Scripture: John 4:4-28.
Refreshment Ideas
Set up a water station using clear glass pitchers filled with different kinds of infused water. The following link has the ingredients for eight infused waters: https://www.culinaryhill.com/8-infused-water-recipes/. Serve a fruit tray or place fruit in scooped–out watermelons, along with a dip. Scatter an assortment of saltwater taffy on the tables as a treat. For other food ideas, check www.pinterest.com. Search on Water-themed party food.”
Decorations
Use white or blue tablecloths, coordinating with the flowers and greenery used. Some flowers could be floated in small fish–bowls. Check the dollar stores or craft stores for the centerpiece items needed. For other ideas, look on Pinterest.
Service Ideas
Check for upcoming community events—a marathon run or a 4th of July parade or picnic. Pass out water bottles to the participants and those watching the event. This is an excellent opportunity to serve something crucial during one of the hottest months of the year.
Other opportunities could be at a farmer’s market or to the homeless at a nearby park. Your kindness in providing a bottle of water shows them we are acting as Christ’s hands and feet. Use the distribution as an ice breaker to start a conversation. Invite them to a special event at the corps or to the Sunday worship service. Affix a sticker to the bottle identifying that it is from The Salvation Army and giving the times and location of the Sunday service. You could also add: “You are loved by the One who is the living water!”
Life-Giving Water
Water is something that quenches our thirst like nothing else. It sustains life and yet can be used to wash things, making them clean. It comes in multiple forms: vapor, liquid and solid. Water is so simple, readily available in America, and yet complex. It is often taken for granted yet is essential for all inhabitants of our planet.
John 4:4–28 records the account of a Samaritan woman who comes to a well during the heat of the day to draw water. She is a familiar figure in the town, but not for the positive aspects of her life. She probably comes during the heat of the day to avoid the stories whispered about her actions of being with more than one man. Expecting to be alone, she is surprised to find a Jewish man sitting beside the well. He asks her for a drink of water. She is shocked that He spoke to her and responded: “’ You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’ (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)” (verse 9). Jesus is well aware of these practices but continues the conversation by responding, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water” (verse 10).
Still not understand what Jesus was saying, she answers, “’ Sir,’” the woman said, “’ you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?’” (verse 11). The conversation continues as Jesus patiently replies: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life (verse 13).” Clarity starts to creep up on her face, and though still not fully understanding what Jesus means, she replies, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water” (verse 16).
Jesus already knows all about the woman but still asks her to go and get her husband. She replies that she does not have a husband. Jesus responds, “The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true” (verse 18). I can imagine that the woman stares at Him for a moment, awestruck. Jesus knows all about her. Possibly trying to turn the conversation away from herself, she responds by saying that she can see that He is a prophet, but that there are different beliefs between the Jews and the Samaritans, specifically where to worship (verses 19, 20).
Jesus gently states that someday people will neither be worshipping on a mountain nor in Jerusalem. He goes on to say in verse 23, “The true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in the truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is Spirit and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” Still not fully understanding the woman responds that she understands that the Messiah will come and explain everything. Jesus softly declares “I, the one speaking to you—I am He.”
As the realization that this man, Jesus, is the Messiah, she goes to share what she has seen and heard. “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?’ They came out of the town and made their way toward Him” (verses 28, 29). Gone is her fear of being seen. She goes into the town and tells what has happened to her, and those whom she witnesses came to see Jesus for themselves.
Have you had a large soda or juice drink but still felt thirsty? Nothing can quench our thirst like water, H20. Often when we are spiritually thirsty, we try to fill our lives with things – alcohol, food, clothes, entertainment. But they just don’t satisfy. We are left thirsting for more, trying to fill the emptiness. We need to go to Jesus for the living water that He freely offers to all who ask. When you do, you will never thirst again. Have you accepted His gift?
