On March 27, 2011 the gospel lesson was John 4. It included the followingwords:
He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 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.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?”
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
As I listened to the reading, I thought to myself there is a hymn in that passage. The next day I sat down and wrote the following poem. I set it to the hymn tune RESIGNATION, a traditional American hymn tune found in Southern Harmony, published in 1835. You will need to have your sound turned on to hear the MIDI file playing in the background.
Living Water
My soul is parched, my spirit dry,
as through this vale I roam.
The way is dark and danger's nigh;
I cannot find my home.
Through pastures green you lead your flocks,
and fill their every need.
Come, rescue me from desert rocks;
I'll follow where you lead.
Oh, hungry pilgrim, take from me
the bread that I will break,
And if you thirst, come drink and see;
the wine your thirst will slake.
Take living water that I pour
from deep artesian wells.
Friend, you shall live forever more,
and I with you shall dwell.
The water that you offer me,
I'll take, and drink, and live.
You place me in your family,
and all my sins forgive.
Oh God, my soul you did renew
and I will give you praise.
I shall forever stay with you;
I'll love you all my days.
You can view the score in PDF format for the hymn by clicking here. Then simply save the file to your computer. You may print one copy for yourself. If you want to make more than one copy, please ask for permission. You must keep the copyright notice on all copies.