An encouter with Jesus

Continuing our Lent journey through John, this week's lesson brought us to the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Their conversation, like and onion had many layers. Each exposing what it is like to have a genuine encounter with God.

First. Jesus approached the woman. She was going about her own business and Jesus interrupted it.

Second. It was an invitation to step out on a limb. By asking the Samaratan woman for a drink he is asking her to step outside her comfort zone into a situation that is strange and uncertain.

Third. It is mysterious. Jesus transforms a conversation about the physical into a conversation about the spiritual.

Forth. It is honest. Jesus knows about the woman and the woman does not hide from Jesus. As he tells her "everything she's ever done," she neither excuses it nor denies it.

Fifth. It is transformative. The encounter with Jesus causes this woman to go from timid and outcast to bold and uniting.

God comes to us where we are, invites us into something uncomfortable and if we can be honest and if we can be brave. He can transform us and use us in amazing ways.

Rebirth

As our lent journey through John begins, we find ourselves with Nicodemous at night coming to Jesus and asking - who are you? who is God? what is heaven like?

In the evening our spirit stirs and we ponder the deep questions of life.

Jesus answers, "Unless you are reborn, you will not see the kingdom of heaven."

Well, if I can't understand God or heaven without being reborn. What does a person do to be reborn? We can't actually become a new person. We are stuck with the bodies we have.

Jesus answers, "You can feel the wind, but you can't see it. So it is with those who are born of water and spirit."

What is spiritual rebirth? and how does it open our eyes to understanding who God is and the deep questions that elude us?

At Crossings this past week, we tried to find words to express spiritual rebirth by reading poetry, stories and verses. As we continue on this lenten journey we seek to find out what this rebirth is and can mean for us.

Letting go, finding healing

What is it to be healed? To take away pain? To take away the cause of pain? To become super-human and never face pain again? When Jesus healed people, what does that mean?

At biblestudy and at Crossings, we talked about healing and what it means for us. What it means to find healing in faith. Over all, it seems that everyone felt like healing was a letting go. A finding of faith that surpasses the sorrows and pains we feel in life.

Jeff once told me that when we are baptised we try to tread water to keep our head up. But with time, we get tired and we are left with two options... 1. get out of the water or 2. stop fighting and let go.

Letting go is dangerous. Going under means drowning. Dying to ourselves, to our desire to control all the bad things around us and make them go away. Letting go is trusting God beyond what we can understand or control. But, in letting go we find the peace and joy of the resurrection which heals us, fully and completely.

Nothing but the Water

Grace Potter sings an awesome song called Nothing but the Water. I heard it on the radio one day and stopped short because A.) she has an awesome voice and B.) at a closer listen I thought the words were such a great description of baptism. "Tried my hand at the bible, tried my hand at prayer, but now nothing but the water's gonna bring my soul to bare."

There's something honest about that. We are broken and can't understand what God is or faith is. Half of the time we have a hard enough time even perceiving that God exists. We fall flat. But yet, the water is there.

But how does the water save us?

This week we celebrated Jesus's baptism at the Jordan. Where the Spirit descended upon him like a dove and a voice from Heaven cried out, "This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased."

Jesus was baptized into obedience into God's will for his life and God proclaimed him as his son. His baptism marked the beginning of a three year ministry where he walked among the people - teaching them, healing them, feeding them, chastising them and ultimately dying for them. In Baptism, he received something from God and God claimed him as his son.

In the water, we receive God's mark on our life and he claims us as sons and daughters, irrevokably. Jesus did the hard part. We get the water.