You can find the script for this message here. This account of the Samaritan woman at the well was first preached in 2014, a few months after I began an appointment as First UMC’s pastor. Three years later, this text fit quite well in the Unbinding Your Heart sermon series. On March 15, 2020, this was the last message preached in an “in person” worship service before First UMC moved all worship and activities online due to the COVID pandemic. I changed appointments in June, 2020, before in-person worship resumed. 

Sometimes, a first-person story gets to the heart of the matter more effectively than a description of events. Sometimes, talking about the Word doesn’t mean as much as simply speaking the Word from inside the story. So on this fourth Sunday of Lent in 2017 (third Sunday of Lent in Year A, if you follow the lectionary cycle), I put on a scarf and told the story of the Woman at the Well from her perspective. UPDATE: In 2022, Willmar United Methodist Church had also been reading Unbinding Your Heart together, and it was time to hear from Photine (that’s what Orthodox Christians call her) once more. Here’s the video.

As you meet Christ at your own personal well, may you recognize what the people from Sychar recognized: Jesus is the Savior of the world. That means he is the Savior of you.  Believe this Good News!