Sitting with a friend for coffee, talking over dinner with a spouse, conversing with a son or daughter, encountering a stranger, all can become places of holy conversation, of divine meeting.
I say "can" because they do not usually turn out that way. We usually settle for a casual remark or two. A verbal volley about the latest weather forecast. A catching up the latest Idol cast off. A rousing recap of Sunday's sporting event.
Maybe we are afraid of the presumed danger or risk if we open up and enter in too far, reveal too much of ourselves. Or maybe we are unwilling to make space for the other, thinking they are too different than us or we are too different than them. All these things get in the way of a life open and free to be and receive from other people...and God.
Tomorrow's lesson is found in John 4, the holy conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. The meeting between them crosses borders and boundaries of gender, ethnicity, religion, and class. In the wonderful almost chaotic exchange of free flowing banter between them, both persons true selves are encountered in their humanity and glory. As they stay present to each other, the Truth opens between them, deepening and expanding, revealing more and more.
I believe this holy interchange, demonstrated in this passage, is paramount for the church to understand and live. If not "us" then "who"? Unfortunately we box ourselves in or others in and say sometimes a lazy, sometimes a tired, sometimes an unwilling, sometimes a defiant "NO" I will not, I can not, do not make me, go "there," be with "them."
That is why Jesus comes to us and shows us the way. He confronts us with his own life of boundary and border crossing, of descending to ascend, of loving and forgiving even onto death. That is why we need him desperately to change us today and continue to change us until our own death.
That is why every once in a while we need a conversation of grace with a person that is different than ourselves, that confronts our presumptions, our prejudices, our narrow ways of thinking, and opens up the possibility of unlocking another ancient door within our souls. If we have eyes to see, Jesus comes to us in that moment. Something very sacred occurs. Another story of border and boundary crossing happens. Living water is poured out. Invisible bread is tasted.
The community of Jesus, the church, I believe, is the place to grow in our opening to the other. In the safety of common commitment to following Jesus, we can choose to be learners, continuing to deepen in our own self knowledge and our call to Gospel life.
