Jesus, a Jewish Rabbi, meets a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. He not only asks for a drink of water but strikes up a conversation with her. This just isn’t done. This is not just a woman, it’s a Samaritan woman. A less than ‘pure’ woman. A less than fully human being. And what’s more Jesus short circuits thousands of years of racial bigotry and apartheid by explaining to her that the time is coming when all God’s children will worship God in Spirit - that it won’t matter who belongs to what caste or tribe, that God’s love will fall like rain from the heavens and she - yes even she - can be welcomed and fully loved in God’s family.
But he does something else. He answers her question. Not the, ‘what about the temple in Jerusalem’ question. He answers her real question. The ‘what about me’, cast off in the world, cast off by God’, question. He begins by saying, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when…” I wondered at this. Wondered at the word ‘dear’. Wondered enough to look it up at Dictionary.com. It means loved. Precious. Cherished. It also means ‘expensive’, like the price of Christ’s life, perhaps.
Believe me, Jesus says, you are loved, precious, cherished. Believe me, Jesus says, I love you. And then he goes on to say that the Spirit will come, this apartheid will end. How many times have I read this story and missed those four words? Believe me, dear woman. Believe me, I love you…” In that moment, and in those few words, she was given a new name, a new identity. She was born again.
I no longer believe that the reason Jesus came was to make unrighteous people righteous. Jesus came to make broken people whole, to heal our broken world. The only paradigm in which we can fully appreciate the person, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ - and his coming, again - is that of healing. Love is the balm God applies to our lives and our world. Shalom is the end result - a state of well-being beyond health or prosperity; a state of transcendent wholeness. Any other approach perpetuates wounding, the terrible cost of vanity and brings death. Yes - death.
On Sunday we were talking Jazz. Well, Ian was talking Jazz. Specifically, about the intersection of Jazz and faith. How is it possible that jazz and faith intersect? Ian shared with us Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith by Robert Gelinas in which he discusses just that. He does in book form what Ian [...]
The thing I like most about Kingdom Grace is that Grace doesn’t post unless she has something to say. Mindless chatter to fill page views is not her style. Unfortunately, though, I missed a post in which she wrote her own glossary of Christian terms. It’s inspired me to do the same. I’m not saying [...]
Pentecost is derived from the ancient Greek for ‘fifty’ and the festival of Pentecost got that name because, on the ancient Jewish calendar, it came on the fiftieth day after Passover. In Jewish religious life the festival commemorated Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God and the establishment of his covenant relationship with his [...]
I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.
This is from Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church, which [...]
we have this day - today - and we have none other.
these hands, these lips, these feet,
this breath, this spirit, this song:
we have none other.
how full of mystery our world becomes,
how full of wonder, awe, majesty, silence, beauty and
wild joy our world becomes
when we are fully present in it.
let this now be the year [...]
I’m always happy to have Christmas and New Year’s done with. If you work in retail or hospitality - or for the airlines, I suppose - Christmas means nothing more than stress. Long hours, lot’s of activity, a crush of people. I have friends who work 12 hour days during December - 6 days a [...]
Our worship time on Sunday morning was a written response to a specific question. We all sat down with a piece of paper on which had been written only, “Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” And then, neatly lettered below was one [...]
BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast [...]
