When writer Bill Bryson moved back to the United States after living in England for 20 years, he was amazed and amused, enthralled and appalled.

What a country! His native America teemed with unexpected treasures -- Count Chocula cereal, microwave pancakes, 24-hour dental-floss hot-lines, and no fewer than 18 varieties of diapers for the incontinent. Not to mention the water -- free water! Available almost everywhere! With ice cubes! Lots of ice cubes!

"Free water is one of the great unsung delights of America," he told Peter Carlson of The Washington Post. "I think it's in the Bill of Rights somewhere -- we're entitled to free water. It's not something you can get elsewhere." (Peter Carlson, "The Land Of the Free Water," The Washington Post, May 22, 1999, C1)

Problem is, the world has water problems. Around the globe, more than a billion people lack safe drinking water, and 2.8 billion souls go without minimal sanitation. An estimated 250 million cases of waterborne illness arise each year -- a number almost equal to the population of the United States -- resulting in as many as 10 million deaths. Shrinking water tables in India and China are endangering enormous areas of agricultural land.

And the situation is getting worse. Since 1950, the amount of fresh water available per person has decreased by 58 percent. It is expected to shrink by another 33 percent within 50 years if the world's population grows to almost 9 billion people, as projected. (Sandra Postel, "Troubled waters," Utne Reader, July-August 2000, pp. 62-66).

We've got water worries. Despite our current cascade of free water with plenty of ice cubes, we are facing a future in which clean water may be hard to come by. It may not be long, in fact, before we feel like the rich man in today's passage from Luke. After a lifetime of feasting sumptuously every day and drinking the finest of cool spring waters, he craves nothing more than just a drop of Perrier to cool his parched tongue while he sweats it out in Hell.

So what was it that led to this sad state of affairs? The rich man's greed. According to Jesus, the kingdom of God belongs to the poor and the hungry and the weeping, but trouble awaits those who are rich and full and laughing (Luke 6:20-26).

These are harsh words, indeed. Hard for us to hear in the Land of the Free Water. But these words are the gospel truth. Jesus has little sympathy for those who serve wealth instead of God (16:13).

The measure of this man's great prosperity is his dress and his diet. He wears purple, which suggests to New Testament scholars that he is a high-ranking official or a member of the royal family. He lives in a gated community, for privacy and security -- to separate him from the riffraff of the city. He dresses in fine linen and feasts sumptuously every day, enjoying the very best of worldly delights.

At the same time, right under his nose, lies Lazarus. At this rich man's gate a poor man named Lazarus is sprawled on the ground, crippled and covered with sores, salivating and hoping to snack on whatever falls from the rich man's table. Not that these scraps would be very appetizing -- at the feasts of this era, bread was used like a paper towel, to wipe the grease from one's hands, and then it was thrown under the table. We're not talking tasty tidbits.

So Lazarus dies of starvation and disease at the rich man's gate. He wastes away within reach of a man who could easily have bandaged his wounds and filled his stomach. The death of Lazarus underscores the challenge that Jesus lays before anyone in this world who is well-to-do: When you give a feast, he implores, invite "the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind" (14:13). When you throw a banquet, think of the needy, not your rich neighbors. In other words, invite LAZARUS. (R. Alan Culpepper, "The Gospel of Luke," The New Interpreter's Bible [Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995], 315-316)

If you don't, you'll have some real water worries.

This passage makes clear that there is only one time to do what is right: The present. After all, the rich man drops dead at the same time as Lazarus, even though he is safely sheltered, well-fed and free of sores. We shouldn't put off until tomorrow what we can accomplish today, because we can never predict when our life on this earth will end, and our chatting with Father Abraham will begin.

The time to be compassionate is now. In the weeks to come, here at Fairfax Presbyterian Church, we will be making pledges to support the mission of the church in the year 2002 -- a mission that includes efforts to support and sustain people in body, mind, and spirit. The work of the church around the world involves not only sharing the "living water" of Jesus, but also the clean drinking water that every child of God needs in order to survive. Our Mission Outreach budget was trimmed this past year to balance our budget, but there is no reason that we cannot reverse these cuts in the year to come.

Our church's mission work is, quite literally, a matter of life and death. Did you know that people can live for weeks without food, but only three days without water?

Our mission dollars also do the work of peacemaking, which is critically important in this time of international terrorism. When we help the poor to gain access to clean water, healthy food, good healthcare, and meaningful work, we eliminate some of the pain and suffering that lead to hatred -- a hatred that can fuel terrorist movements. Now let me be very clear here: I do not believe that there is ANY justification for terrorism, in any time and place. Human suffering cannot be put forward as a legitimate reason to slaughter innocent Americans. Not now. Not ever.

But it is also clear to me that hatred is a kind of a fuel for terrorists, and part of our duty as Christians and Americans is to cut off this fuel supply. By doing development work in poor countries, we break down the dividing walls of hostility that separate people of different races, religions, classes and nations. We bring healing and hope into situations of pain and despair, and as we do so we lessen the hatred that fuels terrorism. With no pain or suffering to draw on, terror movements simply cannot thrive.

Does this mean that we don't need to make a military response? Not at all. Terrorism needs to be punished, severely. But along with justice comes mercy -- mercy towards the innocent millions who struggle daily to survive. When discussing a possible attack on Afghanistan, a friend of mine said, "I would drop grain, tents, and more grain. This response would show what truly makes our country great."

Jesus makes it very clear in today's Scripture passage that we cannot ignore the poor of our world, particularly the Muslims, Jews, and Christians who consider themselves children of Abraham. If we do, we run the risk of joining the rich man in his eternal -- and infernal -- water worries.

The story builds to a dramatic conclusion. "Father Abraham," cries the rich man from his torment in hell, "have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire" (16:24). He still doesn't get it, does he? Throughout his life, he never lifted a finger to help Lazarus, the beggar at his doorstep, and now he expects Lazarus to be his errand boy across the great chasm that separates them.

Then he pleads for Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his rich brothers, "so that they will not also come into this place of torment." But Abraham shakes his head at this request, replying, "They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them" (16:27-29).

You may be familiar with what Moses says. "Do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor" (Deuteronomy 15:7). And the prophets? God says through Isaiah: "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house?" (Isaiah 58:6-7).

The Word of God is clear to the brothers of the rich man and to us -- people who live in a land of free, clean water, and so many other material gifts. We are to turn away from selfishness and greed, and turn toward our neighbors in need. This is what Moses and the prophets teach, and this is what our Risen Savior is calling us to do as well. Although Abraham wouldn't send Lazarus from the land of the dead to warn the brothers, God has chosen to send us a Resurrected Lord.

Jesus couldn't be any clearer. "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me." Just as you did it to the least of my brothers and sisters, says Jesus, you did it to me (Matthew 25:35-40).

We each have a role to play in easing the world's water worries. We can turn from selfishness, and conserve the world's resources. We can provide assistance to people in need, giving drink to the thirsty. We can listen to God's Word. We can see all the people of this planet as precious children of God. We can give generously to the world-wide mission of the church.

It's important to comfort Lazarus now, if we want to join Lazarus in the comfort of God's eternal kingdom. Amen.