Community at the Well



This Sunday, I attended two live stream church services. I went first to Pastor TD Jakes and then to Pastor Steven Furtick. I enjoy what they have to say, and most Sundays this is a part of my morning. I listen to many teachers throughout the week, but I like to hear the Bible on Sundays, and when the stories are taught well, that makes me happy. It fills my day and can carrying me well into the week. It makes me feel connected to Jesus. It makes me cry sometimes. Sometimes I sing, if I like the music, I pray, I lift my hands. I thank El Shaddai, the Almighty God, for and in, spirit and truth. That’s how I like to start my Sundays, now since I can not go to a building, which for years I have only done maybe every couple months.

More recently I have enjoyed being in the chat rooms with people during the service. I like this chance to share and listen and hold space in a new way while being in my home, yet at church. I love when my son walks in and hears something that resonates with him or when he joins me. It is nice to share this space with others. Praise, prayer and devotion are powerful modes of expression.


So at the first service this Sunday, I heard an amazing story of Abraham and Jacob (AKA Israel). I mention that his name was Israel because God gave him that name even when he was not acting like the prince that this name defined him to be. To do a mediocre job sharing TD Jakes message, which is so much more profound than I can share, (Check it out here.) Jacob was an idiot and needed time to grow into his name. So did Abraham. (Remember, father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had father Abraham; do you remember that one?) So do we all need time to mature. And when we do, we add to our legacy. The sermon ending in the New Testament as you will see, (if you check it out) in the book of John, Chapter 4.


Then I got some coffee, cooked some Father’s Day quiche and watched Pastor Steve. He picked up right where TD Jakes left off. (I call that confirmation. Attending two churches allows for that-- So cool. You can check Pastor Steve’s sermon out here.) I won’t deliver his sermon either, but this time the story leads us to the well on the plot of land that Abraham had left to Jacob, in Samaria. Most people don’t want to go through Samaria (some area). Some areas are just too much hassle. But guess who is in Samaria that day when a Samaritan woman comes to the well to get water? This is not what Pastor Steven’s message was about per se. You’ll see, but this is where I got off the figurative bus when the service was over.

The Samaritan woman at the well and her interaction with our Jewish Jesus is so poignant in our understanding of division today. Jesus was not supposed to be dealing with her. Their people did not get along. Not only that, but she has had multiple husbands that have not been “hers.” Here at the well, two people who would not usually be together meet and find honesty. They find community beyond race or status or any other self or culturally imposed label we might give these two people at the well.

So circumstances bring us together. What are these circumstances? Here, the woman comes to the well in the heat of day so that she won’t have to deal with her people either. (I can only imagine why. Ha.) Jesus tells the disciples to go ahead of him and get food, and he stays at the well. When she comes to get water, he asks her for some. She tells him of their history and he tells her why they should talk anyway: He has living water. She will never thirst again. Can you feel that? I did. She does. She wants it. Asks for it. But before she can be in receipt of that, he calls her out about her “husbands.” He tells her to bring them to the well, too. (Yup, bring all of that to the well, too.) She is honest with him. She does not lie; she does not have any husbands, and he informs her: "yes, you are right! You have five that are not yours.” How does he know?

I don’t know about you, but at this point, I either would have run, or I would have froze. There are so many “husbands” in all of our closets. We hope that they will stay there-- but they can’t. They won’t. They are not supposed to. And Jesus brings them into the light. As a result, they bring truth to the well, both of them. The conversation shifts when she realizes that he is a prophet. She asks, why is Jerusalem the only place that Jews believe worthy a place for worship? He tells her about how soon it will not be about the place at all, but rather spirit and truth. That is how we will worship.

She thinks, well, I don’t understand, but when the Messiah comes (professing her belief aloud in him to him, wink, wink), he will explain, she says. And guess what Jesus says? (I would have lost it!) He says, “I am the Messiah.” She is convinced. She leaves the water jar and runs back into the village to tell everyone. She adds people to the ministry that day, a disciple of Jesus, she is, a believer who many would have called a backslider. Jesus recognizes her and as a result, her life and many others are changed that day.

This story makes me so giddy.

Let me tell you what some of this means to me for this time in 2020, if you're interested.
1. There is no division. We are unique branches bringing all of our roots to the well for water. We can see on the surface, if we just look at our physical bodies that we need water, lots of it and for lots of reasons. Jesus has the living water. Though there is water outside of us, there is water inside of us. And there is water between us. We hold water, ie. we hold reflection, stories, herstory, theystory, history… all of them important.

2. In the center, around the well of our ancestors, we build community. This community is not in a place or in any one particular person, gender or race. We share here and change our lives and other’s lives through community, through real and true partnership. If you have a water jar, share. If you have living water, share. If you have a truth that might allow another access to change, share. If you can hear, listen, speak-- share. If I go through my day, seeing that everyone has water between me and thee, God is in the middle.

3. Honesty is paramount. We can not do this if we are not honest. Both she and Jesus are honest here. It was a collective sharing of truth, even when what he would say might rub the wrong way. I am so happy she did not find defense, but rather accepted the truth between them. Which goes for us, let us consider the intention of what we are sharing. Where do we intend for it to go, and how can we support the person we are sharing with in some way after it is said? We have to check our why's and our hows.

If you can hold this with me, we have both come to the well. If we can see each others’ “husbands” without judgement and be honest about it, we have come. If we can ask for what we need and share what we have, we have come here to the well. Our circumstances have brought us here. What we share is not just physical, but does include such. We are the water and if we believe in Christ Consciousness, we hold it, together.

Sat Nam

Courtney 

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