Tag Archives: Rev. Rebecca

This Sunday (April 20 – Easter) at St. John’s

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Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. Acts 10:34-35

This Sunday is the highlight of our religious year.  Despite our attempts to silence Jesus and keep him in the tomb, he rises to live forever.  What a joy to hear the words of Peter:  God is not partial.  God is for everyone.  Any person who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to God.  Simple words and not always easy to live by.  Yet, blessed words, because we must only be the best God created us to be.  We don’t have to live up to what anyone else thinks.  God loves us all.

Blessings during this Holiest of Weeks….

Love, Rebecca

Easter Day Bulletin

Good Friday Service – Eucharist from the Reserve Sacrament and Adoration of the Cross, 7:00pm
Holy Saturday – 1:00pm
Decorate the Church for Easter – 1:00-3:00pm
Easter Vigil – 8:00pm; followed by Champagne and Chocolate reception
Easter Day
10:00am – Brunch – bring your favorite dish to Share; Godly Play for the children
11:00am – Service with Communion
Egg hunt after church

Rebecca’s Schedule: Next week, Rebecca will be in Corbin on Thursday, April 24, and her Sabbath day will be Friday, April 25.  You can reach to Rebecca by calling 859 -429-1659 or priest-in-charge@stjohnscorbin.org.

Flowers for the altar: The flowers on the Altar are given to the glory of God and to the memory of Mr. & Mrs. George M. Golden, Mrs. R. Hollifield George, Thomas R. Hollifield, Mrs Jacqueline Golden Cooper and Mr. & Mrs. Coy Hart by Mr & Mrs. Jerry Hollifield.  Easter flowers are also given in memory of John & Elizabeth by Sue Weedman, in memory of Robert & Mary Ann Myers by the Rev. Rebecca Myers, in memory of Keith Snider by the Swinford family, in memory of Anne & Lamar Jones and Pat & Cecil Davis by Anne Day and Jeff David, by Mrs. Thalia Harris and in memory of William R. & E. Irene Fink by Bruce W. Cory.

Easter Egg Hunt  There will be an Easter Egg Hunt for the children after the service on Easter.

Pot Luck Sunday:  Next Sunday, April 27, is our monthly pot luck.  Bring a dish or drink to share.  And all are welcome!  Plan to fellowship with each other.  

Adult Forum: Adult Forum will resume next week with a 7-week Easter series on Resurrection Living, using a Forward Movement pamphlet by Christine McSpaden.  Mary Swinford will lead the first session on Luke 24:5, Why do you look for the living among the dead?

St. George’s Day, Saturday, April 26, Cathedral Domain.  Mary Swinford will be confirmed at the 3pm service.  Spend the weekend or come for the day.  Reservations for overnight must be received by April 18.  Meals are included in the overnight stay or can be purchased separately if you are coming for the day.  You are also welcome to bring your own food and have a picnic on the grounds.  http://www.cathedraldomain.org/stgeorge2014.html

Belk Charity Sales Day:  The Belk Charity Sales Day will be Saturday, May 3rd from 6:00am to 10:00am.  Ticket may be purchased for $5 tickets from our ECW, which allow you entrance to the sale and $5 off your purchase.  We are trying to sell 100 tickets, which provides $500 for the church and tremendous savings for you!

We’re buying goats!  The Lazarus at the Gates Adult Forum study has prompted us to purchase goats through Episcopal Relief and Development for families in the Philippines.  Goats provide milk, cheese, and manure for farming.  Donations towards the $80 purchase of each goat can be made through the goat bank in the parish hall or in the offering plate clearly marked ERD goat project.

United Thank Offering (UTO) is a ministry of the Episcopal Church for the mission of the whole church. Our ingathering of your UTO offerings will be Sunday, May 11.  Remember to bring your offering that day AND to pick up another box for the fall ingathering.    

The meal of Love (Sermon) April 17, 2014

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Sermon – April 17, 2014
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY
Maundy Thursday

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.  John 13:34-35

My mother’s parents lived 300 miles away from us.  They came to visit us at least once or maybe twice throughout the year.  Once each year, usually in the summer, we’d travel to see them.  Sometimes we took the Greyhound bus, which was a LONG trip.  Other times we drove.  The standard dinner on the night we arrived was spaghetti with meatballs.  The sauce would have cooked all day.  How my grandmother never burnt that sauce, making it on an electric stove, I’ll never know.  I cheat and make it in a crockpot.  The sauce was very simple – tomatoes and tomato paste.  There weren’t a lot of spices, but there was a secret ingredient that was never written down in the recipe and that I learned only when I actually watched my grandmother make the sauce…it was baking soda – just a tiny bit to neutralize the acid in the sauce.

The meatballs were wonderful with parsley and romano cheese and a little egg in them.  They were individually fried in olive oil and added to the sauce.  The meal included additional freshly grated cheese, as well as a loaf of my grandfather’s homemade Italian bread, baked early in the morning.

The table would be set with a clean, white table cloth – can you imagine kids and spaghetti sauce and a clean white tablecloth?  My grandmother had the whitest whites you can imagine.

Spaghetti and meatballs was the dinner of love…the dinner of welcome.  That’s probably why my favorite thing to do on a Sunday evening when I’m in Lexington is go to Joe Bologna’s and get their “all you can eat” spaghetti.   It’s the closest I’ve found to the taste of my grandmother’s food.  It reminds me of her immense love for her family and her joy in seeing us and welcoming us to her home.  

This evening, we hear about Jesus taking a ritual, annual meal and giving it new meaning.  Jesus takes simple parts of the meal – bread and wine – elements included in the most basic of meals, and infuses new symbolism in them.  These elements represent the ultimate love of God for all people – Jesus’ body and blood…the very essence of life… given to save us…given out of deep love for us.  

Whenever we see these common elements, we are reminded of Jesus’ love for us.  When we gather together in Jesus’ name, bless and make these common elements holy, Jesus is present, binding us together into one.  

A document and teaching of the early church, possibly as early as 150 years after the death of Christ, says this:   As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains and being gathered together became one, so may Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom;(Didache 9.8, http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/didache-lightfoot.html)

The meal…this simple meal of bread and wine, has bound us and all those before us, to that first meal in that upper room in Jerusalem.  It binds us in community to each other and to Christ, just as it bound the disciples to Christ.  It reminds us that the everliving Christ is right here in our midst and nothing can separate us from the love of God.  It reminds us to be Christ to the world, to love one another like Christ has loved us, so all will know we are Jesus’ disciples.

Amen

 

Facing the Inevitable (Sermon) April 13, 2014

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Sermon – April 13, 2014
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY
The Sunday of the Passion:  Palm Sunday

My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want. Matthew 26:39

Please be seated.

One of the most challenging things in my life occurred when my father was diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease.  The disease is a neurological disorder that attacks the brain.  Over 10-20 years, the person continues to lose body functions.  It is especially noticeable in the beginning with lack of balance in walking and jerkiness of movement in the arms and legs.  There is no cure.  So, once my father was diagnosed at the age of 68, I knew I would watch the slow decline towards death.

Eight years after his diagnosis, I wrote this poem:

Huntington’s
By Rebecca Myers
4/11/08

It’s in the little things
Now you have called me
Because you cannot remember
Your ATM PIN number

I knew some of what was coming with my father, because his mother had died of the disease also.  I was my father’s daughter and had told him when I was just a child that I would take care of him.  When my father was diagnosed, I prepared myself for the task of caring for him.  Now, I was extremely fortunate, because my father, who was a lawyer and judge, took great care in planning for he and for my mother’s care.  They decided they’d go into a nursing home and chose the place they’d go.  They had the resources to pay for this care and to provide some extra care in addition.  For the most part, my role was making sure everything got paid. 

While a recurrence of kidney cancer ultimately caused his death ten years after his diagnosis in January of 2011, the quality of his life was dramatically altered by the Huntington’s at that time.  I could not have a conversation with him.  Any questions I asked had to require only a yes/no or one-word response.  In some ways, we were blessed by not having to watch the toll of the Huntington’s disease. 

Yet, as I remember all of this, I am acutely aware that somewhere lurking deeply was the prayer that a cure would be found to help my father.  I had to settle for the newer medications that controlled the involuntary movements, so I was spared seeing my father become like his mother, my grandmother, who literally shook to death.

And my involvement with this disease is not over.  My father’s sister had the disease and died last year and my younger brother is dying from the disease now, in a nursing home in Northwest Pennsylvania.  While my youngest brother and I will not get the disease – we’ve been tested – and none of my children or descendants will get the disease, there are a number of people in my family who have not been tested.

How I would have given anything to have this inevitable outcome for my father removed. 

Not only in our Gospel today, but in the passages immediately preceding, Jesus makes it clear he knows what’s coming.  The outcome is inevitable.  In Luke, it says, he set his face to go to Jerusalem…. (Luke 9:51)  There is no turning back…no changing what is to come. 

While I have my particular stories, haven’t there been times in your life when you know something hard, difficult and challenging is coming?  I think Jesus provides us with ways to face the inevitable difficult times.  What does Jesus do?

  1.  Pray.  Time and again, we read how Jesus withdrew to a place to pray.  Here he is, facing betrayal by the ones he loved, and he goes to this beautiful olive grove and prays.  And he pours his heart out to God…maybe even pleading or arguing with God – isn’t there another way?  He tells God exactly how he’s feeling.  We can get hung up on the right way to pray, but Jesus has given us the Lord’s Prayer and also this prayer in the garden – just tell God what is in your heart, no matter what.
  2. Surround yourself with people who love you.  Now, this community Jesus was with certainly had its flaws and especially during this time in his life.  Judas betrayed him, Peter denied him, one of them cut off the ear of the High Priest’s slave.  The three who came with Jesus to the garden couldn’t keep awake! No, they weren’t perfect.  And it was Jesus’ followers who stood at the foot of the cross.  It was Jesus’ followers who took down his body and prepared it for the grave.  It was His followers who came that morning to find him in the tomb.  It was his followers who told the story over and over, even when they faced terrible deaths, so that we today know the story.  Though our friends and family may not be perfect and sometimes feel like they do more damage than good, overall, we need this human community and these relationships, especially during the tough times.
  3. Trust your soul to God.  Jesus ends his plea with, “not what I want, but what you want.” He trusted his soul and his very life to God.  What Jesus went through was awful.  He probably could have fought against the people who tortured him.  Maybe he could have pleaded with Pilate or made a great argument to sway Pilate.  But he did not do that.  He relied upon God.  He kept his calm, even refusing to speak.  “But Jesus was silent,” the Word says.  Jesus knew who he was and whose he was.  Jesus relied on God.  He knew no human could fully understand what was happening.  There were no words that could be heard by humans.  He knew that no human beings could take away his dignity, nor separate him from the love of God.

One thing we know about this life…the hard, difficult times will come.  And sometimes we surely see them coming and can do nothing to stop them.  You may see other things in how Jesus lived during these last days that will help you during those times.  Prayer, community and trusting in God may not stop the inevitable; and prayer, community and trusting in God, do give us a way through. 

Amen. 

 

 

Come out of the tomb (Sermon) April 6, 2014

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Sermon – April 6, 2014
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY
Fifth Sunday in Lent

…he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  The dead man came out….  John 11:43-44

Please be seated.

I have spoken before about living in Washington, DC.  While there, I spent a lot of time at the Washington National Cathedral.  I mean, on Sundays, I sang at the 8:45 service; often helped at the 11:15 service; went to lunch nearby; and came back for the 4pm Evensong service.  Something was happening to me spiritually when I moved to Washington and I found comfort in the Cathedral’s space.

There is a quiet space in the crypt level, called the Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage.  Often, after the service, I went there to pray.  It is lit with candle light and there is only one small stained glass window to let in the light from outside.  It is known as the quietest space in the Cathedral and was a place of deep prayer for me.

Just outside of the Center is Resurrection Chapel.  The walls are filled with mosaics representing scenes from the resurrection of Jesus.  The small gold and red pieces dominate and seemingly illumine the space.  This chapel is reserved for quiet prayer and was often a place to go to after being in the Center. 

One Sunday afternoon, I was sitting in Resurrection chapel.  I don’t remember the circumstances of my life just then.  It may have been after my mother died or a relationship didn’t work out.  I sat in that Resurrection Chapel and heard, “I will resurrect your life.”  I left excited and also curious and puzzled.  I wasn’t exactly sure what it all meant.  One thing I knew was that my life was on a path of change.

We hear quite a bit about resurrection today, don’t we?  The lesson from Ezekiel is a familiar one.  The Israelites were in bondage in Babylon.  Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed.  At the time, some believed they would be cut off from God because their temple was gone and they were in a foreign land.  But Ezekiel’s visions of the Glory of God confirm that God is with the people in exile.  And today’s passage is the message that though the Babylonian exile is harsh to the point of them feeling like dried out bones, God will restore them.  God will give them new life.  God will resurrect them.  The dry bones will live again. 

Then there’s the well-known story of Lazarus, Jesus’ good friend.  Jesus is about 24 miles away from Lazarus, Mary and Martha.  He is across the Jordan River, near where he had been baptized.  This is a desert, dry place in modern-day Jordan.  Jesus receives word that Lazarus has died.  Eventually Jesus goes to Bethany where this dramatic resurrection unfolds.  Although dead for three days, Jesus calls Lazarus to wake from death…to come out of that tomb.  And Lazarus does just that!  Mary and Martha are overjoyed and many believe Jesus is the Messiah.  At the same time, the scene is set for Jesus to be crucified.  This astonishing miracle offends the authorities.  Jesus is dangerous. 

Earlier in the week, I was speaking with a 10 year old boy about this very story.  I told him it was the Gospel for the week and asked him what I should preach about.  We agreed that to see Lazarus rise from the dead would have been both amazing and scary.  And we never hear Lazarus’ side of the story, do we?  What was it like for Lazarus to climb out of that tomb and back into life?  What was the rest of his life like? 

The author Colm Toibin explored this somewhat in his fascinating short book, The Testament of Mary, which became a Broadway play last year.  While the book is not a Biblical retelling of the story, it does explore what might have been Lazarus’ experience in being resurrected.  In Toibin’s story, people flocked around Lazarus out of curiosity and at the same time, they were afraid of Lazarus…afraid of what he’d seen and what he knew.  No one could relate to what Lazarus had been through.  Toibin presents Lazarus as dazed by his experience.  AND ultimately, Lazarus would die once again. 

The joy of resurrection, the knitting of the dry bones together once again, comes with some tough challenges. 

And is that not true of our lives?  “I will resurrect your life,” we hear when we are in that dry wilderness place…bone weary, closed in the tomb with no light. Maybe a place of comfort in some sense…a place of protection…a wall between us and the world.  Yet, the stone is rolled away, Jesus cries with a loud voice, and pulls us out into the world. 

The important point to note is that we are not the same.  We cannot resume our lives as they were before.  Everything has changed.  The experience in the exile of the tomb changes us and changes us in ways we cannot always explain to others.  We are old, yet new born.  The bones may be the same, but they are knit together and clothed in new ways.  Hope and astonishment are moderated with the reality of living life in a new way. 

Once again Paul reminds us of the fruits of coming out of the tomb when he writes to the Romans, “To set the mind on flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”  He adds, “But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you.”  Life, peace, and the Spirit of God dwelling within us allow us to come out of the tomb, face the challenges and to live again.

Amen

 

 

 

 

In Dialogue with Jesus (sermon) March 30, 2014

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Sermon – March 30, 2014
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY
Fourth Sunday in Lent

I have told you already, and you would not listen. John 9:27

Please be seated.

The physical act of seeing is a tricky thing.  When I was on the School Board in Harrisburg, a man came to give us a presentation about quality improvement.  Part of the presentation was a movie.  I can’t remember the name of the movie, but I have never forgotten one of the parts of that movie.  It showed a person dealing cards very quickly.  The action happened twice and we were told to look very carefully.  It was just a hand dealing cards.  Then they slowed down the action and it turned out all of the colors of each suit were reversed, so the hearts and diamonds were black and the spades and clubs were red!  It was astounding to know that I refused to see the reality, because it conflicted with all of my experience and belief. 

We see that in our Gospel story today, don’t we?  Jesus challenges the worldview of an entire community by healing a man who was blind from birth.  The people in the town have a difficult time accepting this miracle.  It does not fit in with what they know.  It conflicts with their experience and belief.  Instead of rejoicing with the man, they debate and work hard to deny what has occurred. 

Yesterday, a group of us gathered in the parish hall for training on Ministry Support Teams.  These are teams set up in Network parishes to support the Priest-in-Charge.  People and priests from Emanuel, Winchester and St. Mary’s, Middlesboro were also at the training.  One piece of the training was about the difference between debate and dialogue.   

Now, just in the words, there is a fundamental difference.  The word “debate” comes from a French word meaning to fight or to beat down.  Dialogue goes back to Latin and Greek meaning to “speak through” or “through words.” 

The goal of debate is to win against your opponent.  In a debate, when you listen, it is only to counter what the other person says, to find the weakness in the argument, especially so you can discount and devalue it.  In debate, you make assumptions about another person’s experience and motivations.  At the very beginning of the Gospel, the disciples, speaking in the worldview of their time, ask Jesus, “who sinned, this man or his parents….?”  The assumption was that sin was the cause of the man’s blindness.  Because Jesus healed on the Sabbath, some discounted the healing, saying it was not from God.

In debate you ask questions to trip up your opponent or confuse them on the issue.  This happened to Jesus a lot.  In debate, you interrupt the other speaker or change the subject.  You are not concerned about the person, but only about your next point.  You deny the other person’s experience, saying it is distorted or invalid.  Look at our story today where people continually ask the man who had been blind how he was healed.  He had to keep telling them the story.  His parents were called in to authenticate his identity.  When the man insists on what occurred…on his experience, they drive him out of the town. 

Why do we insist on debate, instead of dialogue?  Kathryn Schulz studied why we as humans insist that our way of looking at things is right…why we have such trouble admitting when we are wrong.  She wrote a book, Being Wrong.  She also has a TED talk online.  One of the things she says is that early in life, we internalize that “getting something wrong means there’s something wrong with us. So we just insist that we’re right, because it makes us feel smart and responsible and virtuous and safe.”  (http://www.ted.com/talks/kathryn_schulz_on_being_wrong/transcript)  She says we live in this “tiny, terrified space of rightness.”  Our love of debate is about being in this “tiny, terrified space of rightness.” 

Where we need to be, and truly where we have tremendous capacity to be…where Jesus calls us to be…is in dialogue.  The goal of dialogue is an increased understanding of ourselves and of others.  When we listen, we’re trying to understand the other person.  We listen for strengths to affirm the other person and to learn.  We speak from our own experience and understanding, rather than from the assumptions we’ve made about others.  We ask questions to increase understanding.  We allow others to complete their communications.  We concentrate on the other person’s words and feelings.  We accept others’ experiences as real and valid for them.  We respect and are open to how the other person expresses their real feelings and how we express our feelings as a way of understanding and catharsis.

In our Gospel today, the man who had been blind is engaging in dialogue, while those around him are engaging in debate.  The man’s experience is so powerful, he is thrust out of the “tiny, terrified space of rightness,” probably the space he had been living in, to a new place.  That’s the power of dialogue.  Dialogue can transform us.  Dialogue makes us grow.  Dialogue changes everyone who is involved in the discussion.  It opens us up. 

In dialogue we honor our own experiences as valid; we trust others to respect our differences; we trust ourselves to be able to hear different points of view; we open ourselves up to the pain of others, as well as the pain we feel ourselves; we see Christ in others. 

When we are in dialogue, we can grow.  We can agree to disagree – to know that we can look at the same facts or situation and come to different conclusions or slightly different places, yet still be in community together…to still be in communion with each other.

That’s what Jesus asks.  We come with our assumptions about life.  With the way things are supposed to be and Jesus says, “consider this.”  Look at the world in a new way.  Don’t debate me, but be in dialogue with me…in connection with me, he pleads.  The man who was blind remains in dialogue with Jesus.  He is open.  Jesus asks him whether he believes in the Son of Man and the man who had been blind, asks a question to learn more.  Receiving an answer, he professes his belief. 

In Ephesians, the writer provides us with the fruits of dialogue, “but now in the Lord you are light.”  We are light to the world.  When we can leave debate behind and engage in dialogue, we are transformed and live as children of the light.

Amen

 

 

 

 

 

Being Seen by Jesus (Sermon) March 23, 2016

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Sermon – March 23, 2014
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY
Third Sunday in Lent

 “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!” John 4:29

Please be seated.

I have talked before about the brief part of my social work career when I was a therapist.  I provided individual therapy for people who had traumatic brain injuries or TBIs.  For the most part, the people had been in rehab and were living independently; however, they often required support or some additional assistance in living with their injury. 

One man, Doug, was in our program because of anger issues, a known result of TBIs.  This man had tried to attack another man at work one day and the diagnosis was inability to control his anger due to his brain injury.  However, over a period of time, I learned that this man was extremely sensitive to people.  He could see people deeply.  He had developed a very low tolerance for people who lied to him.  He felt unsafe when someone was not authentic.  He was afraid he would be harmed.  What appeared to be unjustified aggression to others, was actually his way of protecting himself. 

At the time I was doing this work in North Carolina, I was going through a difficult time in my life.  I was grieving so many things, including the end of a marriage.  One of the ways I expressed my grief was by tears and many mornings, I would have a good cry session before I left for work.  No one at work ever seemed to notice, as I’d walk in with my cheery smile and “how are yous?” 

One morning, Doug was my first client.  He walked in my office, sat down, looked at me, and immediately said, “You’ve been crying.”  Uh, Oh, what was I to do?  I didn’t want him to start obsessing on what was causing me to cry.  I was supposed to be professional and there were professional boundaries to uphold, after all.  Yet, lying to him would destroy trust and he would feel unsafe.  I told him the truth that I was crying and after a few minutes of him expressing sadness that I could be in distress, we were able to move on.

Have you had experiences like that?  Experiences of being seen deeply?  Of not being able to hide?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus sees the Samaritan woman.  In doing so, we have a model for how to treat ourselves and a model for the church and how we treat each other and our neighbors.

First of all, Jesus dares to speak to a woman and a Samaritan woman at that.  This conversation between a man and a woman was usually not done.  The Samaritans and Jews were at odds with each other over religious practices and had little love for each other.  Jesus once again breaks the rules and focuses on relationship.

Secondly, the woman came alone to the well at noon, the hottest part of the day.  While women usually drew water for their families, they often came earlier in the day, when it was cooler.  In addition, they usually came together in a group.  It appears that this woman was not respected by her community.  She was an outcast.  Jesus once again, breaks the societal barriers, caring about the relationship.  He sees the woman as created by God, which is the most important thing.

Thirdly, Jesus does not condemn the woman.  He knows why she is not the most respected person in the community – she had five husbands and now lives with a man who is not her husband.  Jesus gives the woman the opportunity to be honest and authentic about her life, when he says in verse 16, “Go, call your husband and come back.”  The woman could have left and not returned.  She knew Jesus was a traveler and she could have never had another encounter with him again.  She could have “pretended” she was an upstanding member of the community.

Isn’t that what so many of us do?  We walk around with grieving souls, heavy in our burdens, yet tell so many that we meet that we are just fine.  Even in our church community, being authentically who we are, is difficult.  We’re not sure if we will be judged.  We’re not sure if we will be shunned.  We erroneously believe who we authentically are is not worthy of relationship.

Now, some of this is smart or necessary.  We are human beings after all and we can be very cruel to each other.  Discerning with whom to share the most intimate details of our life is prudent.  However, don’t you agree that “putting on the face” is draining and tiring?  Being able to be authentic is so freeing.  That’s what our relationship with Jesus is all about.  That’s one of the reasons God sent His Son into the world. . . to free us.

Jesus accepts the woman without judgment.  He tells her she is worthy of the water that will quench all thirst.  He does not shun her nor refuse to be in relationship with her.  As a result, she is not locked in to the role she and her community have created for her.  She is free to be different…to change.

That’s the paradox of being truly seen. . . acceptance of what is true allows us to examine that part of ourselves and to make changes if we’d like.

Jesus’ example of naming what is true, while not shunning nor cutting off the relationship, is the best example for how we treat each other and how our church community needs to be seen.  And this behavior is evangelizing.  Look what happens.  The woman is amazed.  While not the most respected member of her community, she gathers many in the town to come see this Jesus who truly saw her and knew her.  And the people come and they ask Jesus to stay with them.  While at first he is a curiosity, eventually, many believe he is the Messiah because of their encounter with him.  And the story is preserved for us.

A quote from a book on forgiveness by Karyn Kedar is part of our Lenten meditation reading, Renew a Right Spirit Within Me booklet, today and speaks to the power of being seen…our call as a Christian community to be,

“…people who see you, really see you for who you are and who love you because of that.  They know you perhaps better than you know yourself.  When you are at your best they delight in you.  When you lose your way, they hold up for you the vision of your higher self.  When you look at them, you see in their eyes a mirror of who you are – and you like what you see. . . .  They sustain all that is good in you and allow the divine purpose in your life to flow easily through you and your relationship with them.  (Bridge to Forgiveness, Karyn Kedar, p. 83)

Strive for the authentic life and strive to be the evangelist who, like Jesus, deeply sees others.

Amen