Previous Lesson View in Word Go Back View as PDF Next Lesson
Gospel Lesson for the Week

 

February 24, 2008

(Please remember to "Refresh" your browser to see the latest entry!)

Third Sunday in Lent

 

Please read

John 4:5-42

Read also

Exodus 17:1-7

Psalm 95

Romans 5:1-11

 

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.  

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

--- John 4:23-24

 

It’s a story too long to write here, but certainly worth the rereading.  Take your Bible or just click on to the Gateway account, and read the text about a well, and a woman with a checkered past, and a tired and thirsty Stranger, who awakened her to new life. 

 

.        ENCOUNTER BY A WELL        .

 

They talked in circles, these two.

Matching metaphors, 

they spoke of water in double entendre. 

He had the heart, the soul in mind;

She, being a woman of some experience,

not altogether good, 

had thoughts more sensual. 

We can almost see her sidelong glance,

her cast of eye,

as she played the wordgame with him.

But when he zeroed in,

penetrating her outer shell,

striking at the relational malaise

that drove her from man to man,

she changed the subject.

 

“I see you are a prophet,”

she said with tongue in cheek,

and shifting the conversation to set her trap,

she spoke of doctrine and liturgy,

and then before she knew it,

she was the one ensnared:

“I am he for whom you search,

the living water you would drink,

the center around which

all worship will be drawn.

I am he.”

 

And then this woman,

all her life isolated and alone, 

took off for town,

giddily giving herself

to those she’d shunned

and who’d shunned her,

embracing her new and joyous task:

To be a conduit for Living Water

that all could drink.

 

When Living Water quickens those who thirst;

The world cannot ignore their joyous burst.

 

--- rvc


*** D I S C L A I M E R ***

 

The Weekly Lessons are based on the lectionary texts for the week – usually the Gospel lesson. They are not designed as a formal commentary.  Rather, they are the personal reflections and original compositions of The Relay Online editor, Rev. Robin Van Cleef, and offer a jumping off point, using the scriptures as triggers to thought, imagination, and (we hope) empowerment.  As you read them, let your own imagination play, and let the Spirit speak to you, leading you where it will.  The Gospel Lessons reflected on this site may not be copied, reproduced or otherwise manipulated elsewhere on the internet without the expressed consent of the author.  Please also note that while we're unable to quote Bible scripture on these pages, it is permissible to redirect our viewers to Bible passages using hyperlinks to web sites having that authority.  The Verse Of The Day and BibleGateway Search engine are the property on BibleGateway.com and are used here with their specific permission.

 

Go Back

Archive Home Page Next Lesson
 

© 2004-2008 United Methodist Relay All Rights Reserved.

Greater New Jersey Annual Conference