Worship in Spirit and in Zoom

Last updated on: July 20, 2020 at 6:00 am by James F. McGrath

Worship in Spirit and in Zoom 2020-07-20T06:00:08-04:00 James F. McGrath

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

My Sunday school class returned to the Gospel of John as part of our discussion of women in the Gospels, looking at the story about the Samaritan woman in John 4. One Sunday we spent clarifying what is likely the case when it comes to her life story, the “everything she ever did” that Jesus showed awareness of. Among other things it was observed how trips to the well were the ancient equivalent of “meeting by the water cooler.” I suggested we call the ancient version “meeting by the cooler water.”

The following Sunday I wanted to return to the story to make sure we dug into the theological content. While in the preceding chapter Nicodemus showed himself to not be up to the conversation with Jesus, the Samaritan woman holds her own. So much so that in the conversation, a lot of expressions and terms come up that it is easy for a modern reader to gloss over, especially if they are familiar with them from use in churches. What do phrases like “living water” and “worship in Spirit and in truth” really signify?

I found my thoughts turning to a book in the Jewish scriptures that I think may have had a profound influence on John the Baptist, whose influence on Jesus is in turn seen here. Worship in Spirit and in truth is not a purely inward matter that closes eyes and ignores surroundings and other people. It is worship that reflects the fact that God as Spirit, as emphasized in the preceding chapter, moves wherever God wills, not being able to be tied to places, peoples, territories, or nations. That is the point of the opening of Ezekiel, in which God’s presence via the celestial ark of the covenant, with wheels that can move without turning in any direction, can be with the exiles in Babylonia, and anywhere else. The vision that concludes the book may be of a celestial rather than earthly temple, from which waters flow that can bring healing and forgiveness everywhere. That may have influenced John’s baptism in living water with its origins up above. That too is a symbol of divine unpredictability. Anyone who has seen video of a wadi in the Holy Land suddenly filling with flowing water may appreciate the point, and how flowing water seemed to be as unpredictable as Spirit/wind, as any living thing might be.

That divine unpredictability was at work as Jesus found his view of salvation as “of the Jews” challenged and expanded as he saw God at work in a Samaritan woman with profound theological insight to share.

It was the intersection of my work on John the Baptist, and my work on the story of the Samaritan woman, that inspired me to write the song I shared here a while back after I made it the conclusion to a sermon about John 4, “Come Where The Healing Waters Flow”:

Come Where The Healing Waters Flow

Before we ended, I was struck by the fact that Zoom was connecting us as the Sunday school met in ways that might be considered a fitting symbol of the way the Spirit and shared faith connect Christians even when separated. This video of Eric Whitacre’s “Sing Gently” conveys that point beautifully. Renowned New Testament scholar Adele Reinhartz is among the singers!

Previous Post

July 19, 2020

Vale Decem, Keep Your Faith: Choral Music of Doctor Who

Next Post

July 21, 2020 The 72 and the 144,000

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Peter 1 Samuel 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians 2 Kings 2 Peter 2 Samuel 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy academia Acts of the Apostles afterlife Akhaten Alcatraz American Academy of Religion Amos Anglican Arabic Aramaic archaeology art artificial intelligence astronomy atheism atonement Babylon 5 Baptists Battlestar Galactica Bible Biblical Studies Carnival biblioblogging Black Mirror Blade Runner Book of Job book review Buddhism Call for Papers China Christianity Christmas Christology Chronicles Coptic creation Daniel Deuteronomy Doctor Who Dune Easter Ecclesiastes economics education Eldad Keynan Enoch Seminar Ephesians eschatology Esther Evangelicals evolution Exodus Expanse Ezekiel Ezra fantasy Fringe fundamentalism Galatians games Ge'ez genealogy Genesis Gnosticism Gospel of Jesus' Wife Gospel of John Gospel of Judas Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Gospel of Peter Gospel of Thomas Greek Harry Potter Hebrew Hebrews Hinduism historical Jesus history Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Holidays horror Hosea humor incarnation India inerrancy information literacy inspirational Intelligent Design Ireland Isaiah Islam Israel Italy James Jeremiah John the Baptist Jonah Joshua Judaism Jude Judges Judith Lamentations languages Latin Leviticus libraries literature Lord of the Rings LOST Mandaeans Mandaic memes Methodism Micah monotheism morality Mormons movies music mythicism NASSCAL Nehemiah new perspective New Testament news Numbers Orthodox paganism panentheism pantheism Patheos Paul and his letters Pentecostals Philippians Philippians 2:6-11 philosophy physics Planet of the Apes podcast politics Progressive Christianity Protestantism Proverbs Psalms pseudoscience racism religion Revelation Roman Catholicism Romania Romans Ruth scams science science fiction Secret Gospel of Mark Society of Biblical Literature Song of Songs Star Trek Star Wars Stargate Swahili Syriac Taoism technology Terminator The Handmaid's Tale The Hobbit The Matrix theodicy theology theory Timeless Titus tomb Torchwood travel TRON Uncategorized United Kingdom Westworld X-Files young-earth creationism Zechariah

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 February 2007 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz