3-8-26 “Living Water That Flows to One Another”-(Membership Caring Month #2)

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“Living Water That Flows to One Another”

(Membership Caring Month #2)

I want to start with something funny that I found on an internet site: One day, a little girl is sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly notices that her mother has several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast to her brunette hair. She looks at her mother and inquisitively asks: “Why are some of your hairs white, Mum?” Her mother replied: “Well, every time you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hair turns white.” The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then asked: “Mumma, how come all of grandma’s hairs are white?”

When I was serving as a hospital chaplain, I received a call around midnight from a nurse. She said, “I wonder if you could help my patient. She was just diagnosed with cervical cancer. Since hearing the diagnosis, she has refused to eat. She refuses medication and therapy. She must begin chemotherapy, but she won’t even see the doctor. She does not want to see anyone. She just cries. If you could do anything for her, I would appreciate it.”

I thought, ‘How deep her pain must be.’ As I walked toward her room, I prayed,
“Lord, how can I help her?” The nurse stopped me before I entered and said quietly,
“Several chaplains have already tried to see her. She refused them all. If she rejects you, don’t take it personally.”

Her room was dark. She was lying in bed. When she heard I was a chaplain, she turned her back to me. But she did not say, “Leave.” So, I sat near her bed and prayed silently. Then I said gently, “I know I cannot fix this. I cannot imagine how painful this is. But I came because I want you to know someone is praying for you. And as long as someone is praying for you, God has not given up on you.

Even if you feel like giving up on yourself — God never gives up on you.” She did not respond. I shared briefly how God healed my broken spine. Then I placed a prayer shawl near her pillow and said, “If you see this, remember someone is praying for you. You are not alone.”

When I read today’s Scripture from Gospel of John, I thought of that patient. The Samaritan woman also did not want to be seen. She came to the well at noon — the hottest part of the day — when no one else would come. In the ancient Middle East, women gathered water in the cool morning. But she came at noon to avoid people. She was isolated even among her own people.

And then something unexpected happened. A Jewish man — Jesus — sat at that well and said to her: “Give me a drink.” He crossed every boundary: Jew and Samaritan. Man and woman. Religious insider and social outsider. He did not begin with judgment. He began with a request. With vulnerability. With relationship.

As we observe Membership Caring Month, we might think about numbers, attendance, or participation. But today’s Scripture teaches us something deeper. Membership begins with being seen. The Samaritan woman had long been unseen—misunderstood, whispered about, defined by her past. She had been married several times and was now alone, isolated, an outsider. Yet Jesus saw her completely—and stayed. When Jesus said, “You have had five husbands,” he was not shaming her. He was naming her wound in order to heal it.

How many people are sitting quietly among us, carrying invisible wounds? Some come at “noon” — at times when they will not be noticed. Some serve faithfully but are spiritually thirsty. Some feel ashamed of illness, failure, addiction, or broken relationships.
Some have slowly withdrawn, but still long for belonging. Membership care means that we do not let people carry their jars alone. Think of those among us who try to remain unseen.

Jesus told her: “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.” Living water is not stagnant water. If fresh water sits too long, it spoils. Living water flows. God’s love must flow — or it becomes stagnant in us.

The Samaritan woman came alone. But after encountering Jesus, she left her water jar behind and ran back to the city. The woman who avoided people became the one who invited people: “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!” That is what happens when someone experiences grace. They move from isolation to invitation. From shame to testimony. From silence to belonging.

Going back to the story I shared at the beginning: my patient called me the next morning. When I entered her room, she was sitting up and said, “I thought someone came to me in a dream. But then I saw this prayer shawl, and I remembered every word you said. Maybe God sent you to me.”

She had cut off her friends and family because she felt ashamed of her diagnosis. She imprisoned herself emotionally and spiritually. But when she saw that shawl, she realized:

‘I am not alone.’ Eventually she began chemotherapy. Six months later, she was free of cancer. She returned to work. She even sent me a portrait she drew with a note of gratitude.

What changed? Not the diagnosis overnight. What changed first was this: She knew someone cared. She knew God had not abandoned her. That is membership care. It is sitting in the dark room. It is praying when someone cannot pray. It is leaving a shawl, a card, a message.
It is saying, “You are not alone.”

Jesus told the Samaritan woman: “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” Spirit means no social boundaries. Truth means no pretending.

In Christ, everyone has access to God. Everyone has the right to grace. Everyone belongs.

So what does Membership Caring Month ask of us?

It asks:

• Who is coming at noon, and who is coming in the darkness?
• Who is hiding in shame?
• Who needs a prayer shawl?
• Who needs a phone call?
• Who among us needs to hear, “God has not given up on you”? Who needs to be reminded, “God loves you—and so do I”?

 

The church is not just a place we attend; it is a community where living water flows from one member to another. If we keep grace to ourselves, it becomes stagnant. But when we pray for one another, visit one another, and encourage one another, the water of love flows.

Jesus says, “This kind can come out only through prayer.” (Mark 9:29) Prayer is how living water moves. Prayer is how chains begin to loosen. Prayer is how isolation begins to break. As long as you pray for someone, God remembers them. God loves them more than you do. God is already working. The Samaritan woman left her jar. My patient left her despair.

What jar might we leave behind? And whose jar are we called to help carry? May we be a church where no one drinks alone. May we be a church where living water flows freely.
May we care for one another as members of Christ’s body. We are one family in Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God. Amen.