Introducing to love

This morning we were thinking of Jesus's encounter with the Samaritan women at the well, as related in chapter 4 of John's Gospel.

He spoke to her of the life-giving water that he alone could give which would lead to eternal life and said 'whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst.'

He was introducing her to a whole new dimension of life. My friend Richard Dormandy (vicar in Tulse Hill) had the same idea, I suggested, when following the vandalising of the church noticeboard, he put this banner outside his church:

Introducing people to love - the love of God who so loved the world - is what the church is for. Its what Jesus was doing around that Samaritan well. They've done it brilliantly in Tulse Hill and become a Facebook sensation in the process, and its what we are trying to do here in Bermondsey, too.