In this Third week of Lent we read in the scriptures of Jesus encounter with a woman in a Samaritan town. He asks for a drink, she wonders why a Jew would take anything from a Samaritan, and he tells her he would gladly give her “living water” and never be thirsty again. She ponders what living water might mean and he continues in deep theological conversation her, a woman and (in his day) a suspect foreigner. These surprising events and the woman’s surprising willingness to invest faith in Jesus are in contrast to the other disciples who never do quite seem to get what’s going on. Rev. Kent reflected on the ways our preconceptions inhibit the living water in ourselves and sometimes in those around us. Here is a prayer asking that we may draw from deep wells of our best selves to let the healing waters flow.
Living water, source of life, to you we come as we are: strewn with care and the dust of living; heavy with burdens; drinking down all that the world offers, but still thirsty for true life. As we sit at the well of your word, draw for your people the everlasting life we need. Bring to our souls the joy of just and right work. Bring to our bodies the healing hand, and to our minds the peace that passes understanding. You are the source of ever-flowing streams. May your living water come to all who ask, and heal all who are in need. –Rev. Kent Gilbert
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