Here's the poem we reflected with on Sunday
Jacob’s Well And The Samaritan Woman
By Dan Doyle
“Listen to me, my neighbors and my friends!
(To herself: I went to the well at mid-day.
I was thirsty and angry about
Having to walk to the well again,
Bear the burden of the bucket
Over these dusty streets for my man.
Men. They always demand more of me.
They use my body for their pleasure
And it is never enough, they want more.
They want my time, my labors
For their own satisfaction.
It has always been so.
Five men have lorded it over me.
They’ve whimpered like children in my arms
In the brief moments of their ecstasies
And moaned prayerfully, “Adonai,” never my name.
Then, like wounded birds,
They fall from those solitary heights,
And leave me alone in the bed
Without so much as a kind word.)
When I arrived at the well today
There was a man waiting there. A Jew.
‘Give me a drink,’ he said.”
I thought to myself, ‘What is it about men
That they think women are here to serve?’
I said to him, “You, a stranger, and a Jew,
Talking to me? A Samaritan woman?
Why do you do so?
What do you think I am?
“Woman,” he said, “If you knew
Who it is that asks you now for a drink,
You would ask me for life-giving water.
Those who drink from this well
Always find themselves thirsty again.
Drink the water that I will give
And you will never be thirsty again.”
Friends, I felt something stir in me at those words.
It was something like a fear, but I was not afraid.
It was something I’d never felt before. I said to him,
“That is bold talk for a stranger.
This well is deep, and you have no bucket.
This is a holy well, even as it was
When our father Jacob gave it to us.
But if you can give me this life-giving water,
Give it to me now, So that I will never
Have to return to this well again.”
He told me to go and get my husband.
“I told him that I have no husband, sir.”
“True enough. You have known five
And the one with you now is not your husband.”
His words shook me to my very soul.
It is clear to me that this man is a prophet.
So I asked him if he could tell me
Which of us is right, we Samaritans
We who worship God on this mountain,
Or the Jews who worship him in Jerusalem?
He told me, “There is a day coming
When people will not worship God
Either on this mountain or in Jerusalem.
The time is coming, and is already here,
When by the power of God’s Spirit
People will worship the Father
As he really is. For God is Spirit,
And only by the power of his Spirit
Can people worship him as he really is.”
“Sir,” I said, “I know that when the Messiah comes
He will tell us everything.” Then, he said,
“I am he.”
“Oh, my living God! My friends, my neighbors!
I have seen the Savior with my own eyes!
He spoke to me with such words, such clear words.
And in His presence I was known even to myself.
My neighbors, my friends, I believe this man is
the one for whom we have been waiting for so long!
The Messiah, He who will save us, has come!
Come with me to the well and see for yourselves!