Welcome to Anglican Kossacks, a group for Anglican/Episcopalian Kossacks to discuss developments in the worldwide Anglican Communion, the Church of England and the Anglican Church of Canada as well as issues related to social justice and church polity. Open to all, regardless of religious affiliation. Some of our diaries are action, informative or historical diaries and others are meditative and prayerful. We, like the Episcopal Church, welcome you! Thank you for joining us.
Today is the Third Sunday of Lent. In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer this week we are mindful of the Diocese of Mount Kenya. The theme of today's readings revolves around water--from Moses striking the rock from which water poured forth to quench the thirst of the diaspora at Rephidim to the Samaritan woman at the well.
Follow me over the fold where we will look at these readings a little, plus some pretty pictures and a wonderful Anthem by Herbert Howells sung by the choir of Worcester (England) Cathedral.....
As I often do, I attended services this morning at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke here in beautiful sunny (but very brisk) Portland, Maine. You can see from this picture that Spring has not quite sprung here in Portland:
The Cathedral church of St. Luke (Episcopal)
It was, however, warm and inviting inside--a gorgeous space for meditation and grand liturgical celebrations:
The High Altar and Reredos (the big carving in back) of St. Luke's Cathedral.
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In the Lectionary for the Third Sunday of Lent:
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. AMEN.
--Book of Common Prayer, pg. 218.
First Lesson: Exodus 17:1-7, in which Moses is instructed to strike the rock at Horeb to provide water to his thirsty people.
Psalmody: Ps. 95-Venite, exultemus, 6-11 "(8) Harden not your hearts, as your forebears did in the wilderness,* at Meribah, and on that day at Massah, when they tempted me."
Second Lesson: Romans 5:1-11 "we have received reconciliation through the sacrifice of Christ".
The Gospel John 45-42, the story of the Samaritan woman at the well.
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One of the things I have always liked about the story in today's Gospel is the fact that Jesus is talking to a woman whom the Jews of his day would have considered "untouchable". Not only was she a woman who was not his close, immediate family (for it was simply not done for a Jew to talk to a strange woman) but she was a Samaritan woman and he asks her to share a drink of water--this would CERTAINLY not be done. Add to that the fact that she was a woman who already had had four husbands and her current "husband", her fifth, she was not married to at all--they were simply cohabiting, and it is no wonder that when his disciples walked in on this exchange they were frankly appalled.
Jesus doesn't condemn her. Lots of people like him would have, had they said anything to her at all. But he doesn't do that. He tells her " Everyone who drinks of this water (the well water) will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty". Because he knows so much about her, and because he blesses her, after a fashion, she recognizes him for at least a prophet if not the Messiah, leaves her jug behind and goes down to the village to tell about it.
It occurs to me that the reason she does this is not just because she recognizes him as the Messiah. What might really be going on here is an extreme case of validation of the person and worth of this woman, of her basic humanity.
Jesus talked to, blessed and healed lots of people that Jewish society of his day condemned. The Samaritan woman, lepers, people in extreme poverty, all sorts of people. Just this weekend at a conference in Iowa, a speaker used biblical verses in an attempt to demonstrate that Jesus was against everything from the income tax to the capital gains tax to the minimum wage! These are the same sort of folks who have been using Scripture to marginalize women, the LGBT community and the poor. That's a lot of hogwash.
When I hear the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, it reminds me that those of us on the margins of today's society are the very people Jesus embraces, not the people he would condemn. I wish more Christians would spend more time with these parables. They might just have an epiphany, too, like the woman at the well.
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This morning, we were treated to one of my favorite Anthems, Like as the hart desireth the waterbrooks by Herbert Howells, sung by our fantastic and highly polished Cathedral Choir. Here is a version for your enjoyment, sung by the Choir of Worcester Cathedral, England:
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Let's end, in the spirit of the Woman at the Well and all on life's margins, with this excerpt from a Collect from the Book of Common Prayer:
For Social Justice
Almighty God who created us in your own image: Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom , help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our communities and among the nations....AMEN.
Your thoughts, concerns, prayers and comments are welcome below. Thank you for joining us.
Update: It is important to note that the relationships between various Jewish groups in the first Century C.E. are far more nuanced than the author of the Gospel of John portrays in the passage which appears in this diary. The approach in the Gospel should be seen with a literary, not historical eye. I have asked Kossack another American to write a diary for this series about this subject in the relatively near future. --CM