John 4: 4-42 (Samaritan Woman) February 27, 2005 The Rev. Diane Livingston, Deacon Church of the Resurrection, Starkville, Mississippi The Samaritan Woman whom Jesus meets at the well has much to offer us. I will be honest: I am intrigued by her! What happened to this woman and those in her town whom she shared about her experience of meeting Jesus at the well is that they were transformed; all of their lives were changed. During an unexpected encounter with a stranger as she went about a very daily chore of going for water, she was exposed to Jesus and therefore learned about the living water of which he spoke. She met first hand and came to know the Savior of the world! Being open to who God places in our path is an awkward, time-consuming, sometimes scary thing to do. John Maxwell, an Episcopalian who lives in Jackson and who many of you heard perform his one-man play about Peter, has created a DVD about this scripture. The actor who portrays the woman at the well entertains thoughts of how though initially she was nervous about encountering Jesus at the well because he was Jewish and was speaking to her, a Samaritan woman. Then she considers that he is probably not all there, so to speak, because he tells her that he can give her living water and yet he doesn't even have a bucket. What kept her in conversation with Jesus? Everything culturally and self-preservation wise would have told her to flee and not to look back. A Jewish person would have avoided going through Samaria at all costs because Jews considered Samaritans outsiders, enemies, unclean and a rejected people. Whether the situation is that intense or not, consider times in our lives (because all of us have done this) when we did flee and chose not to be open to who God placed in our path. No doubt there are times when we fled and missed the good news because we did not attend to the unexpected event or person before us. Being open to who God places in our path may be a way the Gospel is revealed to us. If we are in a hurry and don't really listen or take in what is happening around us, we may miss it. If we push away what may seem to come from our heart or some place deep within us, we may miss it. If we make assumptions like nothing could come out of this situation with a person so young or so old or so unlike me, then again we may miss it. I sure do miss it a lot but I share with you one time when I didn't. While in Austin I worked at Caritas, a social service agency which offered many ministries. My role as a case worker was in emergency services where the staff helped those in need with rent and utility assistance, prescriptions, food, clothing, Ids, local bus transportation and a variety of unusual things that do not necessarily fit into any of these categories except that they were emergencies. One morning as I reentered the waiting area to call another client back into my cubicle, I looked at the list for the next person's name. LOU WILLY CARTER was listed on the appointment book. There were lots of people waiting and I had no idea who would stand as I called out the name. An elderly woman rose from her seat and with great dignity and grace walked toward me. Even before we had moved into the little space where I worked I was already drawn to her. Why? I do not know completely: maybe it was because she made me think of my home, Mississippi; maybe because she was so humble and kind and yet able to express very clearly what she was seeking; maybe it was her eyes that had a sparkle and helped me to see that there was some appealing spunkiness in this person. Everyone who came to Caritas had a story and of course Lou Willy Carter did too. In short, Lou Willy had been a widow for many years after her husband died fairly early in life. He had earned a degree and held a steady job and she was receiving social security as his survivor. The amount was small and therefore she was eligible for a small amount of food stamps and medicaid. She had no other living family except a cousin in Waco, TX which would have been for her about as far away as New York City. Her electric bill was more than she could pay on her small fixed income and this was her request for assistance. We set about determining if she were eligible and since she was, Caritas was able to help. She spoke clearly and with confidence and expressed gratitude and an interest in me. None of this behavior was expected by the staff but always appreciated when it happened. I found that I wanted to talk with her longer but there were so many clients waiting I did not have this opportunity. I told her about our food pantry and offered to give her a slip of paper that she could present two blocks down the street where our pantry was housed to receive food before she boarded a local bus to ride home. She was very interested in receiving this assistance. I remember asking her if she could manage carrying the food on the bus - she was quite frail looking - but she assured me that she could. After she left, I could not forget her and I made calls to determine if she would be eligible for more food stamp assistance - I hoped that she would be even though she had patiently explained to me that if she received more stamps she would lose some of her medical coverage. After much investigation, I had to admit that she was right. I knew that she would return because there was no way possible for her to meet her meager expenses for very long before there would be difficult choices like: do I buy food or medicine or pay the rent or pay the electric bill? On the exact day that she was eligible again for food assistance, she returned. It was almost lunch time and I told her that I could take her home if she could wait briefly. It seemed to me that she was even more frail than previously. Amazingly enough, she agreed. Now please understand that offering her a ride was not a typical thing for a caseworker to do with the huge volume of persons coming in and out of the agency and the professional standard was that we not extend our contact with clients beyond the work place. I explained to her that I was doing this as an individual, not as a representative of Caritas. She did not live far from Caritas by big city standards which meant that she did not live very far from me either. As we put away the groceries in her apartment I opened the refrigerator and saw only one stick of butter and a bag of flour. During the next few months, I had many experiences with Lou Willy Carter. As she shared about her life, I learned that she had endured many hardships and persecutions but she seemed to muster a strength and determination to express her faith and to lean on it. From her stories and from some of her actions, I saw that she demonstrated Jesus' teachings. I understood that she had not retaliated when she was treated unfairly; I saw that she did not respond to hostility by being vengeful but by peacefully moving on. She was not reluctant to share that she believed in God and when she was able she attended her church and spent time with other Christians. She was anything but a dismal person and always a grateful person. Even today I stand in awe of Lou Willy Carter and I did also as I stood by her hospital bed a few days before she died. At work at Caritas one day I received a phone call that she had fainted and become unconscious in a doctor's office. I had not seen her for a good while. An ambulance had been called and in her purse the office staff, who did not know her because she had never gone to this particular doctor before, found my name on a piece of paper listed as her social worker. Though I wished many things to be different in her life even down to her lonely death, I know that she lived her life faithfully, lovingly and courageously as a true disciple of Christ. I do not doubt for a moment that the Holy Spirit was always with Lou Willy Carter and that she knew the Holy Spirit was with her. Being open to who God placed in my path allowed me to experience the wonderful things that I learned from Lou Willy Carter. Until I entered the world of this special lady, I could not truly understand or know her nor could I learn form her. Her testimony impacted greatly on me and I shudder to think if I had not been open to going on the journey with her that we shared so briefly. It was a journey that helped me hear more clearly about the living water and who Jesus really is. I do believe that there are many places where we can meet Jesus. The journeys we take can all lead us there, whether we take them for the right reasons or the wrong reasons or for no reason. Whether we know it or not, Jesus has been waiting for us at the well of life all the time. The question for us : will we be open to the unexpected encounters in those unexpected places and are we willing to enter a dialogue, be engaged, listen and then believe that we too can experience the living water?