John 4: 13 -14
Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’
I have been thinking a lot about wells over the last few months and some of you may have heard me speak about this. I have been struck about the ways in which wells are part of the bible story and what happens at them. Three initial thoughts:
Wells can be reopened:
In Genesis 26 we read of Isaac reopening the wells that Abraham had dug, but which had since been stopped up by the Philistines. Isaac gives them again the names that his father had given them and builds an altar.
As we look across the diocese I wonder how we bring to life the wells that were dug even centuries ago. The city of Peterborough exists because of a monastery – its roots are not just deeply Christian, but also missional as the new community sought to share the good news of Jesus with the pagan population. I wonder if God is calling us to reopen wells, to reawaken the spiritual depth of those who have gone before us
Wells are places of provision:
Both in Isaiah and in Revelation we have images of water flowing from a source or from a well, bringing life to both the people and the landscape that come close. These images are pictures of hope of all that God is doing and will continue to do for his people. He is a God of provision and transformation - deserts change as the water flows through them. I wonder if we need to reconnect with the God of provision and notice what he is doing, believing in all his promises
Wells are places of encounter:
I began with a passage from John 4 where Jesus and a Samaritan woman meet at a well. There is much in this chapter – a realisation that Jesus will break social boundaries to share his love, debates about theology and worship, practical response to a man who is thirsty and needs a drink of water. And at the heart a story of a woman who encounters Christ and through him receives love and acceptance with a new future – she runs back and tells everyone to ‘come and see the man who knows everything about me’ – she becomes an evangelist with a story to tell, and brings other to Jesus. I wonder how we can raise our expectations of encounters with the living Christ who longs to turn lives round.
Today we are gathered to think about areas of our diocesan life – our finances, our governance, an update on how we can talk well together about things we don’t find easy. This can feel quite business focused and certainly not connected to the images I have just shared. But everything we do today is for the sake of the Kingdom here in Peterborough Diocese. The work we are doing is to strengthen our foundations, to ensure the skeleton that allows our body to function well is complete, so that we can build the ministries that God is calling us to. Another bible story to think about is the one about the wise and foolish man – we know we need to build on rock and not on sand!
We are here as the children of God who have experienced the well of salvation, who know the living water that Jesus offers. And our deep longing is that others might come to the well to know that for themselves. Our task is to help people find their way to the well that is Jesus. This is the task to which God calls the church. As one writer says:
It is not the Church of God that has a mission in the world, but the God of mission who has a Church in the world.’ (Tim Dearborn)
So our vision – for all to come to the well, for all to be refreshed, for all to join the flow of living water bringing God’s kingdom here on earth as in heaven.
And our strategy – that is working out what we need in order to do this well:
- Equipping and supporting our people
- Using our resources well, ensuring they are in the correct places
- Making sure we make good decisions in the right places, based on the right information – that is really what good governance looks like
- Talking together about how we live as brothers and sisters in Christ, valuing one another and listening well
The work of Diocesan Synod is vital, not as a means to itself, but as the structure on which our ministries can flourish. I rarely wake up excited about finance strategies or Terms of Reference, but I am excited when I know that through them the work of the kingdom can be released. Being part of this synod should be one of the most exciting things we do and we should have people queuing up to join!! This is spiritual work and Jesus meets us here as we seek his will.
So, thank you for being here and playing your part in this crucial work. Take your role seriously and pray – not just when you receive an agenda or sit in this meeting – pray that God will speak to us and that we will know his will. And above know that what we do is the work of the Kingdom.
Amen