Transcript
Oh God, I pray that we might be those who not only hear the word, but also those who apply God’s word to our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Well, again, a very good good morning, everyone. It’s a delight and a joy to be able to stand up here and to share with the community. Um whenever I’m not doing Sunday morning supply, my wife and I come at the 9:00 service. So, I haven’t got to know the folk are here. I usually sit over there under the St. Luke’s window, and I’ve got to know that corner where I sort of sit comfortably, and Lisa never bothers me there. She lets me sit quietly there in the corner. But, it is a joy to be here, and for a theme for the sermon this morning, I want to hold up this for you.
Question. Where is your well? W E L L. Where is your well?
I want to break the homily into three parts. First, a story. Second, then reflecting on the word, the readings for this morning. And then thirdly, how it applies to our own individual spiritual journeys. So, first, a personal story. One about me. It’s on me.
I was away back in my mid-40s, and I’d been a course in ministry already 20 years, and I was in a period when I was feeling a little bit dry. I was feeling down. I had seemed to have lost that excitement. And I was feeling, you know, low. And a friend of mine said, “Derek, there’s a conference coming up at Virginia Theological Seminary.
It’s entitled Renewal and Growth for today’s ministry.” I went along there and I was one of a group of 18 other clergy, mostly mid-life clergy like myself. We had a wonderful time, at least for most part. One of the things that our leader, his name was Dick, our leader had us at one point in a conference stand up in front of the group and share with the group what we’d been doing in our ministries. The type of service we’d been doing, the leadership we’d been offering, and also then to share with the group how we feel about our own personal spiritual journeys, our own spiritual lives at this moment in time. Well, it came to my turn.
So, I stood up and I started and I was in a big parish up in Ontario, a team of four clergy, and I had also been involved heading up programs in the diocese, heading up committees, and I talked about all this stuff that I’d been doing. And I thought I’d seen many good things. But then I said, “But now I’m just feeling low. I’m just feeling like I’m empty. I’m feeling with no energy. I’m feeling like I need a lift. And as I said this, there at the back of the conference room was our leader Dick, and he puts his hand to the side of his mouth and calls out, “Derek, where is your well?”
Well, you can guess what happened. I was in shock for a moment. And it was totally quiet in the group. Nobody dared say anything.
But, I knew exactly what Dick meant. I knew exactly because the previous day he had talked with our group. He made a presentation on how clergy do a whole lot of giving out in the ministry and the pastoral work, and that the author need to be careful about taking in. Just as we reach out to others, we need to also look after inner feeling of ourselves. You know that. Just as you give out, you need to have time to take in, right? So, that’s what Dick was trying to teach me. Where is Derek’s well?
And so this morning, where is your well? Where do you draw that re- energy from? Where do you draw that renewal from? Where do you draw that uh that love from that you want to pass on to others? Where do you get that new energy?
Well, the second part of the homily then, today’s reading, the gospel. That’s a long reading as Jesus meets the woman at the well. Jesus was in the desert and his disciples and obviously reason that they too were searching for a well. That’s why they’d stopped there. But Jesus didn’t seem to have a jug to pick up the water. So he asked this woman, “Give me a drink.”
He was coming to the well for refreshment, for some renewing, for some new encouragement, new energy. But we see in this story very quickly Jesus looks beyond refreshing the body and he looks beyond that and he speaks to the woman about his spiritual inner well. He speaks to her about what he gives. As far as water, he says, “Water that I will give you will become then spring of living water gushing up to the eternal life.” Oh my. Jesus is offering to feed the inner person. As we often say, the inner man, the inner woman that is needs to be renewed as well. Yes, Jesus saying to her, “Yeah, we need to go on this Jacob’s well, get a jug and get some water, but more than that, there’s the souls that need to be nurtured.” And so this woman is all inquisitive about what that water of life might be.
And so this morning, we hold up the question then, “Where are our wells?” And for each of us, it might be different. Some find here’s a source that renews me, gives me new excitement and energy, and leads me on the spiritual pathway. And others will have a different.
I gave this sermon 2 weeks ago to parishioner over there in Suffolk. And after the service, the gentleman came to me and said, “Derek, I know what my well is.” And he said that for him uh in his moments, he takes the Bible, opens it, and reads from the Bible. And that for him always lifts him up and gives him new direction, new inspiration, and new life. That was for him his primary well.
You know, as we think of the word, there’s a verse in the Psalm 119. It says, “The word the word, God’s word, the word is a lamp unto my feet.” Who knows the rest of that verse? Uh who knows our Bible study? “The word is a lamp unto my feet and Yes, a light unto my path.” Thank you. “The word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” There’s a well.
And that gentleman who spoke to me in Suffolk, here’s his primary well. He just opens the Bible in the morning when he wakes up, reads a few verses, and that strengthens him for the day. What other well might there be that is popular for people?
Uh well, the one that another person come up at that moment and said, “My primary well is in a private, quiet place of prayer. That’s where I feed my soul. That’s where I get my inner strength. It’s when I talk to God. I meet with God and I am nurtured. I am strengthened in that relationship. God is with me, guiding me, and lifting me up.” There’s a wonderful verse to support that well as well that some of you know is from uh Isaiah chapter uh 20 uh 40, I beg your pardon.
And the quote is is this. It says this. On the on the on the subject of prayer, “They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.” Do you know that verse? Isaiah 40. “They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” There’s a well to renew the inner strength. They who wait upon the Lord.
And so we come to church on Sunday morning. We wait upon the Lord and so our strength to be renewed. They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Oh my, there is a strong well for people. What other wells might there be?
Hm? I wonder what your well is. I had a friend up in Canada when I used to live up there and I can remember one day in chatting, sharing together. He was older than I and he says, “Derek, the thing that inspires me, that gives me renewal and strength, is when I read a good book.” Yeah, a good book. Maybe some of you are reading a good book for Lent. That’d be great. You know, there’s a good book that comes to my mind immediately for Lent, our former presiding bishop, Michael Curry.
You know, The Way of Love. Oh my. Uplifting. Nurturing us in the way we should be. You know, it’s so in So many people have religion. But to truly have the love of Christ in us. And so Michael Curry draws us into that corner. Well, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah, she and a couple of other bishops have coordinated a Lenten devotional. And if you want another book from the high ups there in Canterbury, there’s another good example. “A good book,” said my friend up in Canada, “that’s what I find gives me some nurture, some growth, some uplifting.” What might be another? Well, Oh, immediately I think of Some of you were with us last Wednesday evening at the Lenten program.
Oh, Lenten programs are another well, a place where you get some study, some refreshment, some worship. And the thing that I really enjoyed last Wednesday evening was the koinonia. The koinonia, the fellowship. The fellowship one with another from the different parishes. They’re all going talking to each other, having fellowship together as Episcopalian Christians. So, community is is a well. Uh student programs is a well. So, we could go on listing other things. So, I hold up before you the question again, what is your well?
Oh, well, you may have a couple. Good. Why might we have the wells and need to be nurtured spiritually? Well, Jesus pointed that in the gospel.
Just as we need to nurture our bodies with nice fresh water from the well, uh Jacob’s well, so Jesus is saying, all more important is the living water from the inside to nurture our souls. You know, in the Bible we are called not just to say, “Okay, I believe.” and be stagnant. No, we’re continually being called in the Bible to uh run the race, to grow, to go on the journey developing and growing in Christ. St. Paul puts it this way. St. Paul says, “We’re running a race.” And he says, quote, “So run that you may obtain the prize.” The prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, eternal life. And again, St. Peter St. Peter says, “No, it’s not enough to to say, ‘I heard about Jesus and I believe in him.’”
St. Peter says in these words, calling Christians, he says, “Grow in grace and in the knowledge and love of God.” Oh, what a wonderful image for all of us. Grow in grace and in the knowledge and love of God. You know, even when we get old and I’ve been a senior now for a number of years. Even when we get old, we can still be growing in our faith journey. Not stagnant, not just holding, not even backsliding. No, no, but growing. Grow in grace and in the knowledge and love of God. So, the call of the gospel, the call by Jesus this morning in that gospel as he talked to the woman of Samaria.
He said, “Okay, it’s good to get water out of Jacob’s well, but more Oh, the need to feed, to nurture the soul, the inner part as well.” And so, I hold up before you, my sisters and brothers in Christ, and invite you in this Lenten season to reflect on this. What is your well? Or what in the plural, what are your wells? When you’re in a crisis or in a deep down spot or a little bit discouraged time, a low period in your life, where do you go for refreshment?
For renewal? I encourage you to meditate upon that, pray about it. And may God guide you to the wells that refresh and renew. Amen.
Amen.