{"id":3184,"date":"2020-03-15T16:45:49","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T05:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=3184"},"modified":"2020-03-15T16:45:49","modified_gmt":"2020-03-15T05:45:49","slug":"year-a-sermonjohn-4-5-42-15-03-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=3184","title":{"rendered":"Year A Sermon:John 4 : 5-42   15-03-2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Year A Sermon: John 4: 5-42.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>How many of you know that feeling, when you are waiting for an operation or a procedure to be performed, and you have to fast: no food or water for at least 8 hours?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>You didn\u2019t feel thirsty until you were told you were not to drink!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Oh, for that cup of tea!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>OR<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>You are in a car, on a long country road trip.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>You, or your travelling companion, says \u201cWhen we next see a shop or a petrol station, we will stop and get a drink.\u201d THEN it seems like forever until you spy that petrol station!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Heat.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Thirst.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>In 1908 Dorothea MacKellar wrote the poem, \u2018My Country\u2019.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Portions of two of its<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>stanzas:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><i>I love a sunburnt country,<br \/>\nA land of sweeping plains,<br \/>\nOf ragged mountain ranges,<br \/>\nOf droughts and flooding rains.<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><i>Core of my heart, my country!<br \/>\nHer pitiless blue sky,<br \/>\nWhen, sick at heart, around us<br \/>\nWe see the cattle die<br \/>\nBut then the grey clouds gather,<br \/>\nAnd we can bless again<br \/>\nThe drumming of an army,<br \/>\nThe steady soaking rain.<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>We are lucky here, even in Australia.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Most of us do not know what it is to be deprived of water.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Droughts remind us never to take the gift of water for granted.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Be grateful.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>We see land, plants and stock suffering, but In Australia humans don\u2019t die of thirst. We also have clean water-we are not going to catch a life-threatening disease from our drinking water.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>When people started buying bottled water I remember thinking, \u201cThis isn\u2019t a third world country, our water is safe to drink.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u2018Living water\u2019 is like gold.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The world is a thirsty place-and the wrong kind of water can be dangerous:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>1 out of every 5 deaths of children under 5 is due to a water-related disease.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>783 million people do not have access to safe water (1 in 9 people)<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related diseases.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Half of the world\u2019s hospital beds are filled with people suffering from a water related disease.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Water is the starting point for Jesus\u2019 conversation about salvation with the Samaritan woman who came to the well and discovered more than ordinary water.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Indeed, three of our four lectionary readings deal with the theme of water.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Samaria.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Let\u2019s get the map out in our heads.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In the time of Jesus, there were three definite divisions of territory: in the extreme north, there was Galilee, in the south, Judea, and in between there was Samaria.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Relations were tense between the Samaritans and the Jews.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The Samaritans were a Jewish sect.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Unlike the Jews of the south, their ancestors had not been taken into exile into Babylon.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Samaritans worshipped on Mt Gerizim instead in Jerusalem and they believe that they preserved the original traditions of Moses.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The major issue between Jews and Samaritans was the location of the Chosen Place to worship God: for the Jews, it was on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, for the Samaritans, it was on Mt Gerizim.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Indeed, in the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch (there are many differences between it and the one used in Judaism)-there is a uniquely Samaritan commandment to construct an altar on Mt Gerizim.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Even the name \u2018Samaritan\u2019 is divisive: it means Keeper\/Guardian [of the religious texts]. There are about 500 -600 descendants (practicing Samaritans) today, mainly living around the area of the town of Nablus, which is at the foot of Mt Gerizim.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Samaria now constitutes the majority of the territory known as the West Bank.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Jesus arrives at Sychar and sits at Jacob\u2019s well.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>This ground is part of Jewish memory.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>This land had been bought by Jacob (Gen 33: 18,19).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Jacob, on his deathbed, bequeathed the ground to Joseph.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>After Joseph died in Egypt, his body was taken back to Palestine, and buried there (Joshua 24:32).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Memories.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>John provides us with a rare glimpse of Jesus\u2019 physical well being.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He is tired and thirsty from travel.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The disciples have gone to the village to buy food.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>We are not sure why they have all left Jesus-we are not told.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Then the woman arrives, at the well, by herself. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Midday.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Hottest, or near hottest, part of the day.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>The well was an area where the women caught up with each other.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>A bit like Melbourne\u2019s inner city cafes.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The best time to do this would be either early morning or late afternoon.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>She came at midday-in order to avoid the other women.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>She had a reputation-five husbands, and living with another man-she would be the cause of much gossip.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>So social rejection, being on the outer, would explain her lonely midday walk to the well.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>From the outer-to the inner<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>From thirst-to being quenched.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Jesus\u2019 request for a drink is met with an insult: \u201cHow is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u201cJew\u201d was not used here in a complementary manner.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>This is about racial relations.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>The laws of ritual purity would not have allowed Jesus to drink from a Samaritan\u2019s drinking vessel.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Let\u2019s do into deeper water.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>This is more than a story about getting a drink!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Jesus moves to a deeper topic, moving from racial boundaries to theology.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus speaks of \u2018the gift of water\u2019 and \u2018living water.\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>She is unsettled.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>She now addresses him in a more deferential manner, using the title \u201cSir\u201d\u2019.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Jesus looks into her heart\u2026and names her circumstances.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>He pours living, gushing water into her thirsty, dried up being.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>She drops her water jar and rushes off wondering about him: \u201cCould this be the Messiah?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>This woman, with the big reputation, becomes the first evangelist in the Gospel of John.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>(repeat)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>She repeats the words Jesus uttered to his first 2 disciples, back in John 1: 39: \u201cCome and see.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>She tells her village to \u201ccome and see\u201d this man at the well.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u201cCome and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>(not sure if that would be an invitation we would take up?)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>The Samaritans encounter Jesus because of this woman, a woman on the edge, thirsting for human company, for deep relationships, for new life\u2026they come, because of her testimony.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>She leaves when the disciples return.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>They are surprised, unsettled and a little angry.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus has broken a societal taboo-talking with a woman in public-and this woman is foreign, a Samaritan whom Jews have problems with.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>BUT no one dares to ask:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cWhy were you speaking with her?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>The well.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The site of the Samaritan woman\u2019s acceptance\u2026and homecoming-back to God, and back to her village.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>She could have kept this news to herself\u2026but she chose to share it\u2026indeed\u2026the living water was gushing over\u2026how could she contain it for her own use?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>The village came to Jesus: racial divisions, and old hostilities were drowned.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Gossip and slander were drowned.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Thirsty spirits were drenched.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Souls delighted in this divine water.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>This water, this living, embodied baptism-Jesus-invites us in for a dip.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Perhaps we need to get wet\u2026really wet!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Maybe we need to DIVE IN!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>In my first sermon, I preached about our Lenten journey.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>From today\u2019s Bible reading, we can take away 3 questions to ponder over the coming week.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>What encounters have you had that have led to friendships, or given you a different view of something?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Would this meeting be classed as a gift from God?<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Jesus offers us \u2018living water\u2019.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Have there been times in your life when you have felt dry?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Perhaps a spiritual drought?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Have you felt the refreshing presence of Christ during these arid times?<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Finally, this story is also about acceptance, or reconciliation.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>How can each of us break down divisions and barriers to allow acceptance of all God\u2019s creatures?<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Dorothea\u2019s poem, also contains this verse:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><i>Core of my heart, my country!<br \/>\nLand of the rainbow gold,<br \/>\nFor flood and fire and famine<br \/>\nShe pays us back threefold.<br \/>\nOver the thirsty paddocks,<br \/>\nWatch, after many days,<br \/>\nThe filmy veil of greenness<br \/>\nThat thickens as we gaze &#8230;<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>The gift of water\u2026from dusty, dry drought\u2026to the wetness of new green growth, the colour of hope.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>May you fill your cup, your life, with the gift of life giving water this Lent, and always,<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Prayer by Ken Gire [see book]<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Amen.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Leighmoor UC, 15.3.20<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Rev Barbara Allen<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Year A Sermon: John 4: 5-42. How many of you know that feeling, when you are waiting for an operation or a procedure to be performed, and you have to fast: no food or water for at least 8 hours? You didn\u2019t feel thirsty until you were told you were not to drink!\u00a0 Oh, for that cup of tea! OR You are in a car, on a long country road trip.\u00a0 You, or your travelling companion, says \u201cWhen we next see a shop or a petrol station, we will stop and get a drink.\u201d THEN it seems like forever until you spy that petrol station! Heat.\u00a0 Thirst. In 1908 Dorothea MacKellar wrote the poem, \u2018My Country\u2019.\u00a0 Portions of two of its\u00a0 stanzas: I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains. Core of my heart, my country! Her pitiless blue sky, When, sick at heart, around us We see the cattle die But then the grey clouds gather, And we can bless again The drumming of an army, The steady soaking rain. We are lucky here, even in Australia.\u00a0 Most of us do not know what it is to be deprived of water.\u00a0 Droughts remind us never to take the gift of water for granted.\u00a0 Be grateful.\u00a0 We see land, plants and stock suffering, but In Australia humans don\u2019t die of thirst. We also have clean water-we are not going to catch a life-threatening disease from our drinking water.\u00a0 When people started buying bottled water I remember thinking, \u201cThis isn\u2019t a third world country, our water is safe to drink.\u201d \u2018Living water\u2019 is like gold.\u00a0 The world is a thirsty place-and the wrong kind of water can be dangerous: 1 out of every 5 deaths of children under 5 is due to a water-related disease. 783 million people do not have access to safe water (1 in 9 people) 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related diseases. Half of the world\u2019s hospital beds are filled with people suffering from a water related disease.\u00a0 Water is the starting point for Jesus\u2019 conversation about salvation with the Samaritan woman who came to the well and discovered more than ordinary water. Indeed, three of our four lectionary readings deal with the theme of water. Samaria. Let\u2019s get the map out in our heads.\u00a0 In the time of Jesus, there were three definite divisions of territory: in the extreme north, there was Galilee, in the south, Judea, and in between there was Samaria.\u00a0 Relations were tense between the Samaritans and the Jews.\u00a0 The Samaritans were a Jewish sect.\u00a0 Unlike the Jews of the south, their ancestors had not been taken into exile into Babylon.\u00a0 Samaritans worshipped on Mt Gerizim instead in Jerusalem and they believe that they preserved the original traditions of Moses.\u00a0 The major issue between Jews and Samaritans was the location of the Chosen Place to worship God: for the Jews, it was on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, for the Samaritans, it was on Mt Gerizim.\u00a0 Indeed, in the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch (there are many differences between it and the one used in Judaism)-there is a uniquely Samaritan commandment to construct an altar on Mt Gerizim.\u00a0 Even the name \u2018Samaritan\u2019 is divisive: it means Keeper\/Guardian [of the religious texts]. There are about 500 -600 descendants (practicing Samaritans) today, mainly living around the area of the town of Nablus, which is at the foot of Mt Gerizim.\u00a0 Samaria now constitutes the majority of the territory known as the West Bank. Jesus arrives at Sychar and sits at Jacob\u2019s well.\u00a0 This ground is part of Jewish memory.\u00a0 This land had been bought by Jacob (Gen 33: 18,19). Jacob, on his deathbed, bequeathed the ground to Joseph.\u00a0 After Joseph died in Egypt, his body was taken back to Palestine, and buried there (Joshua 24:32). Memories. John provides us with a rare glimpse of Jesus\u2019 physical well being.\u00a0 He is tired and thirsty from travel.\u00a0 The disciples have gone to the village to buy food.\u00a0 We are not sure why they have all left Jesus-we are not told.\u00a0 Then the woman arrives, at the well, by herself. \u00a0 Midday.\u00a0 Hottest, or near hottest, part of the day. The well was an area where the women caught up with each other.\u00a0 A bit like Melbourne\u2019s inner city cafes.\u00a0 The best time to do this would be either early morning or late afternoon. She came at midday-in order to avoid the other women. She had a reputation-five husbands, and living with another man-she would be the cause of much gossip.\u00a0 So social rejection, being on the outer, would explain her lonely midday walk to the well. From the outer-to the inner From thirst-to being quenched. Jesus\u2019 request for a drink is met with an insult: \u201cHow is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan?\u201d \u201cJew\u201d was not used here in a complementary manner. This is about racial relations. The laws of ritual purity would not have allowed Jesus to drink from a Samaritan\u2019s drinking vessel. Let\u2019s do into deeper water.\u00a0 This is more than a story about getting a drink! Jesus moves to a deeper topic, moving from racial boundaries to theology.\u00a0 Jesus speaks of \u2018the gift of water\u2019 and \u2018living water.\u2019 She is unsettled.\u00a0 She now addresses him in a more deferential manner, using the title \u201cSir\u201d\u2019. Jesus looks into her heart\u2026and names her circumstances. He pours living, gushing water into her thirsty, dried up being. She drops her water jar and rushes off wondering about him: \u201cCould this be the Messiah?\u201d This woman, with the big reputation, becomes the first evangelist in the Gospel of John. (repeat) She repeats the words Jesus uttered to his first 2 disciples, back in John 1: 39: \u201cCome and see.\u201d She tells her village to \u201ccome and see\u201d this man at the well. \u201cCome and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!\u201d (not<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Leighmoor.Master","author_link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/author\/leighmoor-master"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?cat=24\" rel=\"category\">Sermons<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Year A Sermon: John 4: 5-42. How many of you know that feeling, when you are waiting for an operation or a procedure to be performed, and you have to fast: no food or water for at least 8 hours? You didn\u2019t feel thirsty until you were told you were not to drink!\u00a0 Oh, for&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3185,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3184\/revisions\/3185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}