Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Daily Office Reflection: A Spring of Gushing Water

Psalms: 101, 109:1-4(5-19)20-30 * 119:121-144; Judges 13:15-24; Acts 6:1-15; John 4:1-26

We have the first half of the story of Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman. There is wonderful imagery in these verses. The scene is set with a reminder that this land is steeped in the history of the Jewish people, with land given to Joseph by Jacob and Jesus resting at Jacob's well. And then a Samaritan woman (a person with two strikes against her, her ethnicity and her gender) is spoken to by Jesus: give me water And then Jesus turns the tables and describes water that provides eternal life saying: Everyone who drinks of this water (from Jacob's well) 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. And then after talking about the woman's storied past, he describes God in different terms: God as spirit, God is spirit. God not needing to be only worshipped at the holy city Jerusalem anymore. And because God is spirit, all must worship in spirit and truth.

Such wonderful imagery and metaphors in usage in these verses. In particular I am taken this morning with this beautiful image of an unrelenting spring, gushing water forward - a steady, strong reliable source of strength, of life, of inspiration not only for us but for those whom we come in contact who yearn forr that same source of centering power. Power to change the world, one person at a time. And that makes me smile this morning.
jfd+

Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

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