3 Lent Year A/ March 15 2020
Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42
Still us, God,
so we might listen to You speaking to us,
knowing us, seeing us, loving us. (Rev. Karla and posted on RevGalBlogPals)
Moment of silence…
Still us, God,
so we might listen to You speaking to us,
knowing us, seeing us, loving us. (Rev. Karla and posted on RevGalBlogPals)
I’m wondering if anyone is struggling this past week to find some moments of stillness…to listen for the ways God is speaking to us, knowing us, seeing us, loving us…
I know I have.
Yes…I’m still taking time for prayer and devotional readings and self-care everyday…but that time of stilling my mind and my heart, has been especially challenging this week…to really allow myself to be “still” so I might listen to God speaking to me, knowing me, seeing me, loving me.
We are in the midst of some scary and troubling times of unknowing and uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 virus. There are thousands of voices scrambling to get our attention, telling us what to do or not to do…what to believe or not to believe…We are in a constant state of alert with recommendations evolving by the hour.
This is all on top of other stresses and worries that people are facing already, even before the virus entered into the mix. There are still children going hungry every day, there are still caregivers struggling to care for loved ones, young and old, there are still those struggling with addictions one day at a time, there are still those worrying about a recent health diagnosis, there are still those grieving the death of loved ones, there are still those struggling to find jobs and pay bills, those who are currently being laid off from their jobs, there are still people struggling with loneliness and isolation….
But, do you know what good news is found in all of this today, that we all need to be reminded of?
God is in the midst of all of this…God has always been with us. God will be with us for the long journey ahead….
IN our reading from Exodus today…the people are in need of this reminder…the people are hungry and thirsty and tired and struggling and overwhelmed and wondering… “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Moses listens to the Lord speaking to him, he knows that God sees them, and hears the people’s cries and loves them…for the Lord instructs Moses to Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.”
They paused for a moment, and were given some water to drink…the people received the life-giving cup of water…that only the Lord can give…they were reminded, in the moment of refreshment…
God is in the midst of all of this…God has always been with us. God will be with us for the long journey ahead….
It is in turning our hearts to our faith in God that we remember that indeed God is in the midst of this, has always been, and will always be…
Paul’s letter to the Romans give us more re-assuring words to help us keep our faith in God in these times of testing our ability to endure our times of trial…
Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Setting aside time for stillness, the Holy Spirit reminds us of God’s love for us…reminds us that we are not forgotten and that we are seen and heard…The Holy Spirit reminds us to remain in hope… she reminds us to believe and trust that…
God is in the midst of all of this…God has always been with us. God will be with us for the long journey ahead….
In our gospel reading today…we are witness to a conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well. It is a lengthy conversation that begins with Jesus, tired out by his recent journey, sitting by Jacob’s well, when a Samaritan woman comes to draw water, and Jesus says to her, “Give me a drink.” She is taken back for moment, that Jesus would be talking to her or asking her for anything.
The other thing that jumped out at me in this passage, was that Jesus seemed to be so completely present to her…it was such a personal conversation and interaction that was taking place…the kind of conversation that if you were a part of, you would be reminded that you weren’t as alone as you might have thought you were….Jesus had something to offer in this moment to the woman…who perhaps hadn’t even noticed just how thirsty she was…thirsty to know that she was indeed seen, heard and loved by someone….It is Jesus who reminds her…“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
We will all need this living water, that Jesus gives us…to endure these trying times of uncertainty and unknowing… not just in the midst of this coronavirus wilderness journey….but for all our ups and downs and struggles and worries throughout our lifetime…
Taking time, to stop, to be still, to be in conversation with each other, to be in conversation with Jesus, to drink of His live-giving waters…reminds us that even now, and especially now….God is speaking to us, God knows us, God sees us, God loves us…
Some may look around at all the chaos that seems to be happening in the world and in our communities and wonder,
“Is the Lord among us or not?”
In faith and with the hope of God’s love poured out for us in the life-giving waters of Jesus Christ, and through the gift of the Holy Spirit that has been poured into our hearts…. we can answer affirmatively with a hope that does not disappoint us… “Yes!” Yes…the Lord is among us.
Yes…God is in the midst of all of this…God has always been with us. God will be with us for the long journey ahead….
Still us, God,
so we might listen to You speaking to us,
knowing us, seeing us, loving us
Instrumental Hymn…Be still my soul
Rev Julie Platson, Rector
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church
Sitka, Alaska