Healing River
- West Richmond Friends
- Apr 21
- 9 min read
Message for worship on the 19th day of the Fourth Month, 2026 given by Ben Richmond
Psalm 46:4-11 (NRS)
Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice†, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Selah
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord;
see what astounding deeds* he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 "Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth."
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Selah
“O healing river
send down your waters,
Send down your waters
upon this land;
“O healing river
send down your waters,
and wash the blood
from off the sand.”
As announced, we will sing Healing River together at the close of worship. The song was written in 1964.
That was the year of the Freedom Summer Project. Organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, hundreds of volunteers trained at Miami University and then went to Mississippi to support a massive voter registration drive. Three Project workers – James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner -- were killed on June 21, 1964.
Of course there had been many lynchings over the years, but this drew national attention, in large part because Goodman and Schwerner were White. Less remembered is that during the search for those three, the bodies of eight more black students were discovered. All of them were killed by the Klu Klux Klan: masked men, using violent terror to uphold the structures of white supremacy in the name of Christ.
In a remarkable parallel, in January of this year, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot and killed by masked ICE agents, using violent terror to uphold the structures of white supremacy. The nation remembers Good and Pretti, but few know the names of the thirty-one immigrants who died in ICE custody last year – or the more than seventeen who have died in ICE custody so far this year..
1964 was also the year that President Johnson used fabricated information to persuade Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that authorized the deployment of US combat troops in Vietnam. 2026 is the year that our nation threatened to “bring down hell” upon the people of Iran – without any Congressional authorization at all, but in the name of Christ.
In 1967, exactly a year before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King, Jr., issued a prophetic warning at the Riverside Church in New York. He said:
“We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values.... When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. ...
“A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth ... and say: "This is not just." ... A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death....” [End of quote.]
For a nation approaching spiritual death, more is needed than a political program. God knows, a political response is needed, but our work this morning is deeper. Spiritual death requires a spiritual response. We are called to the work of Easter: to counter death with life; to unleash the healing power of the Holy Spirit.
“O healing river,
send down your waters,
to wash the blood
from off the sand.”
The River
There is a healing river. This river appears through out the Bible, but importantly, we find it at the very beginning and at the very end. There is a river that waters the the Garden of Eden and it is the same river that flows from the throne of God through the New Jerusalem. The Bible says it is “the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal.” (Revelation 22:1, NRS)
Jesus ties it all together. He says
"I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end.
To the thirsty I will give water freely
from the spring of the water of life. (Revelation 21:6, NRS)
Jesus brings together Eden and Jerusalem,
the beginning and the end;
God's intention and God's fulfillment.
In him, eternity breaks into our lives.
Jesus spoke of it in many places, notably with the Samaritan woman: “The water that I will give will become ... a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14, NRS)
To any who need healing, -- and, I dare say, in these days, that is all of us -- the river of life is good news: here is a safe place, a place of healing.
Time and again, our spiritual ancestor, George Fox, tells us: “dwell in the life.” Look for a secret place of the soul to which you can return in hurtful times. George Fox wrote in his Journal that had he had found such a spiritual habitation, and he invites us to join him there. He wrote:
Now was I come up in spirit through the flaming sword into the paradise of God. All things were new, and all the creation gave another smell unto me than before, beyond what words can utter. I knew nothing but pureness, and innocency, and righteousness, being renewed up into the image of God by Christ Jesus.... And the Lord showed me that such as were faithful to him in the power and light of Christ, should come up into that state in which Adam was before he fell.... (Journal Ni 27)
This visionary experience of life “before sin was” formed Fox's life – he returned to it again and again. It was how he understood the Gospel and the power of God.
My dear friends, (he wrote) —
this is the word of the Lord God
to you all:
live ...
in the life
and power of God,
which was before enmity was;
and in the light,
which was before darkness was;
and in the life,
which was before death was:
and so, in that
feel unity and life
in the power of God.
(Epistle 163 in Poetry and Passion of the Lamb's War)
To dwell in the place “before enmity was” is to live in “the virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all wars.” [Journal, Ni 65]. Before we can heal the world, we must come to dwell beside the river of the waters of life and wash in those healing streams.
O healing river
send down your waters... upon this land.
The Tree
On either side of the river as it flows through the New Jerusalem is the tree of life. It is the same tree of life that grows in the Garden of Eden, and of which God said, “you may freely eat.” In the book of Revelation that we learn that the leaves of this tree are for the healing of the nations. (Rev 22:2, NRS) Healing is for us as individuals, but not for us alone: healing is for the nations as well, for a world transformed.
Our participation in this healing of the nations depends on our knowing a measure of healing ourselves. It is dwelling in the Light which answers that of God in others. Dwelling in the Light, we feel the power of God. So,
in the face of endless war and violence, we cry “peace.”
in the face of patriarchy, we cry “equality”.
Standing with those who are persecuted for simply being who they are, we cry, “Let my people go.”
and, to the lonely and distressed, we cry, “come into the fellowship of virtue and love, and unity in the Holy Spirit.”
Don't worry if your way seems diverse: there are twelve gates to the city. The gates will never be shut, for there is no night there. (Revelation 21:25)
Let the seed of freedom
awake and flourish,
Let the deep roots nourish,
Let the tall stalks rise,
The Voice
As you wander the streets of the New Jerusalem, or stand in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day do you know what will happen?
You will hear the sound of God! The Hebrew is qol Yahweh
In the New Jerusalem, John “heard a loud voice from the throne.” It cries out, ... “God will dwell with them; ... God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 21:3-4, NRS)
And, of course, the same sound was heard in the Garden: “Eve and Adam heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze.” (Gen 3:8 NRS) The Hebrew for breeze is ruach, which means both, “wind” and “spirit.” So, I like to say, “They heard the qol Yahweh walking in the garden at the time when the spirit was moving.”
I love the image of the qol Yahweh, walking about when the Spirit is moving! Oh Friends, lets pray for such times when God is walking about seeking to converse with us.
How does God speak to you? Do you hear words spoken silently in your heart? or perhaps scripture suddenly come alive in you? Perhaps there are no words, but a presence wiping away every tear? Perhaps you receive guidance; a sense of assurance -- or of warning? or you sense a quickening response to nature's beauty. Perhaps you sense a simple awareness of that love that covers a multitude of sins? Or maybe, you find yourself quaking in the presence of the Holy One!
However God converses with you, attend to the qol Yahweh. This is the basis of authentic ministry and the healing of the world.
Gold
So, friends, I had come to this point in my preparations and I thought I was done. But I felt a nudge from the Holy One. We had a short conversation:
Me: What, Lord?
God: There is one more thing that the New Jerusalem and the Garden have in common.
Me: What is that?
God: Gold!
Me, (whining): But I don't want to preach about Gold. It stinks of oppression.
God: But this gold is good!
That stirred a memory. And, what can a person do when God quotes scripture? So, I found the passage -- it comes in the second chapter of Genesis – and discovered that it takes us back to the river:
A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah,
where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; (Genesis 2:10-12, NRS)
And the corresponding verse in the Revelation reads:
“the great street of the [New Jerusalem] was of pure gold, like transparent glass.” (Revelation 21:21)
Now, gold is not usually transparent. Gold is not usually pavement to be trampled underfoot. Clearly, this is a metaphor. I think it works like this:
God knows that sometimes we feel stretched thin, tired, and anxious. The needs are endless and the resources few. But “gold that is good” heals us from the spirit of poverty and lack. For the very wealthy, there is never enough; but for people of faith, there is always enough. I felt my heart start to swell as I heard God saying: there is enough. There is more than enough!
I found myself remembering the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. I realized that, for me, the point isn't how Jesus caused the loaves and fishes to multiply but that they multiplied! And, I'm so glad that Jesus continues to feed us with bread from heaven.
The assurance that there is enough is the end of materialism's hold on our lives. If there is enough, we needn't fear and we needn't hoard, and we needn't grasp.
So, here, we are:
with the River of life for our healing ...
with the Tree whose leaves heal the nations,...
with the qol Yaweh our living guide,...
with the gold that is good...
... Here, is our dwelling place.
Here is power of God to confront the triple giants of materialism, militarism, and racism.
Here is healing for a nation that is nearing spiritual death.
Today, the Destroyer is abroad in our land. That is true. But, praise be to God, it is also the day of the spirit's moving!
Let the seed of freedom
awake and flourish,
Let the deep roots nourish,
Let the tall stalks rise,
O healing river
send down your waters,
Send down your waters
upon this land.
† his voice: קוֹל
* NRS has “desolations”; “astounding deeds” is imported here from the New Jerusalem Bible.
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