Can you see? Of course, we have eyes we can see. Yet, really can we see? At any moment in our lives, we might look around and feel overwhelmed by all the pressures, our lack, fears, and desires. The world can feel incredibly complicated, but could that be because we aren't actually looking, because we are letting so much get in the way of the simple and life-changing truths. 

As we continue to heed the invitation "Come and See", we focus on our ability to see. We might have come to Jesus or followed him, but we still need to actually perceive what he is doing. This Sunday we look at Jesus healing the man born blind and in it we will see why so often we are blind and how Jesus wants to open our eyes and see. 

This week we continue to see how encounters with Jesus Christ make a difference as a woman comes face to face with her death and the sin and brokenness that lead her to it. We all know that we have gone wrong, but unlike this adulterous woman, rarely do we have to come face to face with the fullness of its consequences. God in his grace saves us again and again.

This encounter with Jesus lives out God's gracious will. As this woman confronts her brokenness, Jesus challenges everyone to look at their brokenness. Jesus doesn't avoid the wrong, he makes us look at it and shows us a new way. Go and Sin no more. It is an act of forgiveness, an opportunity and a promise we may not understand. Could we truly be righteous after everything that has gone wrong?

Can you imagine meeting Jesus for the first time without having any idea about him? Yet, somehow, in that very first meeting he speaks so truthfully into your life and experience that your heart begins to stir within you. Can you imagine that first feeling of the Spirit welling up in you like a gush of living water? A water that can’t be contained and must be shared.

Join us this Sunday as we explore the story of the Samaritan woman at the well and how meeting Jesus changed her life for ever.

On another note: Like many of you, I don't remember my baptism. I don't remember a time when Jesus wasn't in my life. Because of this it can be easy to miss the difference Jesus makes. It is just as easy to ignore the intensity of what Jesus calls us into. We are not just called to be better people, we are called to be reborn into a heavenly people.

This Sunday we look at Jesus' encounter with Nicodemus and how he directs this learned Jewish teacher to the need for all of us to be reborn not of the flesh, but of water and the Spirit. We can only be reborn and made new through the work of the Spirit and Jesus. Join me on Sunday as we look at where this renewal comes from and how it is achieved in us.