Clear, Cool Living Water

New River from Grandview State Park

I was in a meeting yesterday.  The leader used the passage from James 3 as one of the scriptural basis for the opening worship. 

This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!  My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don’t bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don’t bear apples, do they? You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?  James 3:7-12

Have you ever looked at this passage in the light of the church?  Mark, the leader yesterday, encouraged us to consider the voice of the church and how it can gush salt water instead of fresh water.  How can we provide clear, cool, living water to people through our churches?