World Day of Prayer, March 7, 2014, St. John's Dunsford

Just the mention of Egypt brings many images to mind, the magnificent pyramids, one of the seven wonders of the world, the Nile River which has brought water and life to this country of many deserts, and more recently hundreds of thousands of ordinary people camped out in Tahrir square in Cairo demanding democracy and the ouster of a corrupt dictator who had ruled for three decades.

Egypt is a land that fascinates us, but also makes us uneasy, because of the civil strife which currently makes life difficult for all Egyptians, and especially the Christian minority.

It is wrong to see Egypt’s current strife as a battle between religious factions. Most Muslims want to live in harmony with Christians that have deep roots in Egypt going back to the time of the early church.

Some extremists and terrorists have used the banner of Islam to attack Christians and their churches. But that does not make this a religious conflict.

Our Gospel story of the woman at the well has lessons for us in how to address relationships between people of different cultural and religious backgrounds.

Jesus surprises the Samaritan women at the well by treating her with respect, and even talking to her at all. Jews were enemies of the Samaritans. At that time an observant Jew might walk twice the distance to get to his destination rather than cross through Samaritan land.

Such was the enmity built up through many hundreds of years. The Samaritans believed most of the same things as the Jews, following the one true God, but they did not believe in Temple worship, with Jerusalem at its centre. Instead they insisted the prime place of worship should be Mount Gerazim, where they believed Abraham had offered his son Isaac to God.

It’s important that this story of Jesus encountering the Samaritan woman occurs at a well. Water is literally the difference between life and death in this part of the world, and Jesus tries patiently to use this analogy of water as life, to explain what God offers us, through Jesus, as the living water.

Jesus disarms the woman by his knowledge of her past. She realizes her encounter with the divine and goes to share the good news.

So we see Jesus overcoming divisions of ethnic and religious background, with respect, and a willingness to share himself, as the “living water” God offers us.

In Egypt today many Christians carry on with their faith in spite of persecution, violence and even death. The living water that Jesus offers help them as they continue to live out their faith in the most difficult of circumstances.

The revolution of two years ago has not brought freedom and peace, but civil strife. We must pray with these Christian woman of Egypt for peace, justice and safety amidst the uncertainly of this time.