Lent 3 (A) True Worship

Lent 3 (A) True Worship
February 24, 2008
By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell

In the Season of Lent, the assigned lessons reveal more and more of Christ’s being and purpose. This, the third Sunday of lent, we see Jesus traveling with his disciples through the region of Samaria where he meets a lone Samaritan woman at a well.

The first thing we notice is Jesus expanding the Jewish boundaries of God’s concern and love. To the Jewish way of thinking, Samaritans were not nice people. Pure Jews were expected to keep them at a distance. Samaritans were Jews that had married outside the Jewish law.

Example) A Roman Catholic father told his daughter that if she married the Episcopalian she was in love with, he would never speak to her again. We are talking strong feelings here.

Jesus, a Jew, crosses that boundary when he strikes up a conversation with a Samaritan; a Samaritan WOMAN! Jesus crosses another boundary by speaking to a woman in public. By Jewish law, this would have made Jesus, a Rabbi, ritually unclean and thereby unfit to participate in worship.

To make matters worse this woman, as it turns out, is of questionable character. She, we discover, has had five husband and the man she is living with is not her husband. Many of us would be thinking this was not a good time in my life to run into Jesus. But (and this is where another barrier we put on God’s love is broken) Jesus does not reject her. The fact of their meeting turns out to be a reconciling moment for her, and the whole town. 

Question: Knowing what we know about this woman…. would we have invited her to church? 

The story informs us of how easy it is to let our prejudices get in the way of God’s healing and reconciling love. 

We find these words in hymn 470 in our Episcopal Hymnal;

• There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea.

• For the love of God is broader than the measure of man’s mind.

During this “boundary breaking” encounter, the Samaritan woman asks Jesus to clarify a question in her head about the proper place to worship; most good Jews would not have hesitated to say the temple in Jerusalem. The Samaritans had built their own place of worship…and the woman wondered if their worship was authentic. 

In response Jesus tares down another barrier.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Question: What does it mean to worship God in Spirit and in Truth?

The first part of that question is easy. God is spirit. God is not a material thing that we can build or paint. God is nothing we can put our hands on to pick up and move around. We can be as close to God in our beds at night as we can in some grand cathedral. (Yes, I believe we can worship God on the golf course if we take the time to do that. I am cynical enough in my old age to think that God doesn’t get much attention when you are playing golf).

Question: What does it mean to be true to God?

Being true to God would, I believe, mean paying attention and giving respect to the whole account of God as presented in Holy Scripture. It is easy, some have discovered, to find the parts in scripture that support what we want to believe, while ignoring the parts that would force us to rethink our position.

The bible can be a tool for tyrants. There were many sermons preached during the Civil War that used scripture to justify slavery. When the Bible says God Loves the World, can we think of anyone who God did not want to include?

God has given us brains with which we can ask questions, think, and reason. If in trying to be true to God, we find a place in scripture that troubles us because it doesn’t make sense from our experience, we have every right to figure out why.

Some people are amazed to discover that the Bible is full of metaphors. When the Bible says that God will raise us up on eagle’s wings, it is a colorful way of saying that we derive great strength from God. It does not mean that God has feathers. 

There are now dozens of reliable Bible commentaries available. I’m sure that many of you have several on your library shelves. Being true to God means reaching for help when we need to understand.

I’m blessed each week with the opportunity to meet with a group of Clergy to study the lectionary propers for the upcoming Sunday. We are ecumenical, male and female, open to all. At present there are about twelve regular participants. We have been meeting every Tuesday for the past 39 years. Believe it or not. 

Because we represent different denominations and different traditions, we get to look at scripture from many different perspectives. We treat God’s word with great respect, though some who have heard our laughter might question that. Getting into God’s word brings joy to the surface.

We are free to ask any questions or try out a personal revelation to see what others think.

I know something good is happening because I have never had to call people to remind them of our meeting. We come because we are fed by the wisdom and power and love of God. at one time or another all the participants have said, “This is my church.” This is where I am free to be me. This is where it is O.K. to wrestle with God.

One of the things I have always loved about the Episcopal Church is that you can ask any questions you want to have answered. Many have discovered to their delight that as new insights, new understandings happen, old barriers fall away.

I believe that it is honest seekers that God is looking for to worship Him. The goal is to discover the abundant life of living God’s truth.