Reflections for the 3rd Sunday in Lent, 2014

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

The following are the readings for the coming Sunday (March 23, 2014): Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-11; and John 4:5-42

This week, the reading that caught my attention was the reading from John. In this passage, John sets up the audience for a wedding scene. "What?" you say. If I said that it was high noon in the Old West, that the shop keepers had shut the doors and shutters of their businesses, and that a lone man (with a six-shooter and 10 gallon hat, of course) just stepped off the board walk to meet another man ... what are you imagining? What comes next?
This is exactly what John does with Jesus coming to a well (remember how Isaac's wife was found? How about the interactions in the Jacob narrative? What about Moses?). But then, we the audience are tricked - for there is no wedding after all. Instead, the woman who comes to the well at noon becomes the first evangelist of John's Gospel.
Four chapters later (John 8) Jesus is accused to being a Samaritan and being demon possessed. Both of these would have been treacherous accusations in Jerusalem, but Jesus only denies being demon possessed. It is as if, his staying at the well didn't just change the Samaritans there, but also changed Jesus.
For me this raises a question: What does it mean to identify with our surrounding communities enough that we see ourselves as a part of them? Are we willing to be changed by them, too?
These questions are interesting in light of today being St. Patrick's Day. For St. Patrick is seen as the patron saint of Ireland, and with all things Irish, but ... he wasn't Irish at all. Rather, as a boy he was kidnapped, sent out to herd pigs, later escaped, and then felt the call to return (after his theological education) to the country of his kidnappers to share the gospel. In the process, he "became" Irish.
I've heard many an account by cruisers that there are cherished times cruising in company with other cruising folks. But that it is when they are traveling by themselves that they often get the meet the local inhabitants, and truly appreciate the culture of the places through which they are traveling.
In light of this week's gospel lesson, where are those places and times that have called you forth to become part of a different community, to allow yourself to be changed in the process? Upon reflection, have you found them to be holy times? How do you allow yourself to be open to further encounters?

Blessed Be,
Joel