Trevor Williams Water Song Reflection

The water song to me represents the call of Christ; the call that is made to every disciple: to come and die. The only way we can join God in his being is to, like the water, go farther and farther down to the depths of who we are, letting God strip away what is false. The only way we can rise to the High Places is to bring ourselves to the lowest, giving Christ alone the place of Lord.

During the celebration of the faithful put on by the Church of the Servant King last week there was one cameo that stood out especially to me, an african slave in the 1700's named Amus Fortune. This brother was pulled into a life he did not choose, and made a slave to injustice, yet in his soul he was no slave to his circumstances; his lord was the one who has already endured all suffering and shame.

For me, one of the biggest stumbling blocks to surrender to God is the ability to choose the way in which my life plays out. I am very much a participant of the mindset portrayed within the 'American Dream' that I can be a 'self made man' and pave my own road. In the stories of Amus and other faithful servants of Christ, I see lives that were subject to not only horrific but also banal circumstance. What is it to go to the depths than to be faithful to the Lord in the undesirable and commonplace turns which life takes?

“Hear the summons night and day, Calling us to come away. From the heights we leap and flow to the valleys down below.” The valley to me is the life that I do not choose. I am called to come away from my fantasy world where I am God to a world where I am faithful to the one who created me no matter what. There are going to be places I don't like, people I don't want to be with, boring times, and failed plans. The song of the water, however, is one of joy. And only the Great Shepherd can teach me it's tongue, because I really don't want the life I choose; my fleshly satisfaction is fleeting. The depths of my soul long to be brought to the lowest of lows, where my King has gone before me. It is only there that I can then “rise again.”