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Pilgrim Uniting Church, Doncaster Vic. |
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Interesting things happen when you go to get a drink Preached by Rev Darryn Hickling on Sunday 24th February 2008 - Lent 3 Scripture: John 4 :5-42 There is division among us. We are a divided Church. It is a division pre-determined, it isn’t created by us. You are either an insider or an outsider. I’m an insider but it’s a very personal thing. I refer to our belly buttons. We all have them. We are divided by this division. Yet we have the commonality that we all have one. There is an outsider in the story of the woman at the well but it may not be the one you think. Interesting things can happen when you go to get a drink. Jesus a Jewish male talks to a Samaritan. The two had a fierce and at times bitter rivalry. In fact they hated each other. The story of the Good Samaritan to the original hearers was scandalous. To us it has become somewhat romanticized. How could a rival and at times an enemy be presented as being a good person? The story of Jesus and the woman at the well is also somewhat scandalous. Jesus is seen talking to a woman and a Samaritan woman. In this instance Jesus is the outsider. He was outside of his country, his culture and his people. The woman was within her country, her culture and her own people. Yet she was outcast as well. For who would go to fetch water in the heat of the day? And contrary to speculation, she isn’t a woman with questionable values. Yes she had been married five times (but less than Za Za Gabor) but it was the husband who had the right to divorce not the wife. She has had five husbands but not due to her pursuing divorce. Here’s an artist impression of the encounter between the woman and Jesus (On Screen). It would seem that where God is concerned there are no outsiders. Jesus speaks to her in a language which she understands and relates to. I have heard people reminisce about the past and the glory days of the Church. The times of the 1950s-1960’s where the Church had a prominent place in society and at times went to church three times a day for Christian Endeavour, Church then in the afternoon Sunday school. This was at a time when there were large numbers of people attending Church and it wasn’t uncommon to have 200 children in a Sunday school. Times have changed. The Church has moved from being prominent in her society to being in a position where what was a given (large numbers of people attending and having Church as there main focus) to now having to be invited to be involved in community activities. Chaplaincy in schools in by invitation not simply a right of the Church, ‘a voice crying out inn the wilderness. Where once the question was ‘who can the Church ask to be involved in this project/ministry?’ now it is ‘will the Church be asked to be involved in a particular project or what we would term ministry? At times yes the Church is asked to be involved and at other times no. The Church ahs become the outsider. We have to earn our place in society it is not a given! The woman who encountered Jesus at the well was on her territory. Yet he was able to engage with her in a meaningful way. So much so that according to John she leaves Jesus and tells of her encounter with him and they move from hearing her testimony to wanting to find out for themselves V 42 They said to the woman (interesting that the men listened to the woman) we no longer believe just because of what you said: now we have heard for ourselves and we know..’ (John 4:42). The ‘Church’ is now in a position of being the outsider and having to earn respect in the community. I think that one of the roles of the Church is to express her social conscience. This happens through Synod and the stand against poker machines, detention centres etc. The President of the UCA, Rev. Gregor Henderson released a statement recently about the importance of the PM's speech last Wednesday to say sorry to the stolen generation. It was a very important moment in the history of this nation. Interesting things can happen when you go to get a drink. We may be outsiders, a culture within a
culture but we all thirst. The Church must find ways to engage her community as
the Church is to be a beacon of hope in her community and to draw on the living
water.
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