Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.

————————–

Dear Friends:

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)” (Jn 4:9).

The problem is presented. This is not a story about the quaint founding of a tourist site in the Holy Land. It isn’t reserved for seminar discussions in cross-cultural theology. It is a real story about human needs and the murky doubts that plague our humanity. It is a story of the healing that happens when grace in the person of Jesus Christ confronts the broken-hearted ache of a soul lost in sin. We cannot jump right to the healing. First, we must face the disease and it isn’t pretty.

Graphic labels of race and history, religion and gender have been inscribed in flesh and blood long ago. He is a Jew. She is a Samaritan and a woman. Fear and prejudice mix to glue the labels tight.

“(Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)” The parentheses in the text give a picture of John putting his hand over his mouth and turning his head to the side for the knowing whisper about bigotry.

Children share their toys and sweets until they attain the shrewdness of experience to understand the harsh concept of loss. This shrewdness is not to be confused with maturity. True maturity is something different. The mature have attained a deeper faith that believes and commits to a truth beyond experience and behave accordingly. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: A Word of Grace, Christianity, Devotional, Kent Hansen

Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.

————————–

Dear Friends:

So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph (Jn 4:5).

Historical landmarks fascinate me. Why people came to a place and what they did there helps us to remember that we are not alone and that we are later chapters of a story that began long ago. I used to beg my dad to stop whenever I spotted a California State Historic Landmark along the road during family trips.

There is a tremendous power for good in memory. Remembering where one has come from and what was encountered on the way is a key element in mental health. Without a connection to our past we have no sense of growth, no reason to hope for the future. Grace and mercy bless in what they help us to overcome.

Memory is the key to gratitude. “These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God” (Ps 40:4-5).

The walk into Sychar would bring bittersweet memories to Jesus’ mind. The ancient name of this place was Shechem, which means “shoulder” referring to the rounded hills leading up to Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. Here, under the great and sacred oak Moreh, the Lord appeared to Abraham and told him, “To your offspring I will give this land.”  Abraham built an altar to the Lord there in reverence of this encounter (Gen 12:6-7).

Jacob bought a field there and erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel, “the God of Israel” (Gen 33:18-20). After the shameful massacre of the Amorites by his sons, Jacob apparently took more land when he came under attack by the local inhabitants. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: A Word of Grace, Christianity, Devotional, Kent Hansen