LENT PRAYER MATERIAL 2016

L’ARCHE INTERNATIONAL – ENCOUNTERS OF FORGIVENESS

WEEK 3

A Reciprocal Encounter – The Story of the Samaritan Woman

(Prepared by Suzie and the whole community of Al Fulk, Egypt)


The Woman at the Well

by Sieger Koder

BIBLE READING

John 4: 4 - 26

(Jesus) had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?”

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!”

The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but yousay that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.”

Jesus said to her, “I am he,the one who is speaking to you.”

REFLECTION by Ruth Patterson

This is one of the best-loved encounters in the Gospels. A Jewish man and a Samaritan woman meet on the borders of a divided country. Every conceivable obstacle to dialogue exists between them – culture, religion, politics, gender. Yet this encounter is one of deep intimacy and dialogue that enriches both parties – Jesus and the woman.

Having read this story as told by John, you might like to think about the following:

  • Jesus crosses the barrier of their difference by being vulnerable, declaring his own need. This shocks the woman and there results a revelatory and deep exchange, not only about the woman’s past but about the nature of God and the living water of the Spirit.
  • She is able to receive from Jesus because she experiences, perhaps for the first time in her life that she is precious, respected and beloved.
  • It is too easy to sum her up as a loose woman with little understanding. She could not have entered upon such a dialogue unless she had been a thoughtful, searching person. They encourage each other, drawing each other out. She is the first person to whom Jesus reveals his true identity.
  • When the woman runs back to share the good news with her fellow towns-people, she leaves her water jar behind. It is like a symbol of her old identity left at the feet of Jesus. A new life is opening up before her. She knows herself both broken and beloved and becomes an image bearer of hope for others.
  • Tradition gives this woman a name, Photine, meaning ‘the luminous one’. She becomes a shining witness to the transformation, the new life that Jesus brings.
  • Both Jesus and the woman go on their way encouraged. The exercise of forgiveness enables us to see ourselves and others more clearly.

REFLECTION

“But he needed to go through Samaria” … Out of our desire to grow as a community, we had to move from a house in the desert to a house in the city. For 12 years we`ve been living in isolation from society. Then in 2010 we bought a house in the city. It was ready for us to move but we were afraid.

After the 2010 revolution erupted in Egypt the situation was very difficult for Christians, especially prior, and during, the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood and the spread of what analysts called “the political Islam movements”. There was so much hatred and anger towards Christians. The neighbours treated us terribly;they would curse us in the face. We were filled with fear while they were filled with rejection, and we kept spinning in this vicious cycle for 5 years, 5 years sitting by “the well” and not able to drink. We were thirsty and kept asking for help: water, electricity, bread - but the answer was always the same. “You are a Jew and I’m a Samaritan woman,” / “ We are Muslims and you`re Christians.”

“We have this living water,” we said, “and we can share it with this society that has so many difficulties and is in desperate need for love, understanding and peace.” So we partnered with a well-known, Hispanic, Sacred Heart nun, who treats burn victims and dermatology diseases. Specialists from her centre come to our house where they offer the medical examination for free. That was the living water that saturated our society with love, mercy and hope. This transformative relationship that has altered the Samaritan “woman”, allowed her to open her heart and made her less reluctant and skeptical.

What happened from that moment on was pure magic. We organised a “Mothers` Day Party” for the moms of our core-members along with mothers from our neighbourhood. We also host medical convoys once a month, and we have also organised a "Ramadan fast breaking (Iftar).” Because: “Whoever drinks from that water shall never thirst.”

Now the same people who used to swear at us show up at our door-step with presents, asking us constantly if we need anything, and they know our core-members by name.

Hatred has transformed into support, continuous and mutual tenderness and reconciliation.

May God fill our hearts with peace and mercy even if it seems impossible to achieve in our countries.

A Ramadan Iftar (the breaking of the fast and the end of the day during Ramadan) with members of Al Fulk, L’Arche Egypt

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

  • Have you ever been insulted, treated badly, or been rejected by someone?
  • How might you reach out to this person?

ACTIVITY

  • Have a bowl of water at the centre of your prayer space representing the well in the bible text.
  • Offer each other water to drink.
  • Share any story that this story from Egypt reminds you of.
  • Pray for peace between people of different faith traditions.
  • Pray for peace in our world.
  • Pray for greater unity between people who are different from each other.
  • Reach out to people of another culture or faith tradition: visit their place of worship, or invite them to one of your community’s celebrations.
  • Find out something about a celebration of another faith tradition than your own.

PRAYERS – a suggested format:

  • Say the Our Father together
  • Read John 4: 4-26
  • Have a time of silence
  • Take time to reflect on any of the material offered above
  • Prayer: (This is the same prayer every week except for the second line. Maybe you could learn to sign it. One person could say and sign each line, and then everyone else repeat with the same signing).

Jesus, help us to see others as you see them – with love and compassion.

Help us find ways to reach out and befriend those who are different to us, as Jesus did with the Samaritan Woman.

Help us to be able to welcome those who are different from us, those we find it difficult to like.

And thank you that you love us, just as we are, today and every day.

Amen.

  • The L’Arche Prayer
  • Appropriate songs if wished.

A drawing of the Iftar by Hany Zaki Habib,a member of Al Fulk,

and below, a photograph of Hany holding his drawing

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