Rev'd Up for Sunday
Listen along as the priests of St. Mark's, New Canaan (Peter Walsh, Elizabeth Garnsey, and John Kennedy) gear up for Sunday. Each week the preacher will lead a discussion of the scriptures of the day. Sometimes irreverent, often witty, always filled with love for our Lord: don’t miss these conversations about the questions, mysteries, and hope these three find in the Bible.
Rev'd Up for Sunday
"Woman at the Well" John 4:5-42 | Episode 248
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Thirsty? This week, Jesus offers a drink that quenches forever. Peter Walsh, Elizabeth Garnsey, and John Kennedy look at the story of the Samaritan woman at the well and discuss how Jesus satisfies our thirst, how he reaches across boundaries, and how this event mirrors some of the Bible's oldest stories.
Father Peter's Vlog 10.8.19 (Holy Land Pilgrimage Day 6):
Themes and Application
- Why do you think John places this story right after Nicodemus? What contrasts between Nicodemus and Photini stand out to you?
- What boundaries does Jesus cross in this encounter? National? Ethnic? Religious? Gender? Moral? Social? Which of these feels most radical in our current context?
- The woman becomes the first evangelist in John’s Gospel. What does her testimony teach us about how faith spreads?
Personal Reflection
- Have you ever felt like an outsider to a community, system, or church? What does Jesus’ posture toward the Samaritan woman say into that experience?
- Jesus names the truth of the woman’s life without condemnation. What would it be like to let Christ see your full story without defensiveness?
- Leonard Cohen wrote, “There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” Where are the cracks in your life through which grace might be entering?
Broader Spiritual Considerations
- In the Orthodox tradition, the Samaritan woman is known as Saint Photini (The Enlightened One). How does viewing her as a saint change the way you read the story?
- If Jesus is the true “well” from whom living water flows, what does that imply about Christian unity across divisions?
- What would it look like for communities to reflect the ever-flowing nature of living water rather than building dams of exclusion?
Learn more about St. Mark's at https://www.stmarksnewcanaan.org