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John's Gospel tends to be rather more theologically sophisticated than the other three Gospels. It is the last of the four Gospels to be written, and the Christian community was already well organised. So the Gospel story of Jesus's encounter with the Samaritan woman has echoes of baptism (in the water Jesus wants and the water of life he offers her), and of evangelism (in the part where the Samaritan woman tells her entire community of her meeting Jesus, and that he "told me everything I had ever done".)

I chose to forego speaking about baptism and concentrate on evangelism. I got the initial story from a sermon email I receive, but took nothing other than the story.

March 22, 2014 Third Sunday of Lent
Sermon delivered at St. John the Evangelist, 10AM.
First Reading: Exodus 17:3-7
Epistle: Romans 5:1-2,5-8;
Gospel: John 4:5-15,19-26,39-42

“Many…had believed in him on the strength of the woman’s testimony…”

In the name of God, the one, the Undivided Trinity. AMEN.

One day a lady criticized American preacher D. L. Moody for his methods of evangelism in attempting to win people to the Lord. Moody's reply to her was "I agree with you. I don't like the way I do it either. Tell me, how do you do it?" The lady replied, "I don't do it." Moody retorted, "Then I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it."

Many sermons preached this morning will have the theme of water, either the water of baptism or the water of life that Jesus promises to the Samaritan woman.

I think that an equally fruitful topic in this Gospel reading is that of evangelism.

In many circles of the Church “evangelism” and by extension “Evangelical” are somewhat shady words. “Evangelism” conjures up mental pictures of that man who used to hold up his sign and preach through a megaphone at Oxford Circus. I’m sure a lot of you encountered him while Christmas shopping. He made himself so obnoxious that he was banned by the courts from going anywhere near Oxford Street.

Or perhaps you think of the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons, who ring your doorbell and offer you their version of evangelism.

And “Evangelical” often makes me think of those who pray the “Prayers of the Just”, as in, “God, I just want to thank you for just giving me the strength to just pray this day.”

The last time I was in Hong Kong I decided not to take the ferry over to the island to attend Mass at St. John’s Cathedral. I saw a church near my hotel that advertised “Holy Communion at 10am”. When I got there, it turned out that the sign was misleading, as they were having an evangelical worship service at 10. The rather out-of-tune band played worship songs and we were encouraged to wave our hands in the air. There was no communion service. I felt very unsatisfied spiritually after that.

“Evangelism” is something that people of every churchmanship can do. Often Anglicans neglect it, assuming that being the Church by Law Established is quite enough for them. If people wish to join us in worship, we are here. We cover every square inch of the landmass of England and the Isle of Man, and your local parish church is often only a short walk away from your home.

But the church is no longer like the imaginary baseball stadium in “Field of Dreams”. “Build it and they will come” isn’t true any more in England. We cannot prepare the Lord’s Table and sit by and wait for people to arrive to share in the Eucharist. Unless we tell them that the bread of life is here for them, they will not come.

So how can we evangelise?

I think that the first step is to overcome our diffidence at being dedicated to Christ. I know that many people feel embarrassed at being Christians. After all, our society is sometimes described as being “post-religious”. When a Biblical reference or a reference to the greatest work of liturgy in the English language, the Book of Common Prayer appears in a novel, many people today do not “get” that reference. Refer to the “grapes of wrath” and people think of Steinbeck. Mention the “leaven of malice” and people are simply blank. “Jesus wept” is a mild expletive, not the shortest verse in the Bible nor a reference to the love that Christ has for his friend Lazarus.

So we have to take courage when we receive the water of life in baptism. The Samaritan woman didn’t hide her experience of Jesus. She told everyone she met about him. In one of the verses omitted in our Gospel, she says to her friends, “He told me everything I had ever done.” Probably a bit overstating the case, but still a powerful testimony for Jesus.

We should also, especially in this season of Lent but all throughout the year, manifest to everyone our commitment to the Christian message of love and hope. The Prayer for All Conditions of Mankind has: “…we beseech thee …that we show forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days.” So it is not enough simply to pray on a Sunday morning. Prayer is only useful when it shows forth in the lives we live twenty-four/seven.

So not only should we be open to telling everyone we meet about the Good News of salvation in Christ, we should make sure that we live as if we believed it. As G.K. Chesterton said, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.

Do we tell our friends and co-workers what we’re up to on Sunday morning? Do we live as though we believed the things we pray in the Eucharist?

Therefore to the One who likes the way we do evangelism, Jesus Christ, be ascribed all might, majesty, dominion, and praise both now and evermore. AMEN.