Note: If the above player doesn't work on your device, click HERE for an alternative audio format.
En el nombre del Dios: creador, redentor, y santificador. Amen.
Today’s theme in the Creation season is water, the elixir of life for both our bodies and our spirits. When I feel depleted spiritually, physically, or emotionally sitting in the woods by a stream or river has always been restorative for me. I spent much of my childhood alone in the woods by streams, rivers, or lakes. I found my peace near water. Being among trees felt like being with family. I felt held in their embrace somehow. I knew in those moments that I was part of something bigger than myself. I was part of creation, and there were no enemies there, only family. This early experience of connectedness to creation is probably why I’ve always loved spiders, snakes, and other critters. They are my family.
Here where mountain rivers and creeks flow in abundance, crystalline and cool, many of us have stories about how nourishing water is to body, mind, and soul, how just being near the water lifts our spirits somehow. Well, it probably won’t surprise you to know that science backs this up.
Certain environments like mountains, waterfalls, and beaches are abundant with negative ions, “…odorless, tasteless, and invisible molecules that we inhale… Once they reach our bloodstream, [they] produce biochemical reactions that increase… the mood chemical serotonin, helping to alleviate depression, relieve stress, and boost our… energy.” (Source)
Being near water can literally make us feel better. Isn’t that true of some people too? Just being in their presence makes us feel better.
Jesus was one of those persons. In the presence of Jesus, all who came near found themselves strangely restored and refreshed, some miraculously so, because in him they found “a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
Let’s place this gospel story in its context: Jesus hears that the Pharisees are annoyed that he is baptizing more disciples than even John did (although, in truth, it was Jesus’ disciples doing most of that baptizing). In order to avoid the current wrath of the religious leadership, Jesus decides to go back to Galilee, which is why he had to go through Samaria where he came upon the woman at the well. Violating one Jewish law after another (she was a Samaritan and woman – both taboo), Jesus engages this woman in a redemptive conversation.
Following today’s portion of the reading their conversation continues and Jesus asks her to call her husband. She replies that she has no husband, and Jesus affirms that saying, you’ve had five, and the one you’re with now is not your husband.
I think it’s important to look at a few things Jesus doesn’t do in this story. Jesus doesn’t exclude the woman according to her categories: Samaritan, woman, married 5 times, living with a man who isn’t her husband… He doesn’t ask her to repent or change the situation of her life (does this mean Jesus knew something about her life that caused him not to judge her as living in sin?) Finally, Jesus doesn’t forbid the woman at the well from proclaiming the huge news he hasn’t even told his disciples yet – that he is the Messiah of God
This woman, who has no name, no fame, and no legacy except in this story, is the first person to whom the Christ revealed himself. Amazingly, she goes home and proclaims this good news to her people, “and many Samaritans came to believe in him because of her testimony.” (39)
This woman was transformed by her encounter with the grace of God in Christ and through her, her neighbors in her village were too. What the woman did is what all of us, all churches and members of them, are called to do: to share our story of how our lives have been transformed by our encounter with the grace of God in Jesus Christ. When we share this good news of ours with others, the redemptive love of God issues forth like ripples on a pond, reaching farther and farther beyond us.
Despite what we may see and hear to the contrary in the world today, it is not our job to save the world. Only God can save and Jesus has already done that. We have been asked to partner with Christ in the continuing work of redemption by telling our good news, by living as if we truly believe our good news.
How and when do we do that? Few things give Episcopalians the heebee geebees more than evangelism. Part of that is our sensitivity to how it’s been done wrong. But we carry an insecurity about how it can be done right. The trick is to operate from gratitude with humility.
Evangelism is vital to the continuing life of any church. Churches don’t grow because they have possession of true doctrine or because they have well-executed liturgies or because they do the right outreach. Churches grow because one person connects with another person and another person and the divine in each of them unites them into one body, one spirit. From there it reaches out into the world like ripples in a lake.
It is in divine union that we work together to as partners with God in redemption. Every ministry of the church from altar guild to outreach is embodied evidence of that.
I think of the stories of Jo, who reached out to individuals and shared her encounter with the grace of God at St. David’s. Many people still here today were connected to this place through Jo, at least that’s what they tell me.
I think of the groups of hikers at St. David’s who venture out into creation where they encounter the grace of God together. Through those hikes, these groups build a divine bond of unity with one another and with creation.
When we and our churches trust the source of the eternal spring of water, it gushes up in us to eternal life just as Jesus promised, bonding us in divine union in the eternal, redeeming presence of God, and spilling out from us to the thirsty world we share.
Let us pray:
“Create in each one of us [ O God] a pool of peace, a deep well of healing that can transform bitterness to love, impatience to patience, irritation to tolerance, rejection to acceptance and inadequacy to confidence in our own ability…” then empower us to share this good news of ours that your redeeming love may reach to the ends of the earth like ripples in a pond quenching all those who thirst and nourishing all creation from the spring of eternal life in you. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment