January 16, 2022
I’m so excited, we’re starting our new sermon series on the idea of New Beginnings! We are hitting the reset button in our life or areas in our life that aren’t going the way we want. It’s about taking time to refocus on the most important things in life and starting some new habits. I believe we can all have a great year spiritually. Today we’ll talk about a new heart, next week a new mind, then a new focus, new friends, and a new vision.
We live in an age where people are quick to judge, quick to criticize, quick to condemn, and quick to cancel anyone who offends us. We don’t just cancel public figures like politicians or athletes. Now it can be someone you know who says something you don’t like. It could be a person you work with, or a friend on social media who says something that crosses some line, so you just write them out of your life.
I called someone on the phone once. He was the nicest person. But he didn’t hear well. Apparently, he didn’t know it was me calling. He said angrily: “You people just stop calling. I’m sick of it! Don’t you have anything better to do than bother people!” I was able to call him on another day, and he knew who I was, and it was a wonderful conversation. The lesson is, even with the nicest people, you don’t want to get on their bad side! Everybody can be cynical.
It’s in us all. Think about it. All the blessings we have in our lives, the wonderful people who we are privileged are our family and friends, and there our God who created us, and who loves us unconditionally. But we can so easily lose our joy and lose our peace. Sometimes we just go through the motions of life, unhappy and not seeing the goodness that surrounds us. Sometimes we can’t seem to be able to get what we want in life.
In the gospels that tell the story of Jesus’ life: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Jesus encounters people. You would think, wow, how lucky, they saw Jesus! Just to see Jesus and be in his presence: you would see his halo, and there would be a chorus of angels going Aaaaaahhhh. And you would get goosebumps, and you would text your friend, “Hey, I just met Jesus!” It would be wonderful.
But listen to this encounter of Jesus with the woman at the well. Jesus and his followers had travelled a long way. Jesus is tired, and he comes to a well and sits down. His disciples left him and went to town to buy food. This woman comes to the well and Jesus asks, “Will you give me a drink of water?” She is the one with the bucket, so Jesus asks for her help so he can have a drink.
The woman says, you are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink? She doesn’t have goosebumps seeing Jesus. She is canceling him.
Jesus says, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” In other words, if you knew I was God, who can change your life, you wouldn’t cancel me!”
The woman criticizes Jesus, Buddy, you don’t even have a bucket! You can’t give anyone water! Jesus tells her he came to bring a spiritual water, that will be like a bubbling spring of water, welling up in her soul, and give her eternal life.
The woman is getting interested, because she does want that spark, that joy, that SOMETHING in life she has lost. Jesus tells her, go get your husband and come back. She says, “I have no husband.” You are right, Jesus says. You’ve had five husbands. And the man you’re with now is not your husband.
The woman says, “Sir, I can see you’re a prophet.” But she says, you Jews don’t worship the right way. You worship in Jerusalem, and we Samaritans worship correctly: on the mountain!
Jesus tells her it’s not WHERE you worship that is important. It’s that you worship in Spirit and truth. It’s not worship location. It’s that your Spirit is there, worshipping God. Then Jesus tells her, “I am the Messiah, the Christ!”
The woman went back to her town, excited, and told everyone, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” The woman had her spark back! She was excited about Jesus! She was so excited she told her town, and Jesus came to visit, and many believed because of her testimony.
She was no longer cynical and burnt out. She was changed. She believed in Jesus, she believed there could be goodness and life for her, a new beginning. She was excited and told her friends, who also believed. She had a new heart! If you want a new beginning, it comes from a new heart for God.
Many years ago, when I was in seminary, I was an assistant chaplain at Epworth Children’s home. It’s a place for teenagers who can’t be with family due to abuse and neglect. When the youth come to the Children’s Home, they don’t want to be there. They don’t like the rules. There’s a lot of complaining. There’s also a lot of misbehaving, some of it was eye popping! They arrive cynical. They believe life is just hard, it’s a tragedy. They have closed hearts. They don’t believe in a new beginning. They don’t believe their lives could change.
One boy who had been there several years, longer than the others. As a kid he had suffered physical abuse from his uncle. He said to me once, “These kids here don’t like this place, they complain a lot. But I like it. It’s a lot better than where I was.” After being there a while, he changed. He had a new heart, and a new outlook. It led to a new life, where he was thriving.
There were some kids there who were really challenging. But I saw some really brave kids there who started to trust and change. They started to believe in a new beginning; they had new hearts. The kids who were doing well there chose to go to chapel. If you want a new beginning, it comes from a new heart for God.
If you’re ready for joy, a spark, and living water, three qualities of a new heart for God, where God changes you: a listening heart, a prioritized heart, and a connected heart.
First, a listening heart: the woman at the well listened to Jesus. She was cynical at first, but still she listened to what Jesus said. How amazing it would be to have a conversation with Jesus like she did! Well, we’re lucky to have the Bible, and the gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We can read and we can listen to Jesus. Each day, you can listen to Jesus, he speaks in the Bible. He gives an invitation to living water bubbling up to eternal life.
Second, a prioritized heart. Sometimes we put the wrong things in life first. The woman had five husbands, then a boyfriend. She was looking for but not finding what she wanted in relationships. It’s important to know that God is the source of life and forgiveness, the one who created you, who knows you and loves you. You need to put God first. When you put God first: makes a marriage flourish. When you prioritize God and worship him in spirit and truth, and everything in life goes better.
Third, a connected heart. The woman thought connecting to God is about going to the right place: worshipping on the mountain. Connection isn’t about a temple or a mountain or any physical place. We’re connected to God through faith in Jesus.
My homework for you this week is to think of how God made you new! That’s your faith story. Think of the moment you had in life where God made your heart new, just like he did with the Samaritan woman.
My faith story is my family took me to church and Sunday school when I was young. I heard about God, and I tried out faith. When I was seven years old, I would pray to God and bring my requests to Him. And my prayers were answered! Not always the way I expected, but one way or another, God was answering, I knew God loved me! I believed.
This week, think of your faith story, how God made you new! I would love to hear your faith story!
We can be cynical, skeptical, and feel like cancelling people. But Jesus showed up for the Samaritan woman and had a conversation. She came to believe! Her heart had been walked all over. She wasn’t going to listen to a Jewish man. But she listened and God made her heart new! If you want a new beginning, it comes from a new heart for God. This year can be the year you hope it will be. It can be a year of life change. It starts with a heart that listens to, prioritizes, and stays connected to God.
Next week we’re talking about how reading the Bible results in a renewed mind. I hope you’ll join us!
Maureen Duffy-Guy's blog 