Woman at the Well

John 4:1-42

Jesus said to the Samaritan woman,” Give me a drink!” v. 7

     We return again to Jacob’s well in Samaria.  Here in this story Jesus is again the stranger, the guest.  The woman who comes to draw water from the well is suspicious of him of the stranger.  He doesn’t follow the conventions of the day.  He doesn’t seem to know or at least not care that people of his ethnicity and hers don’t mix, don’t communicate, don’t trust each other.

     As the stranger, Jesus asks for her hospitality.  She’s not eager to give it to him.  She starts an argument instead—a religious argument, in fact.  Despite all the warnings about talking about religion and politics with strangers, she takes up both topics.  She argues that she practices the pure religion, that her people are “right.”  Should she offer hospitality to someone so different?

      But Jesus, the stranger, persists.  He won’t be put off by her protests and her arguments.  He outlasts her and her arguments.  He engages her and offers her grace, living water.  Is there room for him in her life?  Can she respond to him with hospitality?

     Again, like Abraham’s visitors, God comes in the person of a stranger—a stranger bearing promises for those who will listen.  Here the woman does listen to Jesus, welcomes Jesus not only into her own life, but invites all the people in her village to welcome him as well.  The stranger is a grace, a gift, a joy and delight.  Life is enriched, made full, meaningful in the welcome of the stranger.

      Some of the strangers we encounter worship differently than we do, call God by a different name, dress differently, speak different languages.  Here in the shadow of the cross and in light of the resurrection can we see the face of Christ in them?

PRAY:  O God of all peoples, you offered living water to a stranger, a woman in Samaria.  Your welcome gave her new life and a fresh start and made her a bold witness.  Grant us this spirit of welcome to those unknown to us. Amen.

FAST:  By learning more about the cultures present in your community

ACT:  Set aside a gift of clothes for a local clothes closet

              OR $1 for ELCA World Hunger Appeal water projects.

Welcoming the stranger

Genesis 18:1-8

(Abraham) looked up and saw three men standing near him.  When she saw them , he ran from the tent to greet them…. Gen. 18:2

      Abraham camped at the Oaks of Mamre, an oasis where he and his entourage could rest.  His wife Sarah found it so inviting and so comfortable that she made Abraham promise to someday bury her in the shade of these oaks. Here there is water, pasture, shade, a place to pitch tents. 

    Into this idyllic setting come three men who are strangers to Abraham.  However, hospitality is the greatest virtue in the Middle East.  It was so in Abraham’s day and continues to be in many places in that region now.

     Abraham leaps to his feet and goes out of his way to offer not just what might be leftovers, not just a handout, but a meal of the finest that Abraham had to offer.  As gracious guests the three eat gratefully of the food that they are offered.  As the meal ends, they reaffirm God’s promise of a son for Abraham and Sarah.  Sarah giggles at the absurdity of the promise of a son in old age.  

     What shall we make of a stranger’s promises?  How and when do we trust that there is a divine presence behind the stranger and their word to us?  In the shadow of the cross, shall we giggle at the outrageous promise of resurrection?  I suspect we do and have.

       Strangers can and do bring unexpected news of God’s love and favor.  Strangers can proclaim God’s promises to us in ways that require us to suspend disbelief.  Strangers can be and often are God’s gift to us.

PRAY:  God of all peoples, we remember that no one is a stranger to you.  That all humankind is made in your image and likeness.  That all deserve dignity and respect.  Give us your eyes to see you in the stranger.  Amen.

FAST:  From an attitude of superiority over those different from yourself.

ACT:  Set aside items for school kits given through LWR

              OR set aside $1 for the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.

Cup of Water

Matthew 10:40-42

…whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones… v. 42

     In one of the parishes I served, the drinking fountain (or bubbler as it was known around the Milwaukee area) was right outside my office door.  Every time I left or entered my office, I took a gulp of good cold water.   When I moved to a new community, I missed the water I had come to take for granted.

     In many places in the world, a cup of water, much less a cup of cold water isn’t taken for granted.  It often isn’t immediately available at all.  Often, even if the water is available, it is contaminated with animal waste and other debris.  Those who drink it are the little ones–are the least ones who are thirsty.

       Jesus says that whoever gives a gallon or a quart or even just a cup is doing God’s work in the world and has a reward.  The reward is the satisfaction that when we give a drink to the thirsty, we are doing a holy work.  Giving water, providing water is a divine action.  

       With water life is enhanced.  The people who are given a convenient and safe source for water are less likely to get sick and so less likely to miss school or work.  Their food tastes better, their homes are cleaner, even their crops may grow better.  Life is better with a close by source of water.

      Every cup of water, every well, every spring cistern is a ray of resurrection light  shining into places that live in the shadow of the cross.  We make the world different by providing large and small with a cold cup of water.

            PRAY:  Join your prayers with others as you gather with a local worshipping community to give thanks for an abundance of water, to pray for all who are thirsty because of drought, and to receive your commission for the coming week.

FAST:  By not eating almonds that require huge amounts of water to grow.

ACT:  Set aside bottles of flavored water

         OR set aside $1 to give to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.

Walk for Water

Psalm 23

…he leads me beside still waters… v.2b

One out of four people in the world drink from contaminated water sources.

       In 2015 young people attending the National Youth Gathering were challenged to raise $500,000 for water projects including wells.  A generous donor matched the $500,000 they did raise.  One million dollars went to fund those water projects.

     At the Gathering and at events before and after it, people were challenged to walk three miles carrying five-gallon cans of water. Three miles is the distance the average person in the developing world needs to walk to get clean water.  

     Synods and congregations followed up the Gathering with events back home.  Some youth walked the inside of the local mall to simulate that walk.  They raised both money for wells and raised their own awareness of the need for clean potable water.

         A congregation discovered the trip to and from their church building to the Mississippi River was about three miles.  They took turns carrying the water to and from the river.  They not only understood the need, but also felt the need in their own aching arms and legs.

         For a fictional look at what water means, read “A Long Walk to Water  a short novel written by Linda Sue Park and published in 2010. It includes the true 1985 story of Salva Dut, a part of the Dinka tribe and a Sudanese Lost Boy, and the fictional 2008 story of Nya, a young village girl that was a part of the Nuer tribe. Park used this book as a platform to support Dut’s program  “Water for South Sudan.”  (Wikipedia). It’s a remarkable book that traces the terror of refugees even while offering the hope that comes with when a well overcomes tribal divisions.

PRAY:  God of all creation, we pray for sanitation workers, for water treatment plant workers, for water inspectors and all who keep us supplied with water on a daily basis.  Make us grateful for this gift of water that is necessary to life. Amen.

FAST:  By drinking tap water instead of bottled water.

ACT:  Set aside large bottle of water 

         OR set aside $1 to give to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.

Boundary Waters

John 19:28-30

“I am thirsty.”  v. 28

Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.

     As an associate pastor with youth in my portfolio, I twice took a group of adults and youth on expeditions to the Boundary Waters Wilderness Canoe Area in northern Minnesota.  This mostly pristine area of lakes and rivers is set aside for a few people at a time to enjoy.  Motorboats aren’t allowed only people-powered crafts.

      The campsites in the Boundary Waters remain crude and undeveloped with no wells or plumbing of any kind.  The need to portage canoes and supplies from one place to another means that it is entirely impractical to carry gallons of drinking water.  Instead outfitters in the area provide purification tablets to use with the lake water.  Our other option was to boil water before using it for drinking or cooking. 

      However, on a long and hot summer day of paddling for several hours, people get thirsty.  Surrounded by water and dying of thirst, most of us eventually gave in and simply dipped a cup into the lake or the river.  Thankfully the water was clean enough, and no one got sick.

     Many years ago, attending a National Boy Scout Jamboree near Colorado Springs we camped far from water.  The summer grass was already brown and dormant.  It never rained the week we were there.  Once when I was at a distance from our campsite, I was watching a demonstration of some scouting skill.  In the hot sun, I got thirsty.  In front of me lay a canteen of water—someone else’s canteen.  I gave in to the temptation, picked up the canteen, and took a big swallow of water.  It tasted good until the adult who owned the canteen saw me and confronted my stealing his water.   Thirst is a powerful motivator. What would a person do for a drink of water?  How far would a person walk for a cold drink of water?

PRAY:  God of all creation, we pray for all those who live far from a source of clean water and who carry water great distances.  We give thanks for those who seek to provide wells and clean water to thirsty people.  We pray for developers and well drillers.  Amen.

FAST:  By considering a low flow toilet.

ACT:  Set aside large bottle of water 

         OR set aside $1 to give to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.

Born of Water and Spirit

John 3:1-21

“…no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit.”   v. 5

     This gospel reading for the third Sunday in Lent focuses on the need to be born from above or born again.  The story concludes with Jesus giving a theological lecture to Nicodemus.

    That lecture can sound ethereal and mysterious and poetic.  But Nicodemus, like many of us, needs more concrete rather than abstract language.  That’s our experience of being born from above as well.  The experience Jesus is talking about doesn’t just take place in the Spirit world, not just heaven directed, but earth bound.  ‘…born of water and the Spirit.”

      Our experience of God is often mystical, other worldly.  That experience is also very much in the middle of our human experience.   Some may indeed have visions, out of body experiences, dreams, and revelations.  Others of us have to squint hard to see God’s presence coming as it does in this case in the darkness of the night.

      For many of us our baptism is our experience of water and the Spirit—the joining of an earthly element with a heavenly promise.  The washing of water on our heads, the cross of oil on our foreheads, the laying on of hands are the assurance that something real is happening in this time.  Something real that is for us a new birth, a birth from above, a connection to the great Giver who makes all things holy.

     We give thanks today for the real water of baptism, for the promise of baptism, for the new birth, and for the life to which it calls us.

PRAY:  O God our leader and guide, in the waters of baptism you bring us to new birth to live as your children.  Send us from the waters of baptism to make holy all water and the life it sustains. Amen.

Fast:  By doing large instead of small loads of laundry this week

ACT:  Set aside a gallon of water for a local good pantry         

 OR $1 for ELCA World Hunger Appeal water projects

Living water

John 4:1-42

The water that I will give will become…a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. v. 14b

     Jesus has a simple request of a Samaritan woman drawing water from Jacob’s Well in the middle of the day.  “Give me a drink.”   Jesus is thirsty.  So is the woman though she doesn’t acknowledge it yet.  She deflects his request with a comment that sets off a religious or theological debate.  Who deserves God’s care and concern?

     Jesus offers what he calls ‘living water.”  Again, having physical thirst quenched is important but not everything.  Especially in John’s gospel physical thirst also indicates a spiritual thirst that water itself can’t satisfy.

    What does satisfy is, first of all, remembering the source of the water.  It’s not just the ancestor Jacob who provided the well, God did.  It’s not just a municipal utility that provides water, God does.  It’s not just the ground with a pipe sinking 100 feet into the earth that provides water, but this is God’s gift.

     Secondly, the glass of water in our hand becomes living water as it become life-giving water.  When that glass leaves our hand and is given to someone who is thirsty, it is life-giving water.  It becomes living water when it hydrates a human-divine connection and enhances someone’s God-given life.

    Even with water’s abundance on our planet, even with the wonderful cycle of water that keeps renewing, we still are commissioned as caretakers of this earth to use the water wisely for everyone’s benefit.  We are challenged to keep that water free of contamination so that it contributes to life for all.

PRAY:  God of all creation, the abundance of water amazes us and makes us grateful. In recognizing it as a gift, may it be living water for us and for those with whom we share it.  Amen.

FAST:  From using the dishwasher today.

ACT:  Set aside a carton of juice packs for a local food pantry 

         OR  $1 for  World Hunger Appeal water projects.

Water from the Rock

Exodus 17:1-7

Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.  v. 6

     Having achieved their freedom from slavery, the Israelites found plenty to complain about.  To Moses:  “Why have your brought us out?  To kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?

    These aren’t people feeling undying gratitude for freedom.  These aren’t people living in awe and wonder at the mighty acts of God.  If anything, these are people asking God, “What have you done for me lately?”

    And yet, God provides.  God sends Moses and the elders to the rock at Horeb.  Moses follows God’s command, strikes the rock and water comes out–enough for them, for their children, for their livestock and then some.    These are not necessarily deserving people.  These are simply thirsty people.

      When we find thirsty people, what do we ask for?  Gratitude?  Appreciation?  Loyalty?  Kinship?   God doesn’t discriminate or ask for anything.  All who are thirsty are invited to drink.  Water is provided on this planet for the deserving and undeserving, for the good folks and the evil ones, for the young and the old, for the healthy and the sick, for the complaining and uncomplaining.  God’s gift of water is for all.  How do we ensure that water, safe water, healthy water is available to all?

PRAY:  God of all creation, lakes and streams teem with life.  Be with those who seek to maintain waterways and lakes to keep them free from pollutants.  May they see their work as joining in your work to preserve the creation you love so dearly.  Amen.

FAST:  From long showers.

ACT:  Set aside a bottle of fruit juice for a local food pantry 

         OR set aside $1 for the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.

The Gift of Water

Genesis 1:6-10

God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas.  And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:10

   When scientists probe other planets near us, they ask if there is water somehow on that planet.  Water would suggest the possibility of life.  So basic to our life is the presence of water that we can’t imagine life without it.  Water covers about 71% of the earth’s surface.  The oceans hold about 96.5% of all earth’s water.  Up to 60% of the human body is water.  Even our bones are 31% water.  

    Water is a gift from God and essential to life.  We use this gift in many ways.  Water sustains life.  WE use it to clean ourselves, our clothes, our possessions.  Water is a source of food and cools the planet.  Water is an important source of power.  We use water for recreation and even transportation.  The constant circle of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection continues to support and renew life on the planet.

     We take this great gift for granted to our peril.  The pollution of our waters is a real threat.  Plastics now threaten sea life.  Global climate change and other man-made changes to the oceans threaten life-giving coral reefs in the seas.  Waste dumped into waterways and aquifers threaten our drinking water.  

      Despite the problems, this holy gift of water has a resilience.  Many years ago, authorities cut the sources of the pollution of Lake Erie, which had become toxic over time.  The lake recovered quickly to everyone’s surprise and continues to nourish life.

     Surrounded by an abundance of water can we go beyond taking it for granted and remember that water is God’s gift?

PRAY:  God of all creation, when the earth was void, you separated the waters that dry land might appear and yet the planet remains 72% water.  In the desert you provided water from the rock for thirsty Israelites.  You promise streams of life-giving water in a new heaven and a new earth.  Help us to give thanks and not take for granted the gift of water.  Amen.

FAST: From using water for a second cup of coffee today.

ACT: Set aside a six pack of water for a local food pantry 

         OR set aside $1 for the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.

Feeding of the 5000

Matthew 14:13-21

“You give them something to eat.”  v.17

      We often lift up Jesus’ commands to “go, and make disciples…baptize…teach…”  or “Love God…Love neighbor…”   Less often do we lift up Jesus’ simple command to his followers “You give them something to eat.”

     People had come running to Jesus with no real thought to their own comfort or their own needs.  Those around Jesus rightly diagnosed the situation and offered a solution.  The people are hungry.  Jesus should send them away so they could be fed.   Instead Jesus gently commands  “You give them something to eat.”

     Pooling  all their resources the disciples announced they had five loaves and two fish.  Jesus blessed their offering and sent them into the crowd to feed the 5000 hungry people.    We can see a miracle at work here.  A small offering provides enough for everyone, and there are leftovers.

      We can also see a greater miracle.  These disciples trust Jesus and act on that trust.  They go out into the crowd.  They distribute what they have.  They bring the leftovers back to Jesus.

       The efforts of many different people and organizations means that the issue of hunger in our world has found relief.  Together we have cut in half the percentage of the world’s population that is hungry and in poverty .  Unfortunately, the growth in world population means that the number of people who  are hungry remains the same.  Jesus words still ring true for us, “You give them something to eat.”

PRAY: Loving God, you provided manna and meat in the wilderness, food for the hungry in the lonely hills of Galilee and provide us now with abundance of food to eat.  Fill us with gratitude and concern for those who are hungry, for you live and reign now and always.  Amen.

Fast:  From self-satisfaction for the abundance in your life.

ACT: Bring the items you collected this week to worship.