a model for communal preaching

Living Water, Living Story

Posted 03.20.11

1)  All stories work through details and gaps. Details highlight what is important to the author and so guide our interpretation. Gaps invite us to use our imagination and fill in the blanks and, by doing so, become invested in the story.

2) Give a little bit of background to the Gospel reading for today, the story of the Samaritan woman who meets Jesus at the well. (And, by the way, read only the gospel this week; people will get a lot more out of it if it doesn't come as the fourth biblical reading they hear.) Here are a couple of things I'd lift up:
The contrast between last week's reading and this week's couldn't be stronger – Nicodemus is male, Jewish, and a religious authority (an "insider"). The woman is, well, a woman, a Samaritan (it might be useful briefly to explain the enmity between Jews and Samaritans), and an outsider (which probably explains why she came to draw water a noon, the worst time of day to draw water but the one where you are least likely to encounter others).
Jesus is not uncovering a shameful past or exposing her life of sin when he says she has had five husbands and the man she is living with now is not her husband. Rather, she has most likely been widowed or divorced/abandoned (much the same thing at this time) five times and is now likely dependent on another for subsistence. Jesus, then, is not chastising her or calling her to account; rather he sees her, compassionately naming and understanding her circumstances. This is why she calls him a prophet and risks asking him the central question that divides Samaritans and Jews: the question of where it is proper to worship.
While she came to the well to get water, now that she has met Jesus, "who told me everything I have ever done," she leaves her jar – the token of her present difficult and dependent life – behind to go tell others. She has, indeed, encountered living water, has been freed by her encounter with Jesus, and wants to share this living water with others.

3) Now, with just that little bit of background, invite folks to turn to others (maybe 3-5 people) to pay attention to the details that grab their attention and to the gaps that they want to fill in. Also have them note their questions, as our questions also draw us into the story. Here are several additional prompting questions: In what way can you identify with the woman at the well? What is the one question you would ask Jesus if you could? What token of your difficult life would you leave behind?

4) After giving people 5 minutes or so to do this, invite a few folks to respond, sharing their insights and their questions with the group at large if possible. (If that doesn't work, think of an adequate substitute for your context.)

Okay, so how do you end a sermon when you've opened it up this way? I don't think you have to "end" it – in fact, the hope is that people will keep talking about this passage as they leave. But to draw things to a close, you might share how you'd answer one or two of the questions you've just asked. You might talk about the promise that God in Jesus also sees us – our challenges, problems, doubts, fears – with compassion and frees us to leave our jar behind. You might proclaim that the Jesus who is willing to break all boundaries to share living water with this woman – who, interestingly, becomes the first evangelist, leading others to meet Jesus through her testimony – continues to break boundaries in order to reach us.

I can't promise you this will "work." It sometimes takes a few weeks of a new practice before people become confident in trying it out. But that's precisely the point – we need to give our people practice in reading and interpreting Scripture so that they will, in fact, believe that this book is their book and that they can, indeed, read it, understand it, enjoy it, and even share it with others.

I know this means taking a risk, Working Preacher. And I appreciate your courage in trying this or some other ways of helping our people find themselves in the pages of Scripture. Blessings on your proclamation!

Transfiguration Yr a cyg JSM looking at self through God's eye

Exodus 24;12-18

2 Peter 1; 16-21

Matthew 17; 1-9

The transfiguration was first and foremost a time when Jesus was affirmed as the Son of God. It was a time after which he had met opposition, he knew the Pharisees were plotting to kill him and he had explained to his disciples that he had to die but would be born again. He must have been lonely and unhappy about the events to come. He loved his disciples and had compassion for all who were suffering and must have wanted to continue to bring healing and salvation to all hurting people. To have to leave the world, in a horrible way, on the cross, would be challenging for any person. Being Human, Jesus would experience the same emotions as most, however still being human he had knowledge from heaven which gave him a God’s eye view of the cross journey.

He knew the scriptures intimately, he had amazing insight from God about what people  were thinking, and about events which were to unfold.  So he know that he had to die a terrible death and not surprisingly his humanity was troubled by this. He knew he would be deserted by his beloved disciples as well so this was the perfect time for him to receive a powerful boost from God the Father in heaven.

The visitation he received from Elijah and Moses as well as the voice of God and the transfiguration experience of taking on the brilliance of the angels combined to reassure him that his purpose was much greater than his preferences. That to save the world, his pathway was clear and that he could set his face toward it knowing that it was a good thing, the right thing the only thing regardless of his human dislike of the process involved.

Peter James and John also shared the transfiguration experience and that no doubt changed their lives. To have been present at such a momentous event could be compared to an astronomer watching the big bang occur. It was a moment that for the rest of their lives they would draw on to reassure themselves that what was happening was real and not a dream. A pinching yourself moment to be certain that you were awake.

But much more important than that was the fact that they received the affirmation that their master was who they believed him to be. the messiah, the son of God. So that these ordinary people who dropped their nets and become fishers of humans knew for all time that when they suffered persecution and ridicule that their faith was properly grounded.

They came to know themselves much better and though that was not an instantaneous process, along with all that they had been taught and had seen and that later the Holy Spirit would bring them to understand, that they would know that they indeed were the cornerstone of the new church. That they could preach Jesus resurrected with confidence.

I am sure that it caused a few problems that had to be overcome, some matters of ego perhaps. It probably takes an appreciation of the responsibilities involved to get perspective upon the knowledge that you are the best mates with the Son of God.

Moses entered the cloud on Mount Sinai to receive the commandments from God. This must for him have been another milestone which he could always fall back on as people were disobedient and even when God told him that he could see the promised land but not enter it.

The fact that the voice came to Jesus through cloud and that Moses entered the cloud for fourty days and that the ark of the covenant was followed by cloud by day and fire by night are all deeply symbolic. However the main thrust of these two readings is the self awareness realised through the experiences and the effect this had on later events.

I read of a nice story of a young monk who asked his senior accomplice why it was that so many people heard the gospel but then fell away and only a relatively small number held firm to their faith. The older monk replied that it was similar to when dogs flushed out a rabbit and chased it. That soon all the local dogs joined the hunt and the whole pack was baying in persuit. As the chase progressed and after ten minutes or so when the exercise became telling, the majority of dogs stopped chasing but there were always one or two who did not give up. The senior monk went on to say that these were the dogs who had seen the rabbit. The others had only heard the noise and joined  in the excitement of the moment and this was the same with Christianity, those who had seen the rabbit so to speak, had had a close encounter with Jesus and that it was enough to last them all their lives. So they kept following.

The reading from 2 Peter alludes to this light sighting reality, The epistle is said to have the objective of stimulating spiritual growth amongst the readers, of combating false teaching and encouraging watchfulness for the second coming of Jesus.

He writes, Believe on witnesses and prophets until light rises within you, the light which will guide and support their faith always.

I am guessing in an educated way that probably everybody here has experienced that light within which is a mountaintop experience which  has helped to give knowledge that we are children of God, that Jesus loves us and has a plan and purpose for us. And that encourages us to continue to follow Jesus on our walk through life. A journey which has made different people of us and is continuing to do so. We have sighted the rabbit and wont drop off the chase.

Mountaintop experiences are life changing but the life changing event as was the case with what happened for the disciples can often be more relevant when viewed in hindsight.

When we think of our own mountaintop experiences and what has happened in our lives since they happened, we can really recognise how far God has bought us on our journey.

Similarly, when we look back upon our life as a Church it is possible to recognise how much growth and change has occurred over periods of time.

It might be that some of that change is perceived as negative, such as thinking back to our Sunday school of 8 to ten children each week, the youth groups which used to meet regularly and the Guild of Martha and Mary which was active over so many years.

We need to see the other side of the coin and recognise that along the way, there have been ups and downs which have developed resilience and there has been a continuing building of a resource of faith and experience.

We draw from the scriptures today, how the major events described, the transfiguration and Moses receiving of the ten commandments were milestones which enables us to look upon the individuals and events and help to understand them better as people and understand better what God was doing in them and through them.

Similarly as the scriptures speak to us, it gives us the opportunity to step outside of ourselves and look upon our journeys with God with a God’s eye view to help us to appreciate just where we have come from and to help us join with God in following God’s planned journey for us.

Let us depart today challenged to think and pray about where we have come from , in which areas we have grown and which areas we would like to see growth in  the medium term future.

But as we do so let us remember the words from Peters second letter today where he says, We have the word of the prophets and the eyewitness of Jesus’ fellows who saw the deeds and heard the prophesies from Jesus first hand.

He says “Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts”

He is certainly saying that until you have the rabbit moment, then hold on to the light shining in the darkness which is the testimony of the witnesses and the word of the prophets.

Exactly the same principle holds as we seek God’s guidance as we move forward on our journey with him. Like the sower of the seed, we have to choose wisely where the seed is scattered. As we allocate our resources with a view to a harvest, we need to look for the deep soil, not the rocks or the briars.

When we think about some of the resources we have I am gobsmacked. When I think of the resource of faith held within this Church, God has truly blessed us. Certainly it has been partly a result of our journey so far, but most of all, it is purely the combination of the life lived with Christ of our people.

We all hear weekly of the miracles which are happening through prayer, Mitch, Gus, Gavin, William, Kay to speak of the major events, however we constantly hear of answered prayer and every answered prayer is a miracle.

As we seek to fathom how God wants us to move forward in the using of this and other resources, we need to fall back on the scriptures, to remember the words of the prophets, to heed Jesus instructions, to take account of the testimony of witnesses from Jesus time to the present.

Please make a note of any passages which you find helpful in this process and it is a helpful tool to write down your thoughts, feelings and hopes in this process. We are not asking you to share what you have written, but certainly share the scripture you find helpful.

If we think about the way we would like to grow with God, it may be helpful to use a simple framework to do so.

The familiar words, Faith, Hope and Love are a good place to start,

Faith is multifaceted but straightforward, Hope could be looked at in the light of what we hope God has/may work here with us and through us, and love likewise has many manifestations but it might help to look at our vision statement, We are a Church with Christ at the heart of our lives, who seek to bring his love to the heart of our community and to consider how we can partner with God to bring this to be an even greater reality. Amen