[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] First Sermon Ecunet Lent 3A - Woman at the Water's Edge

[Joe Parrish]

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From: Robinski <rpizanti at ecunet.org>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Sat, Mar 26, 2011 8:52 pm
Subject: [propertalk.topic] First Sermon Ecunet Lent 3A - Woman at the Water's Edge


This is the first time I have submitted a sermon in the 15 or so years

I've used this service.

I am grateful for your insights.



The Woman at the Water's Edge



Hi… my name is Jack… thank you for inviting me...



Life has been hard these last few years… How about you?

        And I've had a good life but……



Well, I was strong as a young man

        And could do anything



I grew up building and constructing homes…

Good solid homes on firm foundations…



Strong framing yet flexible enough to withstand windstorms

and a little shaking ground…



We did the best quality finished woodwork for the home

so it shared the personality of the person who built it … me…

and often the same kind of person bought it…



I loved showing my friends (especially my enemies) I built that…

I’ve built hundreds of homes in my life…



I made friendships with neighbors

including some great political figures, athletes + coaches…



I read the Bible on my own and appreciated what I learned…

but I was not into any of that religious church stuff…



Oh - I was married… which became my first big failure in life…

We had a few children…

No… no they were not failures…

        But my X and I failed…. It’s just the marriage did not last…

                It was all her fault… At first…

Over time I realized how I participated

or rather did not participate enough if at all

in supporting our marriage and each other…



The promises we made… oh it hurts so deeply…

It’s easier now with time… but it still hurts…



The children are grown up and well… with their own families…

but I miss being the father I could have been…



I remarried a wonderful woman of faith and her daughter…

well, our daughter…



Grace is our daughter… she says I’m her real Dad…

because I’ve been the one who grew up with her…

and she loves me and I love her so much too…



She’s into sports now and I’m so proud of her…

so much so…

I embarrass her in front of her friends… I don’t mean too...

but… I hope she’ll forgive me… (Jack tears up...)



Oh God… I hope my wife and Grace forgives me…

Because now my story really changes…



Life has been so full and has gone by so fast…

I am one of those seniors now…

living on social security…



Yet… I felt like such a failure…

To my wife and daughter... just a short while ago…

and I hurt so bad to the depths of my soul.



All I wanted in these later years is to make sure they are taken care

of…



But I lost everything when the housing boom fell out…

All of our homes…

+ we are barely hanging onto the home we’re in now…

I was so ashamed…

even with many others in similar circumstances



I used to be able to handle anything on my own…

But now my body… my health is weak

and I’ll probably never get out from under…

with what life I have left…



And my family and friends are older + far away or dead now…



It just isn’t fair what happened to me…

I did all the right things…

And all I seem to want to do now… is talk to someone…

but I couldn’t… because… well... you know… men don’t do that



(PAUSE…)



Then I had an idea… I took my boat in the water…  On the canal...

I thought… if I roll over and die… I won’t hurt anymore…

They’ll be better off… Collect the insurance...



I just sat there… on my boat…

looking into the water…

all I could think of was being a failure

and how much it hurt to the depths of my soul

and I sat too weak/chicken to roll over and die



 “Is the Lord among us or not?” I wondered

…just like the ancient Israelites in today’s Scripture



But I just sat there… I don’t know for how long

and I prayed for God’s help

but having given up on me + God (giving up on me)

headed toward the water’s edge… onto shore…



There was a woman on the shore…an immigrant…

I think she was a Guatemalan…

picking shrubs for the flowers as they do around here

and they fill flower orders around the world

with the greenery they pick here



During the winter they roll evergreen tree branches into wreaths

and sell those too…



She came running and screaming up to me...

I could not understand her very well…

I know some conversational Spanish

but she spoke a dialect called Ham or something…



I could see her face... she was worried

as she ran up to meet my boat…

and she pulled my boat safely onshore with all her might

and helped me out of the boat…

and she grabbed me…

and said things I could not fully understand

except I understood Dios – God and Jesus – Jesus…

She grabbed onto me

and I was shaking from the rain and the cold of the day

and from the cold in my soul…

she held me tight and she was so warm and strong

and I felt so weak, cold and lifeless…



She must have been concerned as she saw me on the boat

that as I sat there staring in the water… not moving…

well… I think…  I think she understood…

I think either she has been there…

or knows others who have…



I confessed and cried like a weak man

knowing she did not understand + God probably did not care

Yet asking her and God why do I have to go through this?

It is so… not fair

Why do I even need others?

Men are not supposed to need that…



She gave me something warm to drink

and stoked the fire high

and the hot flames pierced my cold spirit

as I warmed and began to stop shaking

and return to life

and she took me home…



I never told my wife or Grace

and they were surprised as well as me

when a foreign woman showed up at our door

with her family that Sunday morning…



They took us to a church much like Christ LC here

only they worshiped in Spanish/Guatemalan…



I knew basically what they were saying

because the service followed the service

my parents took me to when I was young kid



The Bibles were in English and Spanish so I read along with the reader

of Romans…

“…we are justified by faith,  we have peace through God in Jesus

Christ…



... justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus

Christ,

through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we

stand...



... knowing that suffering produces endurance,

and endurance produces  character,

and character produces hope,

and hope does not disappoint us,

because God's love

has been poured into our hearts

through the Holy Spirit

that has been given to us.”



Oh how I was humbled by those words

yet excited at the same time...



“ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the

ungodly.

... God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners

Christ died for us...

... now that we have been justified by his blood,

will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.

 ...while we were enemies,  we were reconciled to God through the

death of his Son,

 ... reconciled, will we be saved by his life.



Wow! I thought... I can relate to Paul’s weaknesses and to the

Messiah…

Who makes us strong in our weaknesses…



Fortunately

there was a man who sat next to us during the sermon

and he whispered what the minister was saying

about the same Gospel Scripture we hear today…



He talked about what I just said… and the Messiah…

Who makes us strong in our weaknesses…



He told about how Jesus spoke to a woman who was not of his community

and he asked her for water      but she was scared

because she knew he should not ask her

because she was not of his community

and men were not to speak to women



She was confused when Jesus offered to share living water

but overcome with excitement as she realized…

this was no ordinary man…

She identified with Christ- not as a man who kept her in her place

but as the Messiah – promised by the prophets

the Son of God… who frees her to share Gospel



And overcome with excitement

she ran and cried out to her friends and community

the one for whom we have been waiting for so long

-  for generations – Jesus Christ – the Messiah –

was finally here…



She IDs – Identifies – and identifies with Jesus

as he comes to her + offers living water to quench her thirst for

God... forever...

and dignity as an equal child of God



She is not defined by her circumstances

and Jesus offers her an identity that lifts her above her tragedy.



She accepted Jesus’ invitation to partake of the living water

And participated in Jesus' ministry...



Our family shared worship in communion with her community

and shared the Lord’s Supper

and I was... I was touched by God in body, mind + spirit..



The woman at the water’s edge who recognized my pain and

suffering

and saw me on the edge of life smiled at me and said something

I still do not understand...



She was the woman at the well... for me... who saved me...



But I understand or am trying to understand a few things…



You are more than just a strong person who has become weak

You can still stand on the firm foundation of God

who loves us… forgives us… and blesses us…

        We can go out into the world… thankful for God in our lives



Yes… our loved ones see our failures… and so do we…

Yet they… no… we are not defined by our failures…

or just the good, bad and the ugly of our lives…



We acknowledge our failures and we are guilty of sin toward God and

our neighbors…



We are defined by the love of God, in Jesus Christ;

we are filled with the living breath of the Holy Spirit



"It is no longer because of what (she) you said that we believe,

for we have heard for ourselves,

and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world."



I’ll end with a few lines from the movie... Castaway... and a

blessing...



"One day logic was proven all wrong

because the tide lifted, came in, and gave me a sail.



And now, here I am. I'm back.

In Memphis, talking to you.

I have *ice* in my glass.

And I've lost her all over again.

I'm so sad that I don't have Kelly.

 But I'm so grateful that she was with me on that island.



And I know what I have to do now.

I have to keep breathing.

Because tomorrow the sun will rise.

Who knows what the tide could bring?"



You are a dear child of God

God loves you,

God forgives you

and God blesses you… forever…




 
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