This past Sunday’s Gospel reading from the Revised Common Lectionary (John 4:5-42) sits firmly in my top five stories in the Bible. Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well has it all; deep theological tangles, historical symbolism, the crossing of societally imposed boundaries, and an incredible story of conversion and evangelism.
Though not named in John’s Gospel, the Eastern Church calls the Samaritan woman Photini (the luminous one), a saint, a martyr, and equal to the apostles. She is a powerful character, and I especially love that as the disciples are busy not quite getting it, fussing over Jesus’ lunch, she’s off evangelizing an entire town.
I was also struck this weekend by the setting of this story – Jacob’s well. Wells in the ancient world were vital community infrastructures, providing water for a town or village. They were public sites where neighbors gathered and interacted on a daily basis. Many of these wells bore the weight of history and the story of ancestors. The Samaritan woman names the well that she and Jesus meet at as dug by the patriarch Jacob, the son of Isaac.
This setting had me wondering what “wells” were present in my own community. What are the public places where neighbors gather, where conversations and connections between neighbors can happen? And how are we as the church, called to gather and honor those spaces alongside our own neighbors?
In my own neighborhood in NE Minneapolis, there are a couple of places that come to mind. The Coffeeshop NE on Johnson Ave, just a few blocks from my own congregation, has been a longstanding community gathering spot, where neighbors can often be found meeting with one another, grabbing coffee and conversation before the workday begins, and working on professional and personal projects. I have spent many hours at this community well, often with another neighbor, and just as often reveling in the community connections happening all around me.
In the spring and summer, the Audubon Farmer’s Market acts as another community well, where neighbors can purchase local produce, flowers, and other tasty foods. But more than that, the market serves as a vital community connection site, where neighbors run into one another and find time to deepen relationships and confirm ties to the community.
These are just a few examples within a few blocks of my church. But, I often find that churches, rather than putting themselves in position to encounter the neighbor at the public wells in their community, devote more energy to trying to draw neighbors into the church building. I think this is a missed opportunity.
Asking our neighbors to gather on church property, especially if we haven’t done the work to make the space a true community asset, ensures that we get to set the table. We are the hosts, and our neighbors the guests. And while this can be a good and holy practice, I wonder what we miss if we fail to meet our neighbors in the places that are truly shared by the community. In fact, I would suggest that neighbors will be much more likely to come to our place if we’ve built some trust and familiarity in the communal spaces.
As churches, we can get stuck depending on our buildings to serve as the context for all our gathering, meeting, and connecting. But I want to challenge us to consider the public places where the church can gather alongside our neighbors, where we can participate in the life of the community, not as leaders or providers, but as neighbors. Yes, there will be many opportunities to connect neighbors to our buildings, and I do think that our buildings should be thought of as assets for the neighborhood. But, that will require a practice and a posture of neighboring and engagement that many of our churches could use some practice in.
Jesus didn’t chill at the local synagogue and hope that one day the Samaritan woman would wander in – especially because social and cultural barriers would have made that impossible. Instead, he met her at a place where she was familiar, at the community well. Might we follow suit, and put ourselves in position to encounter our neighbors in the places where they gather?
What are the “public wells” in your own community? Where do you see neighbors gathering, connecting, and building relationships? How has your church shown up in those spaces? How might you and your congregation be invited to show up now?
What are some opportunities for your congregation to gather at the community wells in your neighborhood? Could committees or ministry teams meet at local coffee shops, libraries, or public parks? Could you and other church members go to the local farmer’s market together to meet neighbors and learn about the community? Could you host picnics, cookouts, or block parties at the local park?
For me, I’ll be thinking about opportunities for myself and my congregation to leave the safety of our church building, and to show up in community spaces trusting that God is up to something. Like Photini, the Samaritan woman, we just may find ourselves in the presence of Christ. Amen.
Photo by Maxime Bouffard on Unsplash
I’m interested in why we choose not to have community wells. I think most people would agree we don’t have these important communal meeting places, and yet we all wanted a sink with running water in our kitchen and bathroom. Is it ease? Is it time invested?
Perhaps.
I also know that there are forces that want us to have individual resources vs. communal ones because it is more possible to monetize individual resources. And, in some cases, there are economic drivers that want us to be afraid to go to the communal well. Our neighbors might hurt us.
Fear and envy can be powerful drivers away from community. I wonder if congregations could be places to counter fear of and envy of neighbor. I wonder if the gospel message doesn’t encourage, maybe even expect, that of our faith communities.
I think I need to challenge myself to engage this more deeply. I want to be very clear in my own head that I choose my neighbors over the economic systems that separate us. But, it’s not easy alone. (Which is EXACTLY the point.)