In the first two weeks of Lent, we have gone from the wilderness to the mountaintop. With all this wandering, we heightened our awareness of our basic needs: food, shelter, and water. We contemplated Jesus finding his way through the temptation that comes with hunger, anger, loneliness, and literal and metaphorical thirst. We ascended the mountain, put our heads in the clouds, and come down with a new perspective.

In the story we explore in this service, we witness someone thirsting for more. We never learn her name, though through her story we relate to her pain, isolation, and loneliness. She doesn’t like her circumstances and knows there is more to life than the daily grind of going to the well for water in the heat of the day and listening to others whisper behind her back. By chance, she encounters Jesus, who offers her a new perspective on life. She needs only to drink the water he is offering. In this water, he promises to quench her thirst with a promise of love and grace. And it is a water we can have to this day. I don’t know about you, but I Need a Drink - of this water!