S7 E15 A Cup of Cool Water: Finding Hope in Simple Acts of Love

In this summer ☀️ episode of Holy Shenanigans, Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman reflects on the simple yet powerful image of a cup of cool water 💧 and what it means to offer refreshment, hope, and welcome in a weary world.

Beginning with the everyday care of fresh flowers, Tara explores how small acts of love and kindness can nurture life, just as cool water helps flowers flourish. Drawing wisdom from the prophet Jeremiah, Jesus' words in Matthew 10, and the life and poetry of George Herbert, this episode reminds us that our words, our presence, and our unique gifts matter.

If you've ever wondered whether you're "too much" or "not enough," this conversation offers an invitation to embrace your beloved identity and trust that God can use your everyday acts of compassion to make a lasting difference. Together, we'll discover how courage, hospitality, and faithful living become a refreshing welcome for others—and for ourselves.

May this episode encourage you to offer your own cup of cool water through words of hope, acts of kindness, and the unique gifts only you can share.

Transcript

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: [00:00:00] Happy July, everyone, and welcome to Holy Shenanigans Podcast. I'm your muse, Tara Lamont Eastman, pastor and podcaster. I'm always on the lookout for the holy shenanigans of the sacred showing up in everyday life, and this time through noticing cool water welcome

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: On the bay window in my living room, I currently have a bouquet of mixed flowers that I love. When I buy fresh flowers for home, I have a clear process to attend or to take care of them. If it's cold out, I'm careful to cover them on the trip home with a bag to avoid them from being shocked by the freezing air. In warm weather, I'm quick to [00:01:00] carry them into the house, and even if I can't arrange them right away, I'll place them into a vase of cool water.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: When I attend to them, they are released from their wrappings, the ends of the flowers are cut diagonally, and I mix the packet of plant food into water, and finally arrange the flowers as I see fit. Once they're set up, I put them on a table or in that sunny bay window to enjoy. If I want them to last longer than a week, especially in that sun-soaked bay window, I need to change the water with cool, refreshing water every few days.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: If I want those fresh flowers to last, I need to take care of their ongoing needs. If I get distracted, the flowers will not last as long as when I've cared for them. This is where some phrases from scripture [00:02:00] have come to mind, especially from Matthew's Gospel, "Give a cup of cold water to one of these little ones," as well as from Jeremiah, "Bring back to this place the vessels of the house of the Lord and all the exiles."

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: For me, the care of fresh flowers and plants is important. They're vulnerable to elements and insects that can come in doses of too much and not enough: water, temperature, or being consumed by little bugs, or by being pollinated by bees that help continue the life cycle of the flower as well as the bees.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: In flowers and in nature, the right amount of care matters. Water in the right measure can make the difference of life or death to flowers as well as people. Even when kind words are spoken to plants, I've [00:03:00] been told they make a difference in how those plants grow or don't grow. So if care is needed to be taken in the words spoken to plants, people can be harmed by words or taken care of with the words that are carefully chosen.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: A good word, a word of truth or hope, provides the heart, mind, and spirit of a person the cool water welcome that is essential for their thriving So let's take a moment to ponder what cool water welcome is with the help of the prophet Jeremiah and Matthew's Gospel Jeremiah is often referred to as the weeping prophet due to the challenges of his call from God.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Jeremiah's prophecies were often ignored or hated. He was never married. He even hid the Ark of the Covenant from the Babylonians to preserve and [00:04:00] protect it. And other prophets who only gave the people what they wanted, like Hananiah, tripped up his efforts to tell the hard truth to the people of Israel.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: In Jeremiah twenty-eight, Jeremiah challenges Hananiah's words, stating that the test of a true prophet is if their words from God come to pass or come true. Jeremiah's courageous life was full of conflict, and eventually he would lose his life by being stoned in Egypt and becoming a martyr. Jeremiah was faithful to his work of calling the people of Israel to repent and to turn back to God.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: He lived with integrity. And while it might seem odd to say Jeremiah's call as the weeping prophet is comparable to offering a cup of cool water, popular or not, to offer wisdom and to take [00:05:00] action. While the people of Jeremiah's day thought his actions and words were too much over the top and were reason to hate him, God called Jeremiah's lamenting voice to show up and to stand out.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: In Matthew ten, forty through forty-two, this section follows Jesus' call to take up a cross and follow him, highlighting this reciprocal relationship necessary in following him. God sends Jesus, the prophets, and the disciples to use their unique gifts to share the good news. Each one of these ambassadors of the good news is called to use their specific gifts and talents as members of the body of Christ.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: The disciples go out into the world to share the good news, good works, good actions in their own unique ways, [00:06:00] extending God's welcome as an act of sharing that serves as spiritual cool water welcome for all who hear it. Jesus calls the disciples to be bold and to step out into the world with faith in God and confidence that they were enough for the work that was ahead.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Through Jesus' ministry, the weeping Jeremiah's proclamation is finally affirmed, "I will put the law within them. I will write it upon their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Jeremiah's words and the disciples' words were not always immediately welcomed, but eventually the words, the truth, the message of good news gets through.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: God called Jeremiah the weeping prophet to send his message of welcome. God called fishermen and tax [00:07:00] collectors, and God calls us to join in the good news work of cool water welcome in the form of our words and actions. So take a moment and ask yourself, how do you, your gifts, your presence, make a difference of good in the world?

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: So many people wrestle with the feeling of being either too much or not enough. What if instead of swinging between these polar opposites of fretful existence, we honor our beloved identity as being made in the image of God as being enough? If we embrace this truth, then the diversity of our gifts and personalities will be freed to take up space in the world.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: With the help of God, we could use our unique strengths and energy to care for [00:08:00] others and ourselves to boldly share many cups of cool water welcome. This week's Holy Shenanigans story comes from the poet George Herbert, who used his gift of poetry as a means of sharing God's cool water welcome. As I was thinking of Jesus' words of giving cool cups of water to the little ones, I came across a poem from George Herbert.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: George Herbert was a poet, orator, and served King James in Parliament from 1624 to '25. Following the death of the king, he pursued ordination in the Church of England, and in his mid-30s became a rural parish minister. George's life was noted for unfailing care for his parishioners, bringing sacraments to them when they were ill, and providing food and clothing to those in need.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: In [00:09:00] addition to being a pastor, he was a poet, a writer, and a composer. But due to ill health, he died three years into his call in parish ministry at the age of 39. Upon George's passing, this liturgy was written in remembrance of his life. Our God and King, who called your servant George Herbert from the pursuit of worldly honors to be a pastor of souls, a poet, and a priest in your temple, give us grace, we pray, joyfully to perform the tasks you give us to do, knowing that nothing is menial or common that is done for your sake.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Amen. Nothing is menial or common that is done for your sake The line from George's original poem read, [00:10:00] "Enrich, Lord, heart, mouth, hands in me, with faith, with hope, with charity, that I may run, rise, rest with thee." In three short years of ordained ministry, George used his unique gifts to proclaim a message of cool water welcome.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: George's efforts and words made a difference in the world, and your words and your life makes a difference, too. George Herbert's writings from the 1600s still serve as a reminder for all of us to use the gifts we have to love God, and others, and self. Instead of getting stuck in the trap of thinking that we are too much or not enough, may the Holy Spirit help us to find balance, or as George said, to [00:11:00] run, rise, and rest as we follow Jesus in a life-giving ministry of cool water welcome.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: My opening story for this podcast episode, I used the example of taking care of fresh flowers to lift up the importance of everyday actions of love and care. If cool water makes a difference to flowers, how can it make a difference in the lives of people? Our words and actions, good and hurtful, have an impact.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Jeremiah was courageous in speaking truth. Jesus, too, paid a great price for showing up and speaking lasting words of challenge that brought new life to people in the world. George Herbert, in his brief ministry of three years, used his poems and preaching to offer cool water comfort that reaches from the [00:12:00] 1600s into this current day.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Words matter. How we live matters. You matter. So in the spirit of sharing words and actions that make a difference in the world, I share with you the words and tune of my song, Run, Rise, and Rest, inspired by Herbert's poetry, and in collaboration with my friend and historian, Robert Lebell. May this tune and these words be a cup of cool water welcome to you as you are today.

[00:13:00] [00:14:00] [00:15:00] 

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: I am your Holy Shenanigans muse, Tara Lamont Eastman. Thank you for joining me this week for some summer holy shenanigans that surprise, encourage, redirect, and turn life upside down, all in the name of love. This is an unpredictable spiritual adventure that is always sacred but never stuffy. Gratitude to Ian Eastman for sound editing, and thanks to the current top three listening locations in Jamestown, New York, Buffalo, New York, and Lithonia, Georgia.

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Thanks also to our top international audience in Japan, Finland, and Canada. Support for Holy Shenanigans podcast can be given at www.buymeacoffee.com\taraleastman

Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: or on the Holy Shenanigans Buzzsprout page at [00:16:00] holyshenanigans.buzzsprout.com. Beloved, you are enough. You are needed in the world. Your simple gifts of love are needed to refresh another soul in need of hope, encouragement, and maybe a cup of cool water. So let's take courage in the heat of life and share our bold cups of cool water welcome with the world