When I came among you, I resolved to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified.” I Corinthians 2:2

My preaching professor, Dr. Fred Craddock was one of the wisest persons I have ever known. In class he would regularly offer a little gem that would ring true. One that has remained in my heart and mind is this: “Live at the well, not the spigot.”

It has been one of those weekly reminders to tend to that which feeds and nourishes my soul. Wesley believed and taught to tend “to the ordinances of God.” Daily prayer, weekly worship, daily searching of the scriptures, weekly accountability (true holy conferencing), works of piety and works of mercy are also known as the means of grace.  Tending well to these matters will, in fact, allow one to live at the well. This is soul work at its best and I suspect is sorely missing from the people called Methodists.

Those of us among the clergy family know when our well runs dry. Yet, we are usually the last to faithfully attend to the deeper work necessary to have something to say, rather than merely say something. My fear in this season of Charge Conference, Call to Action and Vital Congregation reporting, that the one thing needful is, to tend to the ordinances of God. Fragmented and fragile, some of us forget the simple way. Unless we tend to the practices of prayer, community, holy listening, and faithful scriptural attention–not just exegesis for sermon preparation—the well will run dry.

I know. Twenty-five years ago, in the days when we were planting a congregation, I reached a point where my well had either gone dry, or I had ignored the practices that nourished my soul. My relationships were strained, my preaching was average at best, and I simply wanted to go the sideline and allow someone else to be in my role.

Then, as if by the sheer grace of God I attended at workshop led by Rev. Jack Sterns. Jack was, at that time, the leader of the Life Enrichment Center of Methodist Health Systems in Memphis. He introduced in that seminar Rev. Jesse Moore. It was Jesse who introduced me that day to the habits of tending the soul and gave me tools for living at the well. That one signature event pulled me back from the abyss and slowed me down. It short, that experience gave me a path, some tools, and some basic practices.

I know of no other way to know Jesus Christ and him crucified than to tend to the practices Wesley bequeathed us.  My prayer for us all is live at the well. The place where water refreshes and renews you so that the Lord might again give you something to say that will make a way for the kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.