To be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known.

This is really good stuff. It's a dramatic interpretation of the "Woman at the Well" from John 4:1-30. Click on the 'click here to preview' and watch it for free.

I was talking with someone Sunday who said that we no longer have a need for community. I had never thought of it that way before, but it's true. We fill up on 'activities' instead. Think about how much time we spend at them. Both adults and kids. We go from one thing to the next, and what we're typically doing is paying someone to provide a service to us. Karate, Basketball, Knitting, whatever. We're paying for a service. We aren't having conversation or experiencing relationships that involve authenticity or vulnerability because we don't have to. We go from activity to activity, day after day, week after week, year after year, and it's all about us: what we get. We hide our true selves, and live without a genuine relationship to be found.

Contrast that with this woman. She wants to be loved. And she knows that to do that, she has to be known. She has to be known! Otherwise, she cannot be loved. You can't have one without the other. Now, here's the really scary thing that she points out: despite our best efforts to hide, God knows you already. Hate to be the one to break it to you, but it's true. God knows you already. And God loves you. The real you. Not the one you bring to Starbucks or the one you show online. The real you. God knows the real you, and God loves you.

And if you're good enough for God, why worry about what anybody else thinks?

It's scary being vulnerable, but we are vulnerable to God. We like to pretend we aren't, but we are. Instead of fighting that vulnerability, do what she does and embrace it. Knowing we are loved by God frees us to be authentically known by other people, and so to be authentically loved by them. It's freeing.

So skip the activities. Instead, be known. And be loved.