Readings

Malachi 4: 1-5

1 "For, behold, the day is coming burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant, and every evil doer, shall be stubble; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze." says Jehovah the Lord of hosts, "so that it will leave them neither root nor branch."

2 But for you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings; and you shall go forth, and skip about as calves to the stall.
3 And you will tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day which I am preparing," says Jehovah the Lord of hosts.

4 "Remember the law of Moses my servant, even statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah the Lord."

John 4:1-26

1 When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John

2 (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were),

3 He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee.

4 And he had to pass through Samaria.

5 So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph:
6 and Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."

8 For his disciples were gone away into the city to buy food.

9 The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink, since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

10 Jesus answered and said unto her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me to drink;' thou would have asked of Him, and he would have given you living water."

11 The woman said to him, Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: where then do You get that living water?

12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and his cattle?

13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Every one who drinks of this water shall thirst again;

14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."

15 The woman said unto him, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw."

16 Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and come here.

17 The woman answered and said to him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband:'

18 for thou have had five husbands; and the one whom you now have is not your husband: this you have said truly."

19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.

20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and you people say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."

21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father.

22 You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.
23 But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such people the Father seeks to be His worshippers.
24 God is a Spirit: and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ): when He comes, He will declare unto us all things."

26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

Sermon

The beginning of the New Year is a time for reflection. It is a time to review, not only the events of the past year, but also the effects of those events and our responses, behavior and activities in recent times. Have we made any progress? Have we made any significant changes in our natural life, in our social life, in our emotional life, in our mental/intellectual life, or in our spiritual life? We human beings are really creatures of habit. When something comes along that is not the same as what we are used to we tend to be afraid of it and even avoid it if possible. The woman of Samaria was very surprised when Jesus asked her for a drink of water for it was not usual behavior for a Jew to even speak to a Samaritan woman let alone ask her for something. But Jesus was not one to be bound by tradition just for traditions sake.

Let us reflect for a moment about the tradition of Christmas as it is now established. What was the most important or significant thing about your Christmas?

Some years ago I was talking to a lady at the University of Saskatchewan and she told me that she had reached the point where Christmas meant nothing to her but a big headache. All the pressure from advertising and the accompanying attitude that if you don't buy a lot and give a lot of expensive gifts you are not properly celebrating Christmas had completely turned her off and she totally refused to become involved any more. She did not send cards. She did not buy any gifts and only gave a few things, that she had made herself, to her immediate family. She did not go to church but spent a good deal of time in private meditation trying to determine in her own mind what this festive season is all about. She thought about the pressure placed on poor families to try to provide gifts for their children when they did not even have enough money to buy food and clothing and she wondered how she could do something that could change and alleviate the situation. She was feeling guilty because she did not come up with any ideas and so did nothing.

I suggested to her that she had, in fact, done an awful lot. For if change is going to be effected in society it has to begin with individuals who are willing to look at tradition and see it for what it is. To see if it is serving its proper use, and if it is not, then to refuse to be subservient to it any longer. I told her she had a lot of courage because she was willing to change her own behavior even though it goes against the normal trends in society, and that she actually had done something constructive by setting an example for her family and others around her.

This brief conversation with Jane led me to wonder if we are not somehow cheating ourselves out of experiencing the real spirit of Christmas. I still think that sharing gifts is a good idea but it should not be "the whole idea". It needs to be put into the proper perspective in order to be meaningful.

Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, "If you knew the gift of God, and who It is that is saying to you, 'give me a drink', you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." With the gift of God there is no longer the need for material gifts. Anyone who drinks of the water (truth) the Lord provides will never be thirsty. Our needs will be fulfilled at a deeper level and so our lower level needs become less prominent and play a much less significant role in our life. When we give gifts we do so as an expression of love to the other person, providing our motivation is not simply that it will invoke the receiver to give us a gift in return. God's gift to the world is a gift of pure love as He is the source of all love. It is also gift the of pure truth because He is the source of all truth. If we accept His gift then we have an unlimited supply of love and truth that we can share with others; those who are close to us as well as those who are strangers and who are distant or remote from us. And this can be done 365 days of the year, not just on one day.

The Reverend Paul Sperry wrote, "The advent of the Lord Jesus Christ was like sunrise, marking the dawn of a new age day. His love brought a new warmth into human life, and His teaching of truth shed a new light upon objects of knowledge and faith. As the great, divine Source of all energy, His love and wisdom always going forth to create and to maintain, He has always stood before the angels of heaven as their Sun of righteousness, the giver of life-heat which keeps them alive and bestower of truth-light which enables them to "walk in the light". He came into the world to show that He bore the same relationship to all humankind here. The peace He brings is like that of morning, full of strength and possibility and joy, and preparation for service. His face "shines as the sun," because "in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead, bodily." He is always the "Light of the world." He is now again bringing a new day to His creatures."

Malachi wrote of the "Sun of righteousness rising with healing in its wings". When that sun rises in our life we experience great joy and a lightening of the weight of work and responsibility for conformity from our shoulders. "Treading down the wicked as ashes under our feet" is having the power to overcome the sin and evil in our life which are the things that prevent us from truly being loving and truly experiencing the love of Jesus in our hearts and lives.

The year 2001 has brought to us experiences that we had never dreamed could happen in the Free World. Experiences which have changed the way many people look at their life and consequently have changed their behavior. Many people have now considered that perhaps there is something more important to life than acquiring money and material things, and that perhaps they should change their focus on what is truly valuable in life. The events of September 11, 2001 have been touted as being a wake up call, but unfortunately the main response from our governments and the media have been concerns about the economy and the Almighty Dollar. The focus has been on hunting down and killing the perpetrators of the attack and getting revenge rather than looking at the ways we have treated poorer nations and people so that we can gain more wealth. If we are really going to learn something from these horrifying events then we are going to have to do is make some serious changes in our everyday lives. Instead our "Free Countries" are reducing our freedoms and our human rights with new panic driven laws of detention. We Christians are going to have to start dealing with other people in the manner in which our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ taught us with His own words and example. We've had the "wakeup call" now let's wake up.

What is required first of all is a change in attitude within each one of us and the conviction that change is desirable and necessary for our ongoing spiritual growth and development.

In closing I would like to share with you a meditation written by the late Reverend Richard Tafel (Senior) many years ago.

"O Divine Lord and Master: Something deep within us hungers and thirsts for your presence. We seek to gain a fresh sense of order in our lives, a direction, a purpose and some deeper meaning.

Some of us have known great stretches of barrenness. Sometimes it seems as though a blight were setting over our spirit, and we feel empty and alone. Some of us have experienced great sorrow, some have suffered serious illness. So often we feel cut off from you and thrust back upon ourselves.

Help us to deal with our barrenness, to dig out the dead roots, to clear the ground for new growth. Help us to see even at such times as these as the rhythmic ebb and flow of life's process, as a time of rest and restoration brought about by your guiding hand.

We know that it is the nature of life to be molded by all our experiences. Help us to use this insight of faith for our best growth. We know that some things in us must die in order to give other things birth. It is all a part of your life process, dear Heavenly Father, and when we come to know this we have hope for tomorrow."

Happy Year 2002!!! 
Dave