid to be sent?

Being sent starts, like everything in the Christian life, with relationship. We strengthen our relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit so that we can better understand God's prompts. They might come through our own desires, or through discerning a need or a lack. Sometimes God makes it clear through dreams and “coincidences” that cannot finally be denied. We can check with others if a calling seems really odd or risky – and if we go forward, know it will be most fruitful as we are aware of going with God, not for God.

Wherever God sends us, when we get there, we find God there too. Funny how that works.

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.

6-23-26 - Ministry With

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

“…And whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

People often take Jesus’ remark about bringing cups of water to “these little ones” as a prompt to do outreach. While Jesus is big on caring for people in need, that’s not his meaning here. He is saying that those who do ministry with us, “in the name of a disciple,” will also be blessed.

A church I once served provided a monthly meal at the city's shelter for unhoused men. I would bring my guitar and sing a few songs while the crew was readying the meal in the kitchen. The gentlemen waiting for dinner were appreciative; “dinner and a show!,” some remarked. But I liked it best when someone there wanted to play. I’d hand over the guitar and let him entertain the group.

People need to be invited to participate when we’re doing “good works.” We can offer ministry to, or we can offer ministry with – and “with” is much more inclusive and empowering. Just think which you would prefer if you were in need. Inviting other people to join us as we go about ministries of help and transformation is one of the most powerful ways to share the Gospel with others. It makes the Good News visible as people see a community of Christ-followers in action – that witness is often as vivid and appealing as the work being done.

Many churches are finding they draw more congregants by giving people opportunities to serve than by trying to entice them to worship. That puts the onus on us to be open to relationships as we serve meals and deliver clothes and visit those in prison, to get out from behind the counters and talk to the people we are serving, finding out what their gifts are. I dream of a church where the well-fed and the hungry worship and serve together in one diverse community. That is what the first community of Christ-followers looked like.

• What forms of helping or outreach or volunteering are you involved in? 
• Is there room for inviting neighbors, or even recipients of that help to participate in helping others? 
• Can you think of ways to form community with the givers and the receivers until we are all aware of being both? No "us" and "them?"

In what ways do you sense God inviting you to work with God in bringing light and life to someone? Have you had a conversation with Jesus about that? Want to bring that up in prayer today?

It makes sense to do ministry with the ones for whom we offer our time and resources, because God has invited us to do ministry with God. We don’t work “for” God – we work with God, at the direction and power of the Spirit moving through us. If we give someone else the opportunity to offer a gift to someone in need, even us, we have given them a chance to live more deeply.

From God’s perspective, we are all “these little ones,” and we are all in need of the water of life.

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.

6-22-26 - Welcome

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

Permit me a rant… yesterday’s Gospel was 315 words of dense, challenging, provocative, hard-to-find-the-Good- News-in teaching from Jesus. And next Sunday’s? 82 words in 2 sentences, four clauses, saying not all that much. Grrrr! On the other hand, if we could parry all that talk about swords, surely we can dive in and welcome the gifts of this very brief passage… which is all about welcoming.

After Jesus gives his followers hard instructions about going out to proclaim the Good News and heal the sick, he softens a bit, saying of those among whom they would go, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”

Jesus stressed welcome in his sending talk, because his followers were to go to villages and towns taking nothing along, no extra tunics, no clean underwear, no toothbrush, no money. They were to rely on the hospitality of those who welcomed them – and if they were not welcomed in one place, they were to move on, save their breath.

This is important for us to hear. So often we express anxiety about discussing our faith with others; we assume that conversation will not be welcomed. Well, so what? Some will want it, some won’t. If someone is not interested, move on, Jesus says, because you will find someone who does want to talk about matters of spirit and will be grateful that you had the courage to engage them in a conversation of the heart.

Mindfulness workshops and yoga retreats notwithstanding, our culture makes little room for spirituality that is rooted in religious tradition. When we introduce the spiritual into a conversation we are making space for a holy connection. We rely on the hospitality of the other person to welcome us into that space. If the other person doesn’t want to, no problem. Try again with someone else. Be open to the conversation if someone else introduces it. Let’s invite people to see our connection to God.

• Do you anticipate rejection when you contemplate talking about your experience with God, Jesus, Spirit, or do you expect welcome? Either way, we can be surprised…
• Can you think of a person with whom you might want to start that conversation?
• What do you think his or her reaction would be if you raised a spiritual subject?

We don’t have cold-call people. We can respond to the Spirit’s prompts about who might be open. We can ask God in prayer, even over a period of weeks or years, “Shall I talk to that person about my faith? What’s the right approach? When do you think I should do it?” I believe that’s a prayer that God will answer, maybe with a sign of some kind, or by our getting a feeling of “wait” or “go,” or there being an opening. That prayer will open our spirits and prepare us.

Jesus implies that someone will welcome us as we go about the mission of God to restore all things and all people to wholeness. And when they do welcome us, as we go in Christ’s name, they are welcoming him, and in welcoming him, they are welcoming God himself.

It’s like bringing the CEO on a sales call, or having the chief of surgery giving an injection. We get to be the advance folks; God does the work.

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.

6-19-26 - Family Values

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

I am amused when “family values” are equated with a 1950s two-parent nuclear unit, as though that were a perfect reflection of Christian virtue. In fact, Jesus disregarded his own mother publicly when she showed up with his brothers to quiet him down and bring him home. He also said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

For those who would follow Jesus, family is not blood kin, but the community of fellow Christ-followers. Loving God comes first, no matter what. As a pastor frequently frustrated when the claims of nuclear family impede involvement in church family, I read those words with a certain grumpiness. Sigh! It’s been a hard week in Water Daily Land, trying to interpret one hard teaching about priorities after another. Putting Jesus first is more counter-cultural all the time. Our culture says family comes first, no matter what. And we are much more formed by our culture than by what Jesus taught.

You may be familiar with the Jesus Doll, a rag doll with brown hair and a beard, a tunic, coat and sandals. He's soft and squishable and great for kids. In a previous parish, we let kids bring Jesus the Doll home for a week. They were encouraged to take Jesus everywhere they went, and to write in the journal that accompanied him. Where did Jesus go this week? Gymnastics? The swimming pool? Walking the dog? Fishing? Kids loved it. Mothers found it more wearing.

“Oh my God,” one said, “It’s unbelievably stressful having Jesus! I was afraid the dog would eat his sandals, or him. I was afraid we’d leave him somewhere!” Another, unable to get Jesus back to us for several weeks, wrote an apologetic email. She’d been sick, the kids had been sick, her husband had been away on business, Jewish friends visited, so they put him away; some other things happened… she concluded, “It just wasn’t a good week to have the Son of God at our house!”

News flash: it’s never a good week to have the Son of God at our house! Life is a whole lot easier with the priorities the world presents us: “Take what you want, when you want it, with whom you want it.” Chances are, if you’re reading this, you have already decided that is not your choice. Maybe you’ve entered the relationship into which Jesus invites you, or you are curious and exploring it. Maybe you’ve already discovered what Christians have known for 2000 years, that life is infinitely richer – though no less painful – when we are aware of having the Son of God around our house.

Jesus did not come to make us feel better about our lives. Jesus came to draw us closer in the one relationship we will have for eternity, in intimacy with God. Starting that relationship here and now makes our lives more purposeful – and often more stressful. “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it,” Jesus says at the end of this teaching.

• What are some of the ways Jesus’ claims have caused you to “lose your life,” or at least to give up some patterns that felt easy but were not life-giving?
• What are some of the ways you resist putting God in first place in your life?
• Who or what would have to be moved to second or third? 
• Can you offer that to God in prayer, inviting the Spirit in?

The gift – which we can only discover by doing it – is that when we move God-life into first place, we engage our other priorities more fully, because we don’t try to own them. We appreciate them as gifts, and can stop ranking them. Maybe that’s what Jesus means by “finding our life…”

© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.