MINISTER’S NOTE 12 MARCH 2023
LENT 3: Will you give me a drink?
As municipalities often provide us with clean water, it can
often seem as if our water comes from them, rather than
from God. Water itself is a free gift from God. It can seem
at times that there is too much of it when homes and businesses
are flooded. On the other hand, we have had firsthand
experience that drought comes more easily these
days, as our taps nearly ran dry a few years ago. Water is
life, and we should honour the need of every person and
creature for it.
Water is also life of a different sort. Jesus talks of ‘living
water’, that refreshes us with the new life which is coming
into the world with Jesus. Jesus’ question to the Samaritan
woman: Will you give me a drink? (John 4: 7), is an invitation
to a new way of life. Asking for a drink is also a prayer
for God to walk with us. It is our admission that we do not
rely on ourselves. We need God and we need each other.
We have to be brave enough to cross boundaries and
offer a drink to those society may separate from us.
God meets us in our place of need. If you are worried or
anxious, ask God to bring wholeness, to renew and refresh.
May we have the compassion to care for our neighbours,
seeking to not just quench thirst, but to find living
waters that sustain us all.
Every blessing
Vuyelwa.