Rivers of Renewal: Our Collective Hope and Vision | Jeremiah Lepasana | "Implication #1: Personal Conversion" - John 4:1-26, 39-42

This past Sunday we continued our Rivers of Renewal series by discussing one implication of renewal: personal conversion. We started by mentioning that conversion to Christianity appears to be increasingly taboo. In 2019, the Barna Group found that 47% of millennial Christians somewhat agree that it is wrong to share one's faith with someone of a different faith with hopes that they will one day share the same faith. However, it seems as though conversion is a natural way of being in the world. Jesuit thinker Bernard Lonergan argues that we absorb and engage the world around us through four moves: 1) Attention, 2) Intelligence, 3) Judgement, and 4) Responsibility. First, we take in the world around us. Second, we discern which ideas are better than others. Third, we make a reasonable call. Fourth, we live our lives accordingly. In our present moment, it can be difficult to make a reasonable call. We are tempted to discern endlessly. Yet Chesterton writes, "Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.”We then moved into John 4, seeing how Jesus invites the Samaritan Woman at the Well through these four moves...attention (v.1-10), intelligence (v11-25), Judgment (v.26), and Responsibility (v.39-42). From this narrative we see this woman as first experiencing Jesus as stranger, before realizing he is Savior, and then responding rightly in surrender.Where are you with Jesus at present? Is there a step with him he is inviting you to take?