This past Sabbath we reflected on Jesus interaction with the women at the well. Again, I invite you to reflect on this story by reading the poem, I am the Woman, by Rose Teteki Abbey.

- Pastor Evan

I am the Samaritan Woman.

I am the Woman who met Jesus at the Well.

He asked me for water and I refused.

After all, he was a Jew, I was a Samaritan

But there were other reasons for my refusal.

People condemn me and my lifestyle.

Women shun me for reasons best known to them.

And men?

Ask the five who stayed with me. They use me in secret and despise me in public.

I was used to loneliness, it was welcome to me.

It was better than being condemned by people.

How then was I to socialize with this man at the Well?

How could I add him to the long string of my accusers?

But, before I was aware, he had drawn me into conversation.

He was not ashamed to sit with me.

He sat with me at the Well and had a long conversation with me.

My culture said I was nothing without a husband

But Jesus didn’t care that none of the five men was my husband.

He gave me the meaning of true religion.

He corrected my notions about faith.

True worshipers, he said, worship in Spirit and in Truth.

Listening to him, I felt liberated.

It didn’t matter any longer that I was a woman-

A woman without a husband.

What mattered was that I was hungry, I was thirsty.

He gave me the living water.

I left my jar and ran to the village.

“Come!” I said to the people.

“Come and meet the liberator”

I truly was liberated.

I could talk about my fears to Christ. I still do.

He neither rebuked me nor laughed at me. He still doesn’t.

I felt full because Christ gave me the Living Water.

I still feel full, because Christ still gives me the Living Water.