This week we held two memorial services in our chapel.
Relatives and friends attended the second one. Inadvertently - as we are usually very aware of the privilege of ministering to persons of all faiths and of none, I asked one of the attendees if he would like to read the Scripture passage. He said he would be delighted, and only later, I discovered he was a Muslim.
When I approached him to apologise, he reiterated that he was honoured to have been asked!
Today’s gospel, ‘Jesus talks to a Samaritan woman’ (John 4: 7-26), is similar to last Friday’s story here at Mildmay. Jesus accepted this Samaritan woman; then she came to accept Him.
Similarly, our Muslim friend was willing to cross any barriers to demonstrate unity with us when he attended his friend’s remembrance service. How beautiful is that!?
Through conversation with the Samaritan woman, we see Jesus reveal Himself. May we all have an opportunity during this Lenten week to take a risk and reveal something of ourselves to another, thus enabling the other to do the same to us. Who knows what the interaction might mean to someone feeling lost, lonely and confused?
Sister Bernie
Mildmay chaplain
Image: Icon of Saint Photini. The Samaritan woman meets Jesus at the Jacob's well near Sychar. Agia Fotini Church in Pachia Ammos, Lasithi, Crete