day 16 - breaking the stone, sharing the story.

Tomorrow morning I am preaching from the story of the woman at the well (John 4:5-42) , along with the wilderness story of the moveable well in the dessert (Exodus 17-1-7).

I've been wrestling with Jesus' promise that those who drink of the water will never be thirsty again. I know so many people who are so very thirsty -- and whether or not they have faith seems to have little to do with it. Christian people still hurt, still face loneliness, still struggle, longing and needing good health, love, acceptance, and an endless list of wants. We are thirsty people.

And this woman at the well was no different. She was thirsting. A woman who had been through five marriages, gone through more loss than most people experience in a life-time. She had been discarded, considered used up and therefore of no worth -- tossed aside like trash.

But with this man Jesus, she is seen. Really seen. And counted as a person of value. This short conversation changes everything. In reality her circumstances are the same: her past hasn't disappeared. Her reputation still proceeds her. Whatever prejudice, rejection and isolation she faced before the encounter with Jesus, she will still face afterwards.

But still, she goes away changed because he broke open the stone of her life. With his open ears, his knowing gaze, his few words, Jesus held her story. He held the hurt, the pain, the regret, the fear, the hopes. Holding someone's story is a powerful thing, and for her that was all it took. She didn't need for her life to be fixed. She needed to be seen and heard. It was such a powerful experience, that she told as many people as possible; she shared the story, and allowed them to become a part of it.

When we gather for worship we come to a well of rich stories. Like the early Jewish people drank of the Torah when they had no temple, and nothing else, we come to worship and in the Eucharist we drink of the living Word, drinking from the deep well of a God who forgets no one. We eat of the Living Word -- a Word that isn't just the story of Jesus, but a Living Word that holds within it, all our own stories. Just as he broke through the stone of the life of the woman at the well, the moveable well of Christ breaks through our own stony hearts to quench our deepest thirst: to be seen and heard. Through worship, even in this wilderness of lent, the stony earth of our sin and mistakes is for a moment broken open with possibility, as we hear God's story, and each others stories, and know that in this community we are seen and known. In being known, we are transformed, as we see ourselves as part of the story of God.