Celtic Advent November 20th, 35 days until Christmas

St. Eval.   St. Eval, or Uvel or Uvelas was a saint from Cornwall, who has only one church named after him.  If I thought that the material about St. Afar was scant, the information about St Eval is even less.  With one exception--one of the sources I looked mentioned there was a well named after him presumably not too far from the church.

That bring us to the subject of wells, something we perhaps take for granted with our ability to turn on a tap, or stop by a store to pick up bottled water.  In Colorado, we are at least reminded periodically of the importance of wells during times of drought, when it is often only the home owners with wells who can keep their landscape alive.
Wells can also be, for me, a little scary.  Our family moved from the East Coast to San Marino, California in the early 50's.  My mother, perhaps out of her own fears, made a point of telling me the story of a 3 year old girl, named Kathy Fiscus, who was the focus of national attention in 1949 when she fell down an open well in San Marino.  A rescue effort was made, one of the first televised events of this type, but it was too late--the young girl was no longer alive when found. I discovered later that the well was located on an athletic practice field at the local high school and I probably had run past the site inumberable times when I was on the track team.  This story scared the daylights out of me when I was younger.

Wells obviously are part of at least 2 important bible episodes:  that of Joseph and his near murder by his brothers, and the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well.

Wells are also a significant part of the Celtic mindset, often named after Saints and sometimes the focus of a pilgrimage.  Margaret Silf is a British author whose 2001 book, Sacred Spaces, Stations on a Celtic Way has a chapter devoted to the spiritual aspect of wells.  They are life-giving but we often have to descend into the depths to find the water that will bring us new life. Given my youthful fear of wells, her outlook really struck a chord with me.  We do, indeed sometimes have to be guided by God into the depths before we can be brought up again into a space of newness.  We have to confront things in the depths that we have perhaps hidden or glossed over, before we can move ahead.  12 step programs, I believe, are based on this fundamental truth.  I also think it is an aspect of growth we need to continue to address, not a one time effort.  And Advent is probably a good time to do that:

Lord, you do indeed know my personal depths, you know even better than I do the spaces I have hidden deep, whether from grief or shame or other fears.  Be with me when I confront these parts of me, help me to see them as part of Your larger plan for me, with the knowledge that Your love is always with me, in the depths as well as the mountaintops.  As always, thank you for that love...Amen.