Lent 3: The Woman at the Well in Samaria

This Sunday, we'll be taking a look at the passage from John's Gospel wherein the story of the woman at the well in Samaria is told, selected verses from John 4:1-43.  Because of the length of the pericope and the importance of hearing the bulk of it, we'll be doing the reading in a "Readers Theater" format.  I'm looking forward to sharing that experience with several different readers at our traditional services and with the congregation.

The sermon is entitled "How Could He See That?!", which I confess is a pretty lame sermon title.  But I wasn't sure what else to do with it at the time - one of the hazards of planning several weeks ahead!  I have just finished the sermon and would have called it "When Nic Met Sammy", owing to the close juxtaposition of the stories of Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman, "Sammy", in John's Gospel.

I found it fascinating to explore the linkage between these two characters and how they were so very different.

But I think what I'm most excited about in the sermon is sharing with everyone a quote that came from one of my UMC colleagues who serves the Community Church in Lyons (Colorado), a community hit particularly hard by "the Great Flood" of September of last year (2013).  She had reason to respond to folks who made a distinction between pastors and "real people" by saying, "If more pastors were real people, maybe more real people would be interested in church!"  I was captivated by that statement and found myself jazzed about including it in this message - it's all about being real, with God and with one another.

See you Sunday!

Steve
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