Theme: Embracing our “Well” moments
Mere hours after Pastor Ken Dove delivered a moving morning message centered on Jesus and the Samaritan woman, our church experienced our meeting with a woman at the well. The only difference was that this woman intentionally walked into a church, which, too often, she could have encountered not fitting in, being judged, and not being accepted. Who knows what she expected to find on a Sunday night when our church is usually locked and dark? God knew where she needed to be. It is just like God giving us a real-life situation to see if we were listening that morning.
At about 5 pm Sunday, a lady walked into the cafe area of our church from the apartments next door. She did not know it then, but God led her to us, as she had no idea what she was seeking. She brought with her a large jar full of a troubled life.
She first met Justin, who spoke with her, prayed with her, and welcomed her unconditionally. Then came Pastor Jimmy, who also prayed for and loved her. Rose listened to her, took her number, and passed her information to Nancy Kling, our prayer warrior.
Pastor Jimmy then brought her into the Worship Center and introduced her to Pastor Ken, me, and Arlene. She shared with us her estrangement from her husband and that the man she was living with was not her husband and was abusive. She spoke about wanting to commit suicide and her hopelessness. I asked if I could hug her, which she welcomed. When I held her, a dam of emotions burst from her, and she wept on my shoulder. Arlene spoke with her about her own experience, and we told her how beautiful she was as a unique creation of God. Then Arlene led the prayer as we locked hands on her. Sometime during the evening, she also met Pastor Dan, who loved and prayed for her, and who knows who else reached into her life.
She stayed to worship with us as Arlene invited this woman to sit with her. This, indeed, was one body acting in unison to carry out what God intended when He guided her to us.
I found her again after the service. We hugged, and she seemed astonished that she was loved and accepted the way she was. She smiled for the first time, and hope was in her eyes.
She kept repeating, “You all are so kind to me!” This is something she seemed not used to.
I would love to tell you that everything would now be perfect in her life, but that is between her and God. He guided her to us and used our church to deliver His message of love. She heard the music and the word of her Creator. She worshipped with us.
But more than anything else, she experienced her moment at the well. She was loved unconditionally, accepted totally, and never judged. She was folded in, covered, and wrapped up by other fallen people who understood we were her without Christ. It was a beautiful merger of Scripture and reality, and I have never been more proud of our church.
If you walk into our worship center this morning and look very closely in the corner of the room, you will see a large jar the lady left at her well.
Scripture: Romans 5:8 (NIV)
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Prayer:
Lord, I am so in awe of you this morning. I pray that we all begin to see the things you orchestrate in our lives daily, and not just let them pass as coincidence or happenstance. Lord, you brought people into our lives this past Sunday that were all designed. Pastor Dove, the message you gave him, Arlene coming with him and the crucial part she played, and a lady coming to her own well on a cold Sunday evening, and a church that lived out the exact message of the morning. Please do not let these miracles be glossed over Lord. Open our hearts and eyes to the way you work in a church that is alive. Let this truly be a renewal based on the experience of how you work. A total, experiential renewal, far beyond a worship service. My words cannot convey my awe and joy. All through this I am more aware of how unworthy I am to experience this, and I thank you that you once met me at
the well.
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