Brown's Daily Word 9-2-11

Good morning,
As summer comes to an end with Labor Day approaching, I like to dwell upon summer. During the summer months I think of Jesus our Lord encountering a woman of Samaria on a "dog day afternoon". We read this account in John 4. all starting with a simple request for a drink of water.
Jesus was journeying northward with His disciples from Jerusalem, on His way to the area known as the Galilee. The journey took them through the countryside in an area known as Samaria. It was noon, the hottest part of the day, when they paused along their way near the city of Sychar.
Jesus tarried by the well where the people of Sychar came to get water while His disciples went into the city to pick up some lunch. It was a very famous well, and a landmark in the community. Many years before that land was given by Jacob (later to be known as Israel) to his son Joseph. Jacob, one of the three great patriarchs of the faith, was an important link to these people.
As Jesus gazed in the direction of the city, looking toward the direction that the disciples had gone, he saw a woman approaching, coming to the well to draw water. He asked her to draw Him a drink of water. As the conversation unfolded we perceive that He knew all about her life. He knew her. Jesus can see our deepest shame, but Jesus can also see our deepest pain and our deepest need. He linked immediately with this woman at the point in her life that set her life at odds with the rest of society. He knew this woman!
Jesus knows us too. He knows our need, He knows our pain, and He knows the point at which we need to change. He also knows the greatest potential within us; He knows us better than we know ourselves.
This woman discovered all of this while at the well. She knew that He must be a prophet to see into her heart so deeply. Jesus entered into a very deep conversation with her. She ultimately liked what she heard because it had a ring of truth to it. It liberated her from the smudge of her Samaritan heritage because deep down she had a heart for God.
As the disciples finally returned with lunch they were shocked to see this public display of interaction but they did not say a word about it. The woman then went into the city to spread the word of her encounter. That which ensued was another metaphor (of harvesting) which Jesus used to expound on His point. We don’t know if the disciples understood any better.
Hopefully, we get the point today and see that there are people all around, people we encounter everyday, who are literally starving to be fed spiritually. There are townspeople waiting for us to share our encounter with Jesus with them. They are people we know and with whom we have relationships, who need to hear from us what this woman has learned in her encounter with Jesus... They need to hear and to know how Jesus meets us at the point of struggle in our lives. While we are mulling over our problems, He is listening, and He knows how overwhelming our problems can be. Our physical struggles may not end. Sometimes there are consequences for our actions, but Jesus cares, reaches out to us especially when we feel on the edge, ostracized from society, cut off from life because of our problems.
Jesus makes the initial request. That is, He seeks to enter our lives, to have an encounter with us. Jesus has so much more to offer us than we could ever imagine. It will quench our thirst in a way we can never imagine. Life may still have its problems, but our encounter with Christ provides us away to transcend all of life’s problems, get our priorities straight, and find a way to what is really important, what really matters.
There are townspeople who need to hear this message. It is really amazing that Christ can and chooses to work through people like us - no matter what we might have done or left undone, no matter what we might think of ourselves, or what others might think about us... or even what we think they think about us.
We can be messengers to the townspeople too. We can share about our personal encounters with Jesus.
Next week Monday is Labor Monday. It sends a signal to us that we all will be going back to school, off to college, back to work, and back to church. Who are the townspeople whom you and I need to talk to? Who are the townspeople we need to invite to join us to discover what we have discovered. Let us use every opportunity to do so.
In Christ,
Brown

http://youtu.be/d8lO8c7fypM

Saturday Evening Worship Service

Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott, NY
Sponsored by: Union Center United Methodist Church
Time: 6:00 PM gathering for Coffee Fellowship
6:30 PM Worship Service
Date: Saturday, September 17, 2011
Speaker: Rev. Earle Cowden
Ministers from First Baptist Church in Owego, Crossroads Church in Binghamton, Cornerstone Christian Church in Endicott, and Hawleyton United Methodist Church will be participating in this worship service. Special Music will be led by various praise teams. Information : call 607-748-6329

Come! Share! Rejoice!