Gospeling Your Life ~ Stories we Tell

 

Read John 5-6 ~ Please note, I will be preaching on John 4 in March to honor Women in the Bible during Women’s History Month.  Just a short note that I believe the Woman at the Well serves as a wonderful counterbalance to Nicodemus.  The two are meant to be linked and remind us of two parts of ourselves.  I am both Nicodemus and the Woman at the Well.  Both are curious.  For Nicodemus, he needs to sit with the wisdom of Jesus for a while (contemplate what Jesus said), for the Woman at the Well her heart is instantly and immediately opened to God in transformation.  Sometimes change takes time, other moments we adopt and adapt quickly.  Hold these two important characters in scripture pondering the truths each teach and tell us.

 

As you read chapters 5-6, there is a wonderful question Jesus asks the beloved on God sitting by the pool.  In 5:6, “Do you want to be made well?”  That is a great question.  Do I want to be made well, whole, full of God’s Shalom?  On the one hand, you may think, “Duh, Wes.  Of course I don’t want this illness, pain, ache, brokenness, hurt.”  On the other hand, we can sometimes hold onto past pain tighter than grace.  I can feed, fan to flames, the words of another person, lugging them around in the luggage of life and tell anyone who will listen, “You won’t believe what that church member said to me…fifteen years ago.”  Or I can rehearse and replay the actions of another anew and afresh each day, until my life is defined and confined those actions.  You can tell a lot about a person by the stories they tell.  You can tell a lot about yourself if you listen to the stories you tell.  Do I want to be made well?  Yes.  Am I willing abide in the One who calls for forgiveness, non-violence, standing with the marginalized, being a peacemaker, being a seeker/learner, being an embodiment of God’s love?  Is that where I want to reside in a world, especially when none of that is trending on social media?  How do I want to show up and let God write the story of my life?  We ask and answer that question moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day.  How you life each day, is how you live your life.  May you find ways to abide with the One who is calling us to wholeness/shalom/healing/wellness this day and every day.  Amen.