{"id":17388,"date":"2021-06-28T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotion-28th-june-2021"},"modified":"2021-06-28T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-06-28T05:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-28th-june-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-28th-june-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion 28th June 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday 28th June<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Women Jesus Met – The Samaritan Woman<\/strong><\/p>\n

St John 4.5 – 26 (you may also wish to read verses 27 – 42)<\/strong>
So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob\u2019s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.<\/p>\n

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, \u2018Give me a drink\u2019. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, \u2018How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?\u2019 (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, \u2018If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, \u201cGive me a drink\u201d, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.\u2019 The woman said to him, \u2018Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?\u2019 Jesus said to her, \u2018Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.\u2019 The woman said to him, \u2018Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.\u2019<\/p>\n

Jesus said to her, \u2018Go, call your husband, and come back.\u2019 The woman answered him, \u2018I have no husband.\u2019 Jesus said to her, \u2018You are right in saying, \u201cI have no husband\u201d; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!\u2019 The woman said to him, \u2018Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.\u2019 Jesus said to her, \u2018Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers 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.\u2019 The woman said to him, \u2018I know that Messiah is coming\u2019 (who is called Christ). \u2018When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.\u2019 Jesus said to her, \u2018I am he, the one who is speaking to you.\u2019<\/p>\n

Reflection<\/strong>
There are many ways to engage with this story, we could consider the cultural taboos of the day, reflect on gender issues, both then and now, or explore double meanings hidden within the text. This passage has much to reveal to us.<\/p>\n

Today, I invite you to explore it from the perspective of encountering the \u2018other\u2019 for the first time, which is a central aspect of Pioneer Ministry, and indeed for all disciples of Jesus. <\/p>\n

Here are some key moments from this particular story of encountering the \u2018other\u2019. <\/p>\n

– Jesus deliberately goes to a place he wouldn’t normally go.
– Remember, Jesus is the foreigner, the \u2018other\u2019 in this story. 
– Jesus couldn\u2019t have known who he\u2019d meet, so he couldn\u2019t have prepared what to say.
– Jesus makes the first move, asks for a drink. It is Jesus who needs something from the \u2018other\u2019, not her who needs something from him. 
– It is the woman who questions their mixing – what are you doing in my space?
– This is an ordinary situation, two people chatting over a drink. Yet it is extraordinary, it just wouldn\u2019t happen without boundary crossing intent. 
– This is not a one way encounter, this is a dialogue.
– You have no bucket – the woman challenges Jesus\u2019 competence and understanding. 
– Jesus is, in effect, invited to speak, he did not force this conversation.
– Worship not here or Jerusalem (a new way of worshipping is coming) Old divisions and barriers will be irrelevant.
– There is Spirit and Truth, an authenticity in this encounter.
– The woman shares her experience of encountering Jesus with others.
– Jesus shares his experience of encountering the woman with his disciples and says, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.
– Other \u2018others\u2019 asked Jesus to stay, because of the woman’s introduction, others want to encounter Jesus too.
They then believed due to their own experience, not because of what someone else had said.<\/p>\n

How can this story help us to encounter Jesus in the \u2018other\u2019?<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pioneers \u2026
loiter and listen at the edge, 
bring people together,
live on terms set by those outside the Church,
create time and space,
nurture mutually vulnerable relationships,
befriend, engage and learn from others, 
unlearn, Church habits, 
yet weave trails for the Church to follow
in order to help to reveal God in people’s lives<\/p>\n

Jesus, our Pioneer, we pray we can learn to encounter the \u2018other\u2019 and walk in your way. <\/p>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday 28th June Women Jesus Met – The Samaritan Woman St John 4.5 – 26 (you may also wish to read verses 27 – 42)So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob\u2019s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by … <\/p>\n

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