I was married in a garden where birds accompanied the violinist.

People around the world, desiring an unforgettable setting, have been married while skydiving, on beaches, in the mountains, on islands, under water, in caves, and in many other places.

Sometimes the venue is so exotic that it becomes a distraction, taking precedence over the ceremony.

The woman in this Bible story knew how powerful distractions can be. She tried to use this knowledge to her advantage in her conversation with Jesus.

Her people of Samaria had a proud heritage of worshiping on a certain mountain. Their enemies, the Jews, worshiped in the temple in Jerusalem. In her conversation with Jesus, a Jew, she wanted to divert His attention from the difficult-to-swallow things He was telling her about her life. So she threw out a distractor to create distance between them: we worship here but you worship there!

But Jesus masterfully used her out-of-context comment to present the truth she needed to hear: the focus of worship is not the place but the event, and, as in a wedding, the event is union with the one we love. A church building is important so people can gather together in a special place, but the focus is meeting God.