{"id":21311,"date":"2023-10-14T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotion-14-october-2023"},"modified":"2023-10-14T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T05:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-14-october-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-14-october-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion 14 October 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

St John 4:4-30<\/strong>
But Jesus had to go through Samaria. 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

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, \u2018What do you want?\u2019 or, \u2018Why are you speaking with her?\u2019 Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, \u2018Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?\u2019  They left the city and were on their way to him.<\/p>\n

Reflection<\/strong>
I was brought up in a home where all forms of prejudice were challenged but at church I encountered both sexism and misogyny.<\/p>\n

The most damaging incidents were at the youth group.  My expressions of interest in ministry were met with: \u201cyou\u2019re a girl! Girls are not clever enough.  It\u2019s not allowed –  just read the Bible!\u201d  This shocked me. Why would God not want me?  Am I not made in God\u2019s image?  So many questions.  To jump many years forward, yes, God wants me – not despite the fact I am female but, as a woman, I am also made in the very image of God.  <\/p>\n

As I have travelled along life\u2019s journey,  one of my biblical heroes became the woman at the well.  Jesus sought her out, broke all social protocol, and did not judge her.  It angers and saddens me that the most common response to her, even now, is \u201cshe was a whore, a woman of ill repute.\u201d  She lived in a time and place where women belonged first to their fathers then to their husbands.  Circumstance gave her no choice but to live, shunned, on the margin of society.  It was to her Jesus turned to bring people to him seeing in her a deep strength, an open willingness, a true faith.  For me she was the first female minister, and her strength gives me strength.  <\/p>\n

For a long time, I failed to understand why John did not name her.   Despite still encountering sexism I have answered my call.  Through training at the Scottish College and Aberdeen University alongside my own studies, I can now see why John did not name her.   She does not stand alone but represents all women, named or unnamed.  In not naming her John elevated her role to one that demonstrates that God calls us all regardless of gender.  For we are ALL made in the image of God.<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong> 
God of all,
without prejudice you call us.
Give us the strength of the \u2018woman at the well\u2019,
to listen, recognise, and to answer  when you call,
to go and gather your people
 and share with them your unconditional love.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St John 4:4-30But Jesus had to go through Samaria. 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. A Samaritan woman came … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “URC Daily Devotion 14 October 2023”<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}