Opening Prayer: You called, You cried, you shattered my
deafness. You sparkled, you blazed, You
drove away my blindness. You shed your
fragrance, and I drew in my breath, and I pant for You. I tasted and now I hunger and thirst. You touched me, and now I burn with longing
for your peace. ~St. Augustine
Scripture: John 4:1-30
Journal: Where do you find yourself in this story? What are you thirsty for these days? How are you trying to satisfy that
thirst? What well are you constantly
running to in order to draw water?
Reflection:
Like the woman at the well, sooner or later,
perhaps in a quiet, reflective moment, we must all come to terms with the
honest truth that we were looking for more than we’ve found thus far. We certainly don’t resemble the Samaritan
woman. We keep our marriages to a
minimum, and we hold down respectable jobs and pay our bills on time. We may look pretty respectable and
orthodox. But still our souls are very
thirsty.
Perhaps your prayer life has dried up, or
in spite of your best efforts you still are not making much of a difference in
anyone’s life, or maybe you’ve lost all the joy, all the passion, in your
life. You have the same sadness buried
in your soul as all those Samaritans had.
You may have a head full of knowledge about God, but you still yearn to
experience something sacred, something that will at long last calm the ache
from deep within. As this story unfolds,
take your place next to this Samaritan woman.
It’s part of my pastoral calling to look
closely at the lives of those who go to church.
They all clean up pretty nicely on Sunday morning. But just below the surface of their navy-blue
suits and colorful dresses lie souls that are not nearly so tidy. On a typical Sunday in our church, I sit
facing the congregation while the choir sings the anthem before the
sermon. I gaze into the faces of people
I know and love. I see the elder whose
marriage is hanging on by a thread. Next
to him is the Sunday school teacher whose daughter was arrested last week for
driving under the influence of alcohol.
Two pews behind them is the church’s newest widow, who is wondering how
she will survive sitting in church alone for the first time in forty
years. She happens to be sitting next to
a young couple who desperately want to be parents, but not a single one of the
fertility treatments seem to be helping.
The details may change as I look from face to face, but the essential
story remains the same. They are all
thirsty.
My job is to remember that what we are
struggling with is not just our families and jobs. No, the stakes are much higher than
that. The real struggle is with our
parched souls. We were created with a
need to satisfy our physical thirst, and every morning of our lives we are
reminded of this thirst. But this
physical thirst is a symbol, maybe even a sacrament, that points to the deeper
spiritual thirst of the soul. So also is
our longing for better families and more satisfying jobs a symbol of our deeper
yearning to be a part of the family and mission of God. We simply cannot satisfy the thirst of our
souls by pouring on new relationships, experience, achievements, or careers.
As the Samaritan woman discovered, it
doesn’t matter how many times we may try to rearrange our relationships and
reorder our lives. Until we find relief
for the soul, everything else will be nothing more than a distraction—a very
temporary one at that—from our fundamental craving for living water.
Most of us haven’t gone through five
spouses, but we have gone through jobs, five moves, five weight-loss programs,
or five churches—and still the insatiable thirst continues. We will never find what we are looking for in
the things we pick up along the way. Not
even the religious things. Not even
important things like relationships. All
of these things will leave our souls empty if we try to force them to satisfy
our thirst. The true object of our
search is nothing less than an encounter with the Holy One. (Sacred
Thirst by M. Craig Barnes)
Prayers
Closing Prayer: O God, giver of life and source of living
water. Forgive me for all the places
other than you that I go to satisfy the deepest longings of my heart. Help me to see what broken wells I go to each
day in search of the fullness only you can provide. Allow me to quench the thirsts of my soul in
You this day, and in nothing, or no one, else.
Through Christ. Amen. (Beginnings
by Jim Branch)
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