Well, well, well. Where do you go for great conversation?

In our graduate school evangelism class, we were asked to go to a pub and talk with people about their lives and our faith. The model for this conversation was Jesus’ with the unnamed woman at the well. This was the final assignment after completing a study on Emmanuel, or the incarnate God. We had to note what methods we used to be present to the other.

Asbury Seminary cherishes their holiness tradition. We all had to sign an agreement that we would not drink, use tobacco or participate “in questionable amusements” (too bad, some of us loved Trivial Pursuit and Jeopardy 8*) while attending the seminary. So, this was an intimidating assignment. First of all, if you are in a pub drinking from a Coke can, you are a somewhat divided from the others enjoying beer, wine or other alcoholic drinks. I ordered a Coke in a beer mug… perhaps dishonest, but effective camouflage. It was bad enough that I looked like a lost twelve year-old in a bar. I kept my promise to the seminary and, yet, blended into my surroundings just a bit better.

That night, I was affirmed in three observations I had always suspected to be universal. First, people will talk about themselves with very little encouragement. All people. Try it. Be a detective. If they are dressed in a suit, ask where they work. If they are getting out of a car with a car seat, ask what it’s like raising children in
this town/ school system. If they are wearing their team jersey, ask how the next season looks. If they have a unique tattoo, accessory, or hairstyle compliment them and ask if they may tell you their inspiration for it. Sometimes their keychain or phone cover will be clues to their life. Most anyone will want to talk about her job, dog, children or school. There are some exceptions to this rule, but the worst they can say is nothing, then you just move on.

Second, if you receive his sacred life stories with some interest and respect, then he will also hear what you have to say. Don’t we all carry a few hallowed experiences that made us who we are? What is it like when someone tunes-in to our telling of these formative moments? It was amazing how well I was received and how easily they listened, once I had been present to their concerns and sharing.

Thirdly, at this point, telling them you are actually drinking Coke is a great way to connect and have a laugh. Being flawed or human can actually be an attractive trait… at least having the integrity to admit to it is. Eventually, I told a table of people why I was there. One woman even offered to call my professor to claim she’d giving her life to Christ simply because of my presence—she said it may give me an “A” for the course!

My regret about that assignment was that I never returned to the pub. However, I did learn a lot about sharing our lives together and the places we go to do that. It was not the television, music or drinks that attracted us to that place—we had those at home. Gathering with others is a comfort.

This week, we will be visiting the local watering hole with Jesus in John’s gospel (chapter 4). He runs into an outcast person who soon is sent as his preacher to her village. After Jesus shows interest in her life and shares his heart and life with her, she is transformed. In this week’s text, many come to believe in Jesus because of the testimony of a woman who was so recently ostracized and alone at the well.

How can we be incarnate to our neighbors? Where will we go to engage? First-Centenary does an hourly communion service on Christmas Eve at a local tavern. They want to meet people where they are. Where are the people you need to meet?

People may see churches as places where people who (pretend to) have their lives together meet. Many are not willing to come to us. It is our work to seek out other groups to meet people outside our church and outside our faith who may need someone to hear them, someone to invite them to a new life.

Jesus does not meet this woman at the temple. They would not have met there because their faith traditions worshiped in separate places. I would imagine, because of her well-known lifestyle, she could have been forbidden or, at least, unwelcome at even her people’s worship.

He goes outside of where and whom he knows, right to where she is waiting.

Where are people waiting to be heard? Who needs to know he or she is still dear to God’s heart, despite a checkered past? Who are you able to empower to speak God’s truth as Jesus ordained the woman at the well?

Seek the questions.
Live the Mystery!

Pastor Amy

PS: Be thinking of a friend who could use a moment and a listening ear or a place where people may accept the gift of water (a city park, perhaps). You will be given a gift to share Sunday morning.