Origin: Chapel Service. Carey College, Wednesday 15 May, 2002
Theme:
To use slides of art based on the woman at the well story to reflect on what Jesus knows about me and what he wants from me in response to his loving acceptance of me as I am.
Mood:
Setup:
Large screen at far end, 1 slide projector, screen end pond and waterfall with communion elements arranged around outside edge. Water purifier. Pile of glasses. Sand tray and candles. Low lighting. TV’s running white? Ambient lighting? (Use inhouse dimmers)
Gear:
Bread, Bricks x 80, Black boxes/storage boxes x 5, Water falls, Projector, 2 reading lamps, Extension cord, Junction box, Fabrics, Water purifier or jugs, Glass bowl, White stones, Sandtrays x 3, Sand, Slides: welcome + art + bread etc, CDs — Moby: Everything Is Wrong, Apollo FourForty, Eric Bibb., Roadworks Sheet screen and wire hooks and rope/nylon, Tools, Communion bread, plate, Torch, PA, CD player, Glass jugs x 2, Sound system, Glasses x 80, Handouts.
Running Order:
- Prelude:
:VIDS: white wash
:TRACK: Moby, ex Everything Is Wrong. Track #1, 12
:SCREEN:Welcome…
Punters given brick, and handout as they arrive.
Light candles
2. Intro and Welcome. Explanation of background and service.
Toilets, Images, brief service, communion., movement, leaving…
: VIDS:continued
:TRACK:continued
:SCREEN: Image 1: Duccio (title etc)
Link: As you look at the images, you might like to think about what the artist has chosen to paint
What is included? excluded?
What moment in the story has the painting frozen, why did the artist choose this moment?
What does the artist want the viewer to know about this incident?
Duccio: woman, bowl etc so scene is at start of story, yet also disciples returning ie end of story. Liminal moment before woman realises that she too will become a disciple.
3. Read Scripture: John 4: Dialogue.
:VIDS: continued
:TRACK: continued :
:SCREEN: continued
4. Image 2 : Lavinia Fontana (title etc)
: VIDS:continued
: TRACK:ambient track
: SCREEN:Image 2
Fontana: Figures in foreground, almost obscuring the well. Jesus = weary, unenthusiastic. Woman = bursting out of the painting. Concentrating. Her gaudy coloured clothes and loose hair suggest her scandalous past. Sensual, sexy image.
5. Reflection/Meditation: (see attached)
: VIDS:continued
:TRACK: ambient track
:SCREEN: Image 3:Moretto
6. Ritual: Bricks for Water: becomes communion.
: VIDS:continued
:TRACK: # 1 ‘For You’, Eric Bibb ex Roadworks, (stop before last 30 seconds) (5.28)
7. Communion: Words of institution
Bread and Water
Candle prayers
- Close out SLIDE: Who will you tell about what Jesus has done for you? Leave when you wish to.
#5: Reflection/Meditation:
This is a remarkable story. Who is this woman?
According to the cultural and religious rules of his day Jesus shouldn’t have been talking to this woman.
The woman that medieval writers gave the name Photina. I wonder what Photina looked like?
How old she was? What she was wearing this afternoon? How was her hair done?
Was she wearing any makeup? What she had been doing earlier that morning, the night before?…
First of all a good Jew wouldn’t talk in public to a woman he didn’t know, and a woman alone at that; then he shouldn’t have been talking to a Samaritan.
They were despised by the Jews as being inferior and not very nice (To put it mildly). Then he asked her if he could drink from her water container. A real no no. Using utensils and bowls that weren’t ritually clean.
And all this from a supposed religious leader . A teacher. A Rabbi. This is no ordinary encounter. No wonder the disciples were surprised when they saw what was going on.
Close your eyes and reflect on the story…(read modified ex John L Bell States of Bliss and Yearning, page 102-104. Glasgow: Wild Goose Publications. 1998)
(These statements after Bell reading…)
*What does Jesus know about you that no one else does, or that most people don’t?
*How does Jesus treat you?
*If Jesus was to meet you this afternoon, what would he say to you?
*What would you want to say to him?
#6: Ritual: #7: Communion:
The brick represents the part of your past or present that has caught up with you; that you want to leave with Jesus and move on. I invite you to carry it forward and place at the edge of the well. Then choose a glass (that seems to fit you), fill it with water, and take bread with it to eat.
Let what Jesus is offering you overwhelm what you are leaving behind.
Accept being accepted.
Find new life in the mystery of an encounter with the living Christ.
(Words of institution)
On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus was eating a meal with his followers in the upper room. He took the bread off the table and said, this is my body, given for you. Eat it and remember. And later on he took what they were drinking and said, This is my blood, spilled for you. It represents the new covenant, the new relationship, made possible between you and God because of what I will do. Drink it and remember.
Eat and drink of the life of Christ and be accepted.
Candles are available to light as symbols of your prayers, for yourself, for others.
Please feel free to eat and drink and to light candles whenever you wish.
[This is the end of the formal part of our service, you may leave or stay as you wish…
Who will you tell about what Jesus has done for you? ]
Notes from another service using the slides and some of the concepts in the above service… Curated by Paul Fromont, Cambridge NZ.
Divide the room in half – sheets across the middle. Left side – opening sequence. Right side – communion. White sheet on the right hand wall (to project onto). Blue sheet across the end of the worship space. Cushions on the floor. A few chairs around the edge. Quiet space. Entry and reflection
Matthew 11 (‘The Message’) OHP (its brightness reduced by being covered with a couple of layers of blue cellophane) projected onto the wall as people enter. Silence.
- Opening reflection / activity – stones / bowl of water on a table.
We all hold on tightly to things – things which prevent us from growing and changing; from experiencing true freedom; things which damage us – our awareness of how God truly sees us; things which damage our relationship with God and others; things which stifle creativity. What are some of those “things” for you? A fear of exploring and thinking outside of the ‘box’; dysfunctional relationships; a lack of deep honesty; damaging images of God; the past – past hurts and past failures; unreconciled differences and conflict; anger; fear; an unwillingness to trust others; a need for, and to be in control; past actions for which there is no easy answer; unforgiveness; the need for power…
Think about anything that may be weighing on your mind; something you’re feeling upset about; words which shouldn’t have been spoken; feelings of distance between you and God; perhaps between you and others; feelings of hurt – whatever…Imagine all that you’re feeling, regretting, or hurting from, held within the stone.
As we listen to this prayer of confession, let us listen to the wind of the Spirit, blowing through our lives
Confession – taken from the CD Eucharist: Proost (UK) – confession (Track 5, ‘Kyrie’). CD also accompanies the US published book The Book of Uncommon Prayer by Steven L. Case
Choose a stone (piled up beside a clear glass bowl of water). Hold the stone tightly and quietly give those things to God.
Hold the stone over the bowl of water – the “well” if you like.
In your own time let the stone go.
Watch those things fall away.
Imagine them falling into God’s hands, into God’s care.
The things you give him are washed, immersed in God’s love and mercy. Forgiven. Forgotten. Behold, a new beginning.
How do you feel? Reflect a while. Tell God how you feel.
- In their own time people move through the dividing sheets, parted in the middle, and into the other half of the room. Several candles lit. White sheets pinned to each wall (to change the feel of the room, and for projection purposes)
- Scripture reading – the woman at the well / John 4:1-42. A dramatic reading. Roles taken by participants.
- Silence – Music: CD — Moby: ‘God moving over the face of the waters’ Track 8 ex I Like to Score (looped) — Project first slide image – Christ and the Samaritan (Duccio. 1308-11).
- Communion Reflection – woman at the well – project the other two slide images.
What place represents the “well” for you – the place in which you encounter Jesus?
What might Jesus tell you about your life…what might that life sound like from his perspective?
What does your life look like to others…? Do your family and friends recognize the authenticity of your spirituality? Has your encounter with Jesus flowed over into a distinctive way of living?
- Communion – An Emmaus ‘Consecration’.
In our story about Jesus – a woman’s eyes were opened; those in the village had their eyes opened. In another Jesus-story, Jesus was walking anonymously on a dusty road with two of his disillusioned and grieving followers as they returned home to Emmaus. As he was about to leave them, they asked him to stay and share a meal with them:
As Jesus took and broke bread, “their eyes were opened…” – In the midst of the ordinariness of a meal shared – bread, and water – in the ‘to-ing’ and ‘fro-ing’ of conversation; in the extending of hospitality; in the welcoming of a stranger, “their eyes were opened”. They were surprised, like the woman at the well, by the one person they hadn’t been looking for; hadn’t been expecting to see. As we share bread and water might our eyes be opened anew to the seeing of Jesus in all of life – in the everyday, and the ordinary.
- Communion – Music: Moby: Track 14 – Everloving ex Play; Radiohead: Track 9 — ‘Hunting Bears’ ex amnesiac, (looped). Video loop: Water and Life from Images for Worship 3 produced by OSBD in association with The Open Book, Bible Society (in the background, on a TV, played with the sound turned down.)
Communion borrowed an idea from Mark Pierson. A large variety of glasses – all shapes and sizes, colours etc. had been placed on a low table, with jugs of cold water. There were beer handles, shot glasses, a Thomas the Tank Engine cup, that kind of thing. People chose a glass that best connected with them, and instead of wine, they poured water in keeping with our “well” theme. People liked being able to choose a glass, and it was interesting listening to some of their reasons.
- Sent Out into the World prayer. Open-ended silence. People were able to stay or leave at the end of the prayer.
“Jesus, as you send us out into your world, may we have a renewed sense of the pain of others lives; may we be more courageous and willing to enter into the pain, and to partnering you in the making whole of lives. Might we have a new sense of those who thirst for that which brings hope and meaning.
May we be touched sufficiently by the deep love of Jesus that we might learn to love, with more than words, the unlovable; those who are different from us; those who are marginalised, vulnerable, and trodden underfoot.
Might our worship of you, like water, flow outwards, into all of your creation.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Amen
A meditation from Tess Ward (UK), written in response to the woman at the well.
WOMAN AT THE WELL: John 4: 5-42
I was a little afraid, when I thought about coming to talk to you this
morning. You see I am a woman and a Samaritan and I have spent most of my
life learning to be afraid of how that makes me different. But then when I
thought that what I was going to tell you about was the time I first met
Jesus, I wasn’t so afraid because I know you’ve met him too. And I want to
tell you how he completely changed my life.
I live in Shechem in Samaria and was making my daily route to Jacob’s well,
one day to fetch some water. I normally go in the morning with the others
but that day I’d been busy and went at mid-day. And anyway the other women
won’t always walk near me. Some days I just feel that I can’t be bothered
to face their judgment of me. As I approached I saw a man sitting by the
well, on his own. As I got nearer, I could see he was Jewish and I was
hesitant because Jewish men and Samaritan women would never associate. O
well, they don’t, I thought so he’ll get up and walk away. The only
question was whether he was going to hurl abuse at me as he went. So I
continued because I thought blow me, this is my village and I’m just going
about my business and I’m not going to change my day just for this
stranger. So I tried not to show my fear and carried on. It became
obvious he wasn’t going anywhere.
He wasn’t conventionally beautiful. He had an interesting face which was
nice to look at but his eyes……were the most stirring I have ever seen.
I wanted to look into them for years. Their depth never ended. But I was
afraid of them too, for the same reason. I was frightened of him looking
at me, frightened of what he could see. I wanted to not look at him but
every time I looked up he was there looking into me, quite still in my
presence.
I could see he was weary and he made no moves to go but instead he asked me
for a drink. I was completely shocked because he would not have been
allowed to drink from the same vessel as me and I told him so. I said “how
can you ask me, a Samaritan woman for a drink when you are a Jew?” He
then said something very strange. He said, “if only you knew what God is
offering you and who it is that is asking for a drink. If you knew, you
would be asking for a drink and he would give you living water.” Well, I
didn’t know what he was talking about so I said to him, “Look, this well’s
very deep and you haven’t even got a bucket. Do you think you’re better
than our father Jacob who gave us this well in the first place and drank
from it himself with his sons and cattle?”
He didn’t answer my question. He just kept talking about the water. He
said “Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again but anyone who
drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again.” He
described this water like, once you’ve drunk it, it’s like this spring
inside, welling up into eternal life. I didn’t really understand what he
meant to be honest with you but it certainly sounded nicer than still well
water. I thought it would be great to not have to keep coming to the well
every day but I started to get the feeling he wasn’t just talking about
water. I was drawn to him as a person and how he was saying, without
entirely understanding what he was saying. He had……authenticity and I
wanted it. It spoke to me without me understanding the words. You may be
wondering why I wasn’t suspicious — I wonder the same now that I am telling
you but…… A man has never spoken to me like that before. The men I
know always want things from me and he was offering something so I said
“Yes”. I said, “Sir, give me some of that water, so that I may never go
thirsty and never have to come here again to draw water.”
Jesus then asked me to go and call my husband and to come back. I blushed.
Those eyes again. I could not meet them. How could I have got so carried
away? Just because he was prepared to talk to me as a woman and as a
Samaritan, the outward things about me, it was another thing again to say
he would accept me under the skin, who I am and everything that’s happened
in my life. I knew of course that he would not offer me this water if he
knew who I really was. I just said, “I have no husband”. I decided to
just draw a line under this encounter once and for all, collect my water
and go home. I will never forget what he said next. He said, “You are
right to say that because although you have had 5, the man you are with
now is not your husband”.
I was amazed. I stared at him and said, “I see you are a prophet sir”. I
could not believe that this stranger could see into my heart and tell me
these things about my life. It was so real and so true that I couldn’t
question it. It just was and it drew me in. I realized that God was here
without religion. This man was a prophet and as he was, I thought right,
you want to talk about God, let’s talk about God. I asked him why his
people thought people should go and worship in Jerusalem when my people had
always worshipped on the mountain where we were. He said salvation came
from the Jews and they knew what they worshipped but we did not. I didn’t
have time to get cross with him for being arrogant because then he said,
that anyway, the time was coming when it didn’t matter where people
worshipped — in fact it was already here, because God is Spirit and the
Father wanted us to worship in spirit and truth. Spirit and truth. Was
that like what had just happened to me? That God’s presence flowed so
truly that it must have been there all along flowing through everything
I’ve ever done or said. ALL that I am??? I still didn’t grasp everything
he said but I shared my faith with him. I said I know that Christ is
coming and when he does, he will tell us everything. I didn’t see the
connection so clearly at the time that that was precisely what Jesus had
just done to me. He had told me everything. He said, “I who am speaking
to you, I am he”.
I was stunned and I believed him. I had never encountered anyone like him
in my life before. He knew all this about me and still he wanted to know
me, to drink from my cup, to talk about God with me. He accepted who I
was. Then his friends came up and gave me the disapproving looks I’m more
accustomed to but didn’t say anything. They clearly thought it was odd
that Jesus was talking to a woman and a Samaritan. But I didn’t care. I
had to go and tell others what had happened. I dropped my water jar. The
water didn’t seem so important just then and ran off to tell everyone in my
town. I said “Come and see a man who has told me everything I ever did. I
wonder if he is the Christ?” Many came and many believed and he stayed
with us for 2 days.
That was the last time I saw him before they killed him. I still can’t
believe that they would do that. When I heard, I cried for weeks. I tried
to recall his face and especially his eyes, but I could not. He was seen
again but I have not seen him in that kind of way since. I can see him now
though, and I can see his face and I can see his eyes. It has changed how
I think of prayer. Every day I sit in his presence. Some days it is still
hard to accept what he offered me that day, even though it changed my life
and even though I have to tell people about him like I’m talking to you
now. Even on the hard days though, when I look at him, I always see him
looking back at me with eyes that know and accept me, I see his gaze of
love.
I wonder whether for the first time, I am starting to understand a bit more
what he was talking about when I met him at the well. I met a woman who
had been in the crowd when they crucified him. I was desperate to know
what happened and I begged her for every detail of the story even though I
was holding back the tears as she told it. And do you know what she said?
She told me that when he hung there on the cross, with such pain in those
eyes he said “I am thirsty”. I could not believe it. That the very thing
he had said as he was dying and in such pain was the first thing he had
ever said to me. I realize that when I allow him to look at me, when he
quenches my thirst with a love that is deeper than anything else in my
life, that changed my life and other people’s lives, I don’t think I
really understand that he could be thirsty even though he asked me for a
drink. But I sense now that his thirst is far greater even than mine and I
remember again the second thing he ever said to me, “If only you knew what
it is that God is offering you.”