Dismantling the wall of participation

When the news of the boxing Day Tsunami began to filter through to us we were enjoying the relaxation of the day after the big day. The reason for the tremendous outburst of compassion all over the west was that we saw, almost first hand, that these men, women and children were in such terrible trouble- they had lost everything-it was just as we had seen some everything: · homes · possessions · clothes · and all they had was what they stood up in · and many had lost their families Here we saw in front of us: · Christians · Hindus · Moslems · Seiks · Atheists No one asked if they were protestant/ loyalist Moslems or catholic/nationalist/republican Hindus- what did we see? We saw human beings in distress. Did anything else matter? No and that is exactly as it should be. Here John tells a story about an apparently chance meeting of a woman with Jesus- I say it was chance but, while Jesus did not plan it- it was not part of his strategy for evangelism- GOD DID WILL IT. Jesus had His own way of looking at things, at circumstances and at people. We saw that as he changed the water into wine, as he cleansed the Temple and here as he ENGAGED with this woman at the side of the well on a typically hot day- Jesus was in the middle of a three day trip to Galilee and he was tired, hungry and thirsty. Do you know what happens whenever we engage with people? We can pontificate from afar but somehow its different whenever we get up close and personal- hear what Gordon Pace ,[who worked as an American volunteer in Crumlin Road and the Vine for a year, from 2003-2004] says about his work in Arizona among the refugees: “Interacting with people moves you from comfortable bubbles and into the real world, where there is depravity, loneliness, insecurity and fear” Interacting with people changes us from being uninvolved critics to people who feel with them. What do we see when we look at her? · we see a woman who was not on the White House invitation list [like Gerry Adams and Co.]- she had an immoral lifestyle and you would not see many of her kind in church on Sunday. · we see a woman who was also a Samaritan and that meant she was considered a renegade by the Jews- they were related religiously but THEY had gone astray and become the enemies of the Jews and they suspected, of God Himself- “You Samaritans know so little…while we Jews know all about Him….” Jesus says, [ sarcastically??] · we see a woman who was, by definition of her sexuality, considered to be the possession of her male betters- her father or her husband Now we must ask- what did Jesus see? He saw a person who was in great need- she needed this water which would transform her life She needed to be set free from all that enslaved her Why did she come at this strange time of day? It was not strange to us but strange given that this was the time when people stayed indoors because of the heat of the day. She preferred to come at this time rather than at another, peak time, when she would have to experience the looks of the moral majority. Jesus saw a woman in distress- yes he did let her know that he knew all about h situation. Jesus did uphold the marriage relationship and the need to come to worship in Spirit and in truth but at this moment he wanted her to be set free and so that was not the basic question. Jesus considered it worth his time to spend with her because he loved people and His vision cut to the chase- he saw right through her and to her needs. There are many people in our society like this woman- she did not choose to be born at variance with the Jews- that was because of their history and that is so for all of who were born into loyalist or republican families and communities She did not choose to deserted by 5 men- that was her circumstances There are people among us- on both sides of the political argument- who have experienced rejection of various kinds and Jesus sees to the core of their being. What about us? What do we want for this community? We can be doctrinally pure and we can isolate ourselves but the minute we reach into the community we find that the edges being to fray- We see that the norms of society begin to infiltrate into our church community- there are people wanting to get married who are already living together There are people who want to have babies christened, dedicated, baptised or blessed who cannot even distinguish which is which There are people who have chosen to live in long term relationships but not married but then we have to ask- what does it mean to be married in the biblical sense anyway? There are Christians never mind non believers who are divorced There are a whole host of social, economic and moral issues challenging us. The various government initiatives have identified the problems of this area as: · Employment · Education and training · Enterprise and Job Creation · Social economy · Infrastructure and planning · And some other unique issues to this particular area Here is an interesting thing- in the early days of the church and in all the mission of the church, both during times of revival and mission and in the modern day the missionaries were involved in social interaction, in · Jobs · Hospitals · Schools · In social work Today we are involved on the fringes, then it was at the very heart. All of us would like to see a better society but why would we give this prerogative entire to government? Church, Community and Change is all about making society a better place and how we can we be part of the change process. The reason? Because we too see human beings and we are called to love on another. This well was over 100 feet deep and Jesus had neither bucket nor ropes but the woman had and he asked her if He could use them- we can work with other people in partnership and we know that all the resources we need are available by the grace of the God of creation and redemption. If this is a work of god then we will not lack resources and we cannot but be part of it- are you ready to step up to the line and begin the work? [ The context of this sermon is the launch of the programme, "Church, Community and change". This is a process of looking at both congregation and community to see where and when we can become more involved in the community as servants of Christ in seeking to be "change makers". Being holders of the Good News we feel obliged to, not only preach the word but also to live it out as an INCARNATIONAL church. Jesus swept away all the barriers because he was more interested in the people than he was in controversy, so he breaks thropugh the culture and gets to the heart of the matter of this woman's needs- sahe needed a second chance.