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This week’s Faith Lens reflection for Lent explores how Scripture challenges our assumptions about what we think we see. Drawing on 1 Samuel 16 and John 9, the study reminds us that while people often judge by outward appearances, God looks at the heart. Through discussion questions, activities, and reflection, participants are invited to consider where spiritual blindness may shape our views of others and how Christ can reshape our vision.

The reflection also invites readers to think about how we remember public figures—such as the late Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.—and how easily complex lives are reduced to headlines or quick judgments. Faith Lens encourages individuals and groups to seek deeper understanding, seeing others and themselves through the grace and mercy of God.

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In this week’s Faith Lens reflection, Liz Dinkins explores John 4:5–42, where Jesus crosses deep social and cultural barriers to speak with the Samaritan woman at the well. Their conversation moves from physical thirst to spiritual belonging, revealing a powerful truth: in Christ, we are fully known and still welcomed. Rather than condemning the woman’s complicated story, Jesus offers “living water” and invites her into deeper relationship.

The encounter transforms her from someone arriving alone at the well into the first person in John’s Gospel to share the good news with her community. This reflection invites readers to consider how Christ’s grace creates space for honesty, belonging, and witness—and how we might make room at the well in our own lives for others who are seeking belonging.

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In this week’s Faith Lens, we revisit John 3:1–17 and Jesus’ late-night conversation with Nicodemus. What does it mean to be “born from above”? Not a moral restart or spiritual achievement—but an identity rooted in God’s Spirit and grounded in grace. Before we believe, before we prove anything, God already loves the whole world—and sends Christ not to condemn, but to save.

This reflection invites us to release the pressure to prove ourselves and instead live from an identity already claimed in love. With reflection questions, a breath prayer practice, and a closing prayer, this resource offers a timely word of freedom and courage for our congregations and ministries.

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