 |
| Image by Jerryw387 |
†
A GREETING
Let all who take refuge in you be glad and rejoice forever.
(Psalm 5:11 TIB)
A READING
When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard he was attracting and baptizing more disciples than John — though it was really not Jesus baptizing, but his disciples — he left Judea and returned to Galilee. This meant that he had to pass through Samaria. He stopped at Sychar, a town in Samaria, near the tract of land Jacob had given to his son Joseph, and Jacob’s Well was there. Jesus, weary from the journey, came and sat by the well. It was around noon.
(John 4:1-6 TIB)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
You do see; you see every trouble, every cause for grief;
you ponder it and take it into your hand. The helpless commit themselves to you.
(Psalm 10:14 TIB)
A PRAYER
O Jesus, lift my heart up above the worries of little things,
for they, like grains of dust, have great power. They can stop noble
desires and deaden the most ardent hearts. Let me be small and
humble; let me be always seeking only Your glory. Every little
breath I take, I do so by Your grace only. You hold my very life in
Your hands. How could I then lack trust in You? Inflame my heart
with your love, the source of all virtue, especially of trust.
- by Catherine de Hueck Doherty,
found in The Flowering of the Soul: a book of prayers by women
ed. by Lucinda Vardey
VERSE OF THE DAY
Jesus replied,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.
But those who drink the water I give them will never be thirsty;
no, the water I give will become fountains within them,
springing up to provide eternal life.”
(John 4:13-14 TIB)
†
 |
| Baldhead Lake, Fee Spur, Ontario. Wabakimi Provincial Park. Image by SC |
In our journey of the waterways, a series of portages between lakes and rivers takes a traveler from the western edge of Lake Superior into the bush of Northwestern Ontario in a passage known as The Path of the Paddle. The path is part of the Trans Canada Trail, and one of its hardest sections, where in order to travel when the water is not frozen, the trail must be negotiated at the height of bug season. Portaging is not for the faint of heart: each portage means traveling twice - once to move the canoe, and another time to move the gear.
The Path of the Paddle was first charted by Indigenous people as the Anishinaabe Trail, before it became a major route for Europeans interested in the fur trade. What began as an equitable partnership among these settlers and Indigenous people became distorted by increasingly unfair exchange, and the onset of disease contracted from the Europeans. The Trans Canada Trail has worked with Indigenous communities to restore some of the original route in good faith and in the hope of re-establishing what once was.
Today's reading sets the scene for the encounter that Jesus has with a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well in Samaria. Although the story itself is more interesting than this introduction, it is worth pausing to notice one of the few times that Scripture describes Jesus as being 'weary.' The amount of walking that he does in his ministry, although not uncommon in his time, is taking its toll. On this particular journey, he has been walking from Judea (or Jerusalem) to the Galilee, about 150 km. It's also complicated: given the tensions between the Judean Jewish community and Samaria, many others would have gone the long way round. But for Jesus, it is important to go through.
Jesus walks through Samaria to get to the Galilee: he wants to meet and know the people there. He takes a moment to rest and in so doing starts one of the longest continuous recorded conversations he has in all of the gospels. His conversation partner is a woman who has had her own hard path, and who comes at the hottest time of day to get her water so as to avoid gossip and judgement. In doing so, she has an encoutner that changes her life.
When have you been tempted to avoid something hard only to realize that it is what is best? What are the portages we make of heavy lifting in our lives, that sometimes bring us to a greater peace of mind and wellbeing?
* * * * * * * *
A STORY OF PORTAGING
The journey made by this couple in 2015 through the 1200 km Path of the Paddle portion of the Trans Canada Trail was a test of the trail's fitness for others. There are two parts to the story: this video here is Part 1 and the second one is linked here. As they tell us, the trail involves 120 portages and took them 58 days. What gives us the courage and determination to do something that intensely challenges us?
* * * * * * * *
Resources in today's devotion:
Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.
Ali Matthews is an award-winning Ontario-based singer-songwriter. Find out more about her here.
For more on the history of Indigenous fur trade and canoe travel, go here.
To learn more about the Trans Canada Trail, go here.
Catherine De Hueck Doherty was a Russian-Canadian spiritual writer and justice advocate who established a spiritual community in Combermere, Ontario. You can find out more about her here.
†
LC† Streams of Living Justice is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!