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Come and worship!
0719JMCCOY

Come, let’s worship and bow down! Let’s kneel before the Lord, our maker! He is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep in his hands. If only you would listen to his voice right now!
—Psalm 95:6-7 (Common English Bible)

Outside the Church in Samaria, church bells ring through the air letting all know that it is time for worship. They ring loudly as if to say, “Christ is risen! Come and worship!” And people come all the city, bringing their families and their gifts of thanksgiving to the Lord as if the Lord’s Day were a special day for them. Worship is not something that people in Samaria take for granted. Certainly, with all the conflict in that area of the world, open worship of God is not something that is taken lightly.

Inside the Church, people gather, praying and singing, as visitors file through respectfully, making their way to the well. All who come, come to the well of Samaria for the water that is there and for the living water of Christ. Groups gather around the outer part of the sanctuary, reading and retelling the story of the woman at Samaria: “Come and see a man who told me everything.” As people come to hear, to see, and to worship God, I wonder what it must have been like on that afternoon in Samaria. Did they ring the church bells? Did they call to one and all to come and hear this man? Even though we are not told her name, the woman from Samaria still calls to one and all in the sound of the bells, “Come and see a man who told me everything!”

How often in our own towns do we hear the story of this same man, Jesus, who brought hope and healing to the woman of Samaria? May God grant us boldness and excitement of that woman from Samaria to shout, “Come and worship! Come and worship!”

Prayer: God of Hope, you brought hope to the woman of Samaria through Jesus’ words and healing. Bring hope and healing into our world today. Amen.

Rev. Jan McCoy is the Associate Pastor of Covington First United Methodist Church in downtown Covington. She may be reached at jan.mccoy@ngumc.net or at www.covingtonfirst.org.