Liturgical Churches
Union of Jersey City and Vicinity
Clair Memorial United
Methodist Church
March 18, 2015
John 4:1-26
Worshiping the Father
in Spirit and Truth
Jesus
said, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will
worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to
worship him.”
First,
let me begin by saying what an honor and joy it is to be here with you all this
evening.
I
am especially grateful to Rev. Albert Barchue for allowing me to preach in this
pulpit, here at Clair Memorial, this building, this church, which is such a
powerful living symbol for all of us in Jersey City – a powerful living symbol
of faithful endurance and resurrection in the midst of fiery destruction and
loss.
I
am also grateful to our president, my friend, Rev. Nathaniel Legay, for
inviting me and the people of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to be part of the
Liturgical Churches Union - and inviting me to preach tonight.
I
trust I wasn’t only invited because of my reputation for relatively short
sermons!
And
special thank you to the parishioners from St. Paul’s and Incarnation –
especially members of our choirs – who braved the cold to be here tonight.
A
story.
My
father is in his early 70s and still very active – he still teaches fulltime at
Marist High School in Bayonne. And he also continues to be a student - a
lifelong learner - often attending seminars and other programs in New York
City.
Anyway,
a couple of weeks ago he had gone to one of these seminars and was beginning to
make his way home to Jersey City. It was about 9:00 at night. He was walking
down the stairs into the subway when suddenly he fell down onto the ground.
It
was a shocking moment. He didn’t know what had happened to him. Had he missed a
step? Had he broken his leg? His hip? He was frightened and confused.
Almost
immediately two strangers – two young women - stopped to care for my dad. They
called 911 to get him an ambulance and they stayed with him, protecting him from
the crowds of people going up and down the stairs. They stayed with him until
the ambulance came and took him to the hospital.
My
father needed to have surgery on his knee but is doing well and I expect in the
near future will be back to his life and back in the classroom.
As
my family and I have thought about and retold this story we always give thanks
that, instead of just stepping around my father, those two young women took the
time to care for my father.
And
we and pretty much everybody else who’s heard the story has used the same term
to describe them: Good Samaritans.
They
were indeed “Good Samaritans.”
And,
of course, that term comes from the best-known Samaritan in the New Testament –
the unnamed good Samaritan in Jesus’ parable about mercy that’s found in the
Gospel of Luke.
After
a couple of thousand years of retelling and reflecting on the Parable of the
Good Samaritan it’s hard for us to think of any other kind of Samaritan,
right?
But,
Jews of the First Century had a very different view of Samaritans.
The
Samaritans were descended from the lost tribes of the old northern kingdom of
Israel many of whom had intermarried with Babylonian invaders, creating a mixed
society that was similar in a lot of ways – they worshiped the same God and
read the same Scripture – but they were different, too.
The
Samaritans rejected the Jerusalem Temple preferring to worship on Mount
Gerizim.
And,
as is so often the case, it seems that the Samaritans and the Jews focused on
the few differences that separated them rather than their common devotion to
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
In
this evening’s passage from the Gospel of John we meet the second-best known
Samaritan in the New Testament, the unnamed woman at the well.
We
don’t really know if the woman is a “good Samaritan” or not.
There’s
some question about those five husbands – and the one she had now who is not
her husband.
And,
why is she going to get water at noon – at the hottest time of day? Was she
trying to avoid the other women who, maybe, gave her a hard time about those
five husbands and the one she had now who is not her husband.
So,
we don’t know if she’s a “good Samaritan” or not.
Then,
along comes Jesus.
As
usual, Jesus doesn’t seem particularly interested in or concerned about the
boundaries that separate people.
Generally,
it seems that Jews like Jesus didn’t talk with Samaritans, let alone strange
Samaritan women, not to mention a Samaritan woman who’s had five husbands and
is now with one who is not her husband.
But,
Jesus does what Jesus always does. Jesus breaks through the boundaries – breaks
through the boundaries between Jews and Samaritans, between men and women, and
strikes up a conversation with this Samaritan woman.
“Give
me a drink.”
As
is often true in the Gospel of John, Jesus and other people talk past each
other – they ‘re talking on different levels.
Jesus
talks about the living water that he offers and the woman thinks that’s awfully
big talk for a guy with no bucket.
But,
throughout this kind of confused conversation, the woman remains open to Jesus.
She doesn’t know exactly what this “living water” is but she wants it.
And
Jesus reveals more about her – later she tells the people of the city that he
told her “everything” she had ever done.
And
Jesus reveals more about himself than he has with anyone else yet in the Gospel
of John. He tells her that he is the messiah.
And
Jesus also reveals to this maybe not very good Samaritan woman a vision of the
kingdom of God. God’s kingdom is bigger than Mount Zion and Mount Gerizim.
Jesus tells her:
“But
the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.”
“But
the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.”
So,
I guess the question for us is, are we true worshipers worshiping the
Father in spirit and truth?
For
me, the answer is, sometimes.
We
are worshipers in spirit and truth when, like Jesus, we break down the barriers
that divide us into Jews and Samaritans, Catholics and Protestants, blacks and
whites.
And,
we don’t have to look far – not far at all – to see examples of true worshipers
breaking down the barriers.
I’ve
always been moved by the story of the fire that ravaged this church on Tuesday,
April 10, 2001 – the Tuesday of Holy Week that year.
As
many of you will remember, the next day the board of Temple Beth-El invited the
people of Clair Memorial to hold their Easter services at the temple and then
continue to worship at the temple until the church was repaired.
The
kingdom of God is bigger that Mount Zion and Mount Gerizim.
The
kingdom of God is bigger than Clair Memorial and Temple Beth-El.
Barriers
between Jews and Christians were broken down and the true worshipers worshiped
the Father in Sprit and in truth.
Another
example of true worshipers breaking down the barriers, one that’s also close at
hand.
I’m
very aware that until very recently the organization sponsoring tonight’s
Lenten Prayer Service was called the “Black
Liturgical Churches Union.”
Something
changed this year.
I’ll
let you guess what it was.
Following
the example of Jesus, Pastor Legay didn’t hesitate to knock down the barrier
that could have existed between us, warmly inviting me to part of this group
and asking if St. Paul’s would be willing to host one of the Wednesday
services, which we did for the first time ever a couple of weeks ago.
Now,
I know what some of you might be thinking. Maybe this was a misunderstanding. My
last name is Murphy so I could have
been black. But, I want to assure you that before inviting me to be part of the
Liturgical Churches Union group Pastor Legay had met me in person on numerous
occasions and was very well aware that I’m white!
Still,
he extended his hand in friendship and brotherhood and I’m grateful.
The
kingdom of God is bigger than Mount Zion and Mount Gerizim.
The
kingdom of God is bigger than black and white.
Barriers
between blacks and whites were broken down and the true worshipers are
worshiping the Father in Sprit and in truth.
One
last example of true worshipers breaking down the barriers.
On
Good Friday, for the second year in a row, Christians from many different
churches and denominations will make the Stations of the Cross on the streets
of Jersey City. We’ll remember Jesus’ journey to the cross and we’ll also
remember the victims of violence right here in our own community. Each of the
fourteen stations will be at a place where violence has taken place right here
in Jersey City.
On
Good Friday, we’ll worship the Father in spirit and in truth as we make our way
along our often blood-soaked streets.
For
about two hours, we’ll offer a powerful witness as Protestants and Catholics
join hands, praying for the victims of violence and for peace at last in our
city.
I
hope you’ll join us.
(And
we start at 9:30 in the morning - early enough so that you can still make the
IMA service at Mt. Olive Baptist Church!)
It’s
still Lent – and Lent is the perfect time to deny ourselves our prejudices, to break
through ourselves the barriers we set up to separate us from different kinds of
people.
Lent
is the perfect time to follow the example of Jesus and walk right into Samaria
– walk right into an alien land – walk right into the land filled with good
people and not so good people – walk right into the land with people we don’t
know and maybe even don’t like or don’t trust - and knock down the barriers
that divide us.
Lent
is the perfect time to follow the example of Jesus and strike up a conversation
with the outcast, the person who the world doesn’t see as a “good” – or maybe
the one who the world just doesn’t see - the one who’s forced to gather her
water in the midday heat to avoid the gossips, to steer clear of the so-called
good people, maybe hoping to avoid people… just like us.
Lent
is the perfect time to really, at long last, be true worshipers, not just
worshiping God on Mount Zion or Mount Gerizim – not just worshiping God at
Clair Memorial or Temple Beth-El or at St. Paul’s – not just worshiping God
with people who look and think like us – but Lent is the perfect time to unite
and worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these
to worship him.
May
it be so.
Amen.
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