Downtown in Dialogue

I was invited to the table yesterday for a meeting between St. John's and First Presbyterian Church as the two try to work out a plan for a joint Lenten series. The main part of the partnership will be a Wednesday night lecture and small group discussion on four readings from the Gospel of John that we will hear during Lent.
In looking at the stories (Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman at the well, the blind man given his sight on the Sabbath, and the raising of Lazarus), I saw something that I hadn't been aware of before. Each of these stories is a complex dialogue as God (Jesus) tries to engage us in relationship. And the dialogue is different than in the synoptic gospels where we get Jesus teaching in parables. Sometimes there are a lot of words; sometimes very little is said. In each one, there is a shift in understanding... even if it is just one person coming to a new realization at the end of the conversation. Each one involves a type of dialogue that makes one member of the party a little uncomfortable at first as they struggle to comprehend what's going on. Again, we get this same thing in the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. But it's not as personal. And we don't hear the phrase that would have been familiar to the Israelites, "I am".
I don't know if I'll make it to this class, which is being co-taught by our priest-in-charge and the pastor of First Presbyterian. However the topic intrigues me. And it will be interesting to hear interpretations of these stories in the Cranmer vs. Calvin context and what kind of dialogue we have between these two downtown churches.