The Encounter Worship Series is a mid-week service of  “prayer and presence” taking place in conjunction with West End’s Wednesday evening dinner and programming.  Rev. Erin Racine, Pastor for Spiritual Formation, leads the service this evening, and Matthew Phelps, Minister of Music, leads the music.  The format follows the normal Encounter format with hymn, confession, scripture, and encounter.  Tonight our scripture is John 4:5-19, 25-30, 39, the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well.  Corbin Smith gives some background with his family and history with West End, then he reads the first part of the passage from John, Jesus talking about living water as the woman initially thinks he is talking about water from the well.  Corbin says when he reads scripture he continues to ask questions.  Sometimes that doesn’t do anything, but with this passage he did find some intriguing questions about the woman that could apply to us.  One lesson he sees from this is that God meets us wherever we are.  Corbin says his encounters with Jesus mimic the woman’s, that Jesus can gradually draw us in, and he gives us an example from his own experience.  He asks us to consider how God may be gently pulling us.  (NOTE: Below is a pdf of this evening’s program for viewing and/or downloading.)