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Wash day at the Nile
Source: https://theoutreachfoundationblog.wordpress.com |
We had a fantastic time of prayer and fellowship for the Women's World Day of Prayer last Friday. I am so pleased that Nicola Baskerville, who has joined the Mid-trent churches team recently accepted to share her talk on 'blog'.
Womens’
World Day of Prayer
·
Our experience of Egypt today
·
Contrast with the experience of women in
Egypt today
·
The orthodox Coptic church in Egypt
·
Theme of water in dry places
·
The gospel response
·
Our response to the gospel
Hello ladies. How many of us have travelled to Egypt?
Mostly, us British travellers hope to see the signs of ancient Egyptian
civilisation, or perhaps to indulge in sunny relaxation on the Red Sea coast,
diving and snorkelling. I have done it myself! And I loved the visit; and the mad
chaos in the streets of Cairo, the immense pyramids and what seems an exotic
culture.
But of course there is much more to modern Egypt than
this, although they rely greatly on tourism as their biggest industry. Egypt in
present times is still in a state of flux. There were, of course, high hopes
for the outcomes of the Arab Spring. But the situation changes all the time,
and I ask you all to pray for the future of this wonderful land.
I also ask you to continue to pray for the women here. Women’s
rights are nothing like they are in our society, with literacy levels and
education and employment opportunities still way behind those of men. Domestic
life has seen some backward moves too, and women do not have the say in their
lives that we enjoy. Let us, today, show some solidarity with these women -
rejoicing in the faith they have and working towards better standards for them
in the future. We can also learn a lot from them.
The Orthodox Coptic church is an interesting phenomenon.
It is certainly one of the most ancient manifestations of the Christian Church,
and continues many of its ancient traditions still. I have had more exposure to
the very similar Ethiopian Orthodox church, during my involvement in that
country, where I have had the privilege of taking part in worship a couple of
times. The church, however, is still firmly lead by Patriarchs and male
priests, and it’s structure is still heavily male dominated, despite the beauty
of the worship.
So today, picture ourselves with the women of Egypt, immersed in these traditions, the Coptic Church
being the largest worshipping body of Christians, making up nearly 12% of the
population, the rest being Muslim.
Now… I’d like us to imagine what it must be like for
those living in a climate which is hot and arid. And imaging how important
water would be to you. I was born and grew up in Zimbabwe. Droughts were common
– not our kind of drought that may only last a few weeks! The rains fell for
maybe 3 months of the year, on and off. When the rains arrived, I remember
running outside in the heat and stretching out my arms in welcome to the huge,
vertical drops of water falling from the sky. And perhaps an hour later, the
rain will have stopped and the sunshine would be out again, and you wouldn’t
know when the next rain would fall. We were very careful about our use of
water, and wouldn’t dream of wasting a drop indulgently!
Most of Egypt’s
water supply comes from just one river – the mighty Nile. I have been to the
very source of the Nile, where it flows into a small lake in the mountains of
Ethiopia. It is astonishing that it becomes the life-blood for a whole nation
of nearly 85 million people in an otherwise hot and arid land, where, for some,
there is no escape from the heat. It is the source for all food and
transportation too.
I hope that this helps you to appreciate how wonderful
our theme of Streams in the Desert is. No one can live without water, and Egypt
was dependent on what used to be an unreliable supply, with flooding and
droughts, until the Aswan dam was built.
So picture too, the hot and dry climate in our Gospel
story tonight. Samaritans were despised by the Jews. They were originally part
of the Israelites, until the Assyrian king captured Samaria back in 720 BC, and
they were deported to Assyria. They were seen as separate, although they wanted
to worship with the Jews when they returned. They worshipped separately on top
of Mount Gerizim, (the place it was believed that Abraham was prepared to
sacrifice Isaac) ,because they were forbidden from worshipping at the temple in
Jerusalem. (The Jews remained very stubborn!) There was continuing enmity
between the two regions for centuries.
So here we are, at the scene of Jacob’s ancient well –
yes, given to the people by Abraham’s grandson, still being used in Jesus’ day.
Now here was a Jewish man,
associating with a Samaritan! And a woman! Talking about sharing drinking
vessels! Oh no! This scenario would have been avoided in those days. But Jesus,
as we know, didn’t care much for prejudice.
This is one of my favourite passages in the entire Bible
– a long and intimate conversation between Jesus and this foreigner. And it
sums up so much of what Jesus was on earth to do: to meet people WHERE THEY
ARE; to reveal who he is; and to offer his love and life for us, bringing us
into the kingdom of God, not only to the Jews; and giving us eternal life.
This woman was at the well to draw water. We can make
assumptions about her background, but we are not told, so we, like Jesus,
should not hold prejudices. She is not ignorant of her history and boldly
challenges Jesus. He offers her the spiritual living water, which she mistakes
as physical water – but as he reveals to her his identity, which hitherto he’s not
revealed to anyone, she “gets it”, and goes to share the news with her
community. That means that she is the first non-Jew missionary! Remarkable! And
many came to believe in Jesus because of what she said to others.
She experienced what Jesus longs for us all to experience
– the flow of the loving, living spiritual waters, reaching all the parched and
empty spaces of our lives. It is free, to drink in as much as we wish. And this
water satisfies our spiritual thirst, like nothing else can do.
Now how can we internalise this in our lives? How can we
respond to the Gospel? Let’s put it this way – we can encounter Jesus, spend
time in his presence; believe in him and drink from the living, empowering,
refreshing waters he offers us. And very importantly, like the Samaritan woman
did - share these waters with others, that their thirst will be quenched too.
I was reminded of the words in one of the songs we sang
this evening:
In the questions without answers,
In the truth we seek to find,
God is calling us to journey,
Leaving certainty behind.
And I was reminded that when we serve God, we must trust
him for the path ahead, as is eloquently expressed in the traditional Sufi
story in the Womens’ World Day of Prayer accompanying booklet:
Tale of the Journeying Stream
A stream, from its course in far-off mountains, passing
through every kind and description of countryside, at last reached the sands of
the desert. Just as it had crossed every other barrier, the stream tried to
cross this one, but found that as fast as it ran into the sand, its waters disappeared.It
was convinced, however, that its destiny was to cross this desert, and yet
there was no way.
Now a hidden voice, coming from the desert itself,
whispered: "The wind crosses the desert, and so can the stream."
The stream objected that it was dashing itself against
the sand, and only getting absorbed: that the wind could fly, and this was why
it could cross a desert.
"By hurtling in your own accustomed way you cannot
get across. You will either disappear or become a marsh. You must allow the wind
to carry you over, to your destination.
But how could this happen? "By dying to yourself and
being absorbed in the wind."
This idea was not acceptable to the stream. After all, it
had never been absorbed before. It did not want to lose its individuality. And,
once having lost it, how was one to know that it could ever be regained?
"The wind," said the sand, "performs this
function. It takes up water, carries it over the desert, and then lets it fall
again. Falling as rain, the water again becomes a river."
"How can I know that this is true?"
"It is so, and if you do not believe it, you cannot
become more than a quagmire, and even that could take many, many years. And it
certainly is not the same as a stream."
"But can I not remain the same stream that I am
today?"
"You cannot in either case remain so," the
whisper said. "Your essential part is carried away and forms a stream
again. You are called what you are even today because you do not know which part
of you is the essential one."
When it heard this, certain echoes began to arise in the
thoughts of the stream. Dimly it remembered a state in which it -- or some part
of it? -- had been held in the arms of a wind. It also remembered -- or did it?
-- that this was the real thing, not necessarily the obvious thing to do.
And the stream raised its vapour into the welcoming arms
of the wind, which gently and easily bore it upwards and along, letting it fall
softly as soon as they reached the roof of a mountain, many, many miles away.
And because it had its doubts, the stream was able to remember and record more
strongly in its mind the details of the experience. It reflected, "Yes,
now I have learned my true identity."
--Sufi Parable
When we lose our lives, Jesus gives us new life – a more
purposeful life.
How can we put these words into action? We
can play a significant part in sharing the living waters, by little acts of
service to the Lord, in our own communities, and by supporting charities
worldwide, that will help women and their communities learn about the truth
that Jesus brought.
Some of you, will of course be called to specialist
projects too. Putting faith into action. I am in the process of setting up,
this very week, the Charity which will, God willing, open, in May a Christian
drop-in centre and coffee shop for those in need in Derby. We intend to work
with the homeless, prisoners and ex-offenders, prostitutes and those in trouble,
the lonely and lost and any that thirst for the love of God. We have handed
this entirely over to God, so that it’s success will be based on His will, and
not on any ambition I might have of being a local Mother Theresa! And the
moment We put our trust in Him, all things, as the scripture tells us, started
to work together for good for those that love God. We think we have found the
right premises, got trustees, have secured some funding, and are setting up the
bank account, and all that is necessary for it to start up. If any of you would like to become involved, in
any little way, please let me know, because the workers are few at the moment!
But I know that God will provide – He always does…
All I ask at the moment is
for your prayer.
But before we do
anything for the Lord, let me remind you to drink in his living waters – come
close to him, so that he can make known his will for you and your involvement
in any service of love for Him. His supply is abundant, in fact never ending.
And he wants to share it with all.
Hallelujah!
Six statements by Bono
Jefferson Bethke - Sex, Marriage, Fairytales || Spoken Word – Lyrics