Readings for Lent 3A:
Exodus 17:1-7; John 4:5-42
February 24, 2008
The Rev. Karen Faye Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino, CA
Jesus said to the Samaritan woman: “The hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.” [John 4]
On the surface, today’s biblical readings are about thirst, a lack of water, and a concern to survive the harsh environment of the desert. From the quarreling of the Israelites who thirsted for water in their journey through Egypt, to Jesus who was thirsty after a long trek through the desert, staying hydrated was always a major concern. One of the most severe water scarcities in the world today remains in the Middle East. “The deficit is particularly alarming in the Jordan River basin and the adjacent West Bank aquifers where Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian water claims intersect.” Population growth, high birth rates, and immigration increasingly put severe pressure on the already scarce resources and raise the risk of water-related conflicts in the 21st century Middle East. [see www.worldwatch.org]
This lack of drinking water not only affects those in the Middle East but also affects millions of people worldwide. It is a matter of life and death. Specific strategies and goals to provide clean and accessible water are supported by the Millennium Development Goals Inspiration Fund. For without clean water, combating diseases, reducing childhood mortality, eradicating poverty and hunger, and improving maternal health, become impossible.
The good news is we are technologically capable of providing the “clean water piece” of the MDGs right now. We have the engineering capabilities and the resources to make a significant impact. So I do not need to preach a sermon on how to move forward with goals and strategies. They have already been laid out by the United Nations and other institutions that are waiting for people to respond. However the bad news is, we do not seem to have the spiritual maturity nor the desire to make the personal sacrifices necessary to make this a priority. So I do need to preach about Christian maturity and developing a right relationship with God. I need to preach about what can happen when we are filled with living water. Developing a right relationship with God is at the core of right worship. Right worship will be the topic of today’s sermon. {I am very appreciative that all of you have come here today to worship, to wrestle with the gospel, and to seek God’s grace so that you may mature into the likeness of Christ.}
In each one of us, there is a “God-space,” a space within that only the spirit of God can fill. Jesus uses the metaphor of “living water” as that which can fill the God-space in our lives. When the Holy Spirit inhabits this space, we are better able to understand our purpose in life and are compelled to act as mature people of God. When we try to fill this God-space with other substances, a void remains. We then become ineffective Christians and life can become self-centered, depressive, and painful.
Since the latter part of the 20th century, many folks have been trying to fill this God-space with things (although alcohol, drugs, the internet, and workaholism are close rivals). Consumerism has become the American Way of Life and our children have come to believe that consumerism is the way, the truth, and the life. We desire things, shop for things, purchase things, work for things, store things, and then throw these things out, believing that more things will ultimately make our lives happy. This obsession with consumerism has infected even our churches. Instead of people joining the local community of faith to meet Christ, they go shopping for a church, looking for the best programs, best music, best facilities, and best staff that will meet the perceived needs of their family. Satisfaction rather than salvation sets the criteria for their final choice. For instance, many people seek out a worship service that appeals to their need for entertainment, rather than their need for transformation. They have forgotten that the goal of worship is not enjoyment for themselves or even the service. The goal of worship is to enjoy God through prayer and to be transformed into the likeness of Christ.
It is this subject of “true worship”, that Jesus speaks about in his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. “God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” Samaritans were a mixed race of people who had their roots in the Hebrew tradition but whose religious practices were altered by people from other lands and faiths. Respecting only the first five books of the Jewish bible as the revelation of God, they failed to embrace the prophetic words of the prophets and the subsequent wisdom of the ages. They believed that God was to be found only on Mt. Gerizim and that the place of worship was more important than worshipping God in spirit and in truth. In summary, they were in competition with the Jews in Jerusalem to prove that they had the best shrine.
Jesus tries to convince the woman at the well to move beyond her limited knowledge and narrow practice of worship and to be open to something far more life giving. He says to her: “God is spirit and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth.” Eventually she grapples with this truth, recognizes that he is a bearer of God’s grace, and then becomes an evangelist to the whole town. I wonder how this encounter with Jesus changed her whole concept of what it means to worship.
What does it mean for us to worship God in spirit and in truth today? To worship, is to value something of great worth and then to place this object of worth at the center of our lives. Most people worship something. Some people worship many things. It could be education, it could be power, it could be comfort, it could be family, it could be another person, it could be things. For Christians, these objects of worth may be important but they will never fill the God-space that gives us meaning, purpose, and joy in life. And they usually hinder us from moving beyond our small circles and being concerned about the rest of the world. And so Christian worship begins with placing God at the center of our lives and to make choices from that center.
The purpose of Christian worship is to strengthen our relationship with God so that we may become wise, good, just, and happy through a lifelong personal involvement in knowing and loving God. This is the kind of worship based on truth and spirit that quenches my thirst! While Sunday worship is only the starting point of placing our attention on the One who fills us with living water, it needs to also prepare us for the rest of the week so that we can encounter God in our daily lives: in the grocery store, the dinner table, at the water fountain, helping a colleague in need. If you are experiencing worship only as a weekly ritual taking place in a particular building on Sunday mornings, a ritual that is sometimes boring, then perhaps you are not worshipping in spirit and in truth. Perhaps you are not worshipping 24/7. The spirit and the truth of Christ is never boring and never disappoints us.
In my conversations with people, I often ask them to tell me of a time when they experienced God. Some will tell me that they are not sure what I am talking about or that they have never had an experience of God. Others mention only the times when they have had a “mountain-top experience.” Eugene Peterson, the author of The Message, recounts his experience growing up in a Pentecostal Church. He says for Pentecostalists, worshipping in church was a way to get caught up in an emotional frenzy in order to have an ecstatic experience. If the ecstatic experience did not happen, his people felt as if God was not there. Over time, he began to realize that this kind of worship lacked truth and that addiction to ecstatic experiences not only stunted Christian growth but also failed to equip Christians for discipleship.
Others recount worship experiences in which the ritual became rote or the sermon became an intellectual exercise. These kinds of worship practices lack spirit and do little to transform our hearts and minds. In the Episcopal Church, confession, reading and reflection on the Scriptures, the prayers of the people, and being fed at the Eucharist, are all attempts to unveil the truth and the spirit of Christ. But without an openness to this spirit and truth, worship practices can seem boring and irrelevant.
This Sunday, we are concluding our focus on the eight Millennium Development Goals. Like Moses who used his staff to strike the rock and produce water, we too have the knowledge and resources to do likewise for those who are deprived of water. I hope you will do your part to make a difference by contributing to the MDG inspiration fund. Some of you might be inspired or called to do more.
But because many of us are also like the Samaritan woman, we often lack the spiritual maturity and the desire to make the personal sacrifices necessary to make this a priority in our lives. So I encourage each of you to worship the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Let this worship service quench your thirst and fill that God-space inside. Allow the springs of living water to gush up within you and fill you with eternal life. And once filled, do not leave your jars of living water on the floor of this sanctuary for next Sunday. Instead, take them out to your neighbors, your colleagues, the woman behind the counter, the thirsty, the forgotten, the sick, and the homeless. Share the good news in whatever way gives hope to the hopeless, joy to the downtrodden, and food to the hungry. And may Christ bless and guide you on your way.
| Updated February 24, 2008 |
|