SCRIPTURE, HYMNS, PRAYERS, AND SERMON FOR SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2020

 

Opening Hymn: ELW #648, Glories of Your Name are Spoken

Scripture:

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All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

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Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
    and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
    and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
    and they have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
    “They shall not enter my rest.”

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Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

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So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people,“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

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Hymn of the Day: LBW #356, O Jesus, Joy of Loving Hearts

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Let us lift our hearts and voices to the Lord in prayer, that he would be merciful to his people.

Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus, your living water given to quench our deepest thirst. Sometimes we don’t realize how thirsty we are. Sometimes what we drink makes us even thirstier. Thank you that Jesus provides exactly what we need most – your goodness, love, forgiveness, and life – in the most spiritually digestible form: Himself.

Lord, in your mercy, please hear our prayer.

Make your Church a place where your living water flows. In it, quench the thirst, heal the hearts, and cleanse the souls of people perishing from the powers of sin, evil and death. Inspire all pastors, deacons, theologians and teachers to share your holy Word so that many may hear, and come to believe, that your Son is the Savior of the world.

Lord, in your mercy, please hear our prayer.

We pray on behalf of our sisters and brothers who, in remaining faithful to you, have endured suffering we cannot comprehend. Fulfill in them the Apostle’s words: that suffering produces endurance; endurance produces character; character produces hope; and hope does not put them to shame, because God’s love has been poured into their hearts through the Holy Spirit.

Lord, in your mercy, please hear our prayer.

Jesus said the fields are ripe for the harvest. Therefore we pray: send, guide, and strengthen missionaries to preach the Good News. We also ask that you make each of us disciples “on a mission with you” to eagerly share the Living Water with thirsty souls in our communities.

Lord, in your mercy, please hear our prayer.

Have mercy on this congregation, dear Lord; do not let it become a place of grumbling or quarreling, but rather a place to worship you in spirit and in truth; to care for one another with gentle hearts; and to share the living water of your Son with everyone we know or meet.

Lord, in your mercy, please hear our prayer.

Thank you for the people and organizations that make clean drinking water available throughout the world. Thank you: for water pumps and purification units; for sanitation and irrigation instruction; for desalinization and chlorination; and for the simple joys of a glass of cold water or a hot shower. Grant that all who benefit from the pure and refreshing waters of this life may also be drawn to the Living Water of eternal life, Jesus Christ your Son.

Lord, in your mercy, please hear our prayer.

Have mercy on our nation, its elected and appointed leaders, its people, and the people of every land. Although we are all ungodly and rebellious, save us, we pray, from our folly. Give us hearts and minds that delight in your law, and wills set to obey it. Remove from us, and from every nation, the spirit of discord and strife; and crown us with the blessing of your peace.

Lord, in your mercy, please hear our prayer.

Refresh and heal with your Living Water everyone troubled by pain, grief, despair, fear, guilt or confusion. Especially we pray for: {List}. Give them renewed strength; deep peace; unshakable hope; and abiding faith in your gracious compassion. Give strength and compassion to all caregivers, especially in these times of uncertainty and fear. Help us to support one another through all the turmoil; and bring us safely to a place of peace and health.

Lord, in your mercy, please hear our prayer.

With reverence and affection, we entrust our beloved dead into your unfailing care, dear Father. Wipe away the tears of those whose grief runs deep. Refresh us with your Word and Sacraments as we pass through the dark valleys and desert places of this life. Help us to encourage one another; to rejoice even though suffering; to honor and cultivate good character; to live in hope; and to lean on your never-failing promises. Speed the day when, in Spirit and in truth, the whole company of the redeemed will worship you, and acclaim your beloved Son as the Savior of the world, our Lord and our God.

Lord, in your mercy, please hear our prayer.

Into your hands, gracious Father, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your mercy; for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Closing Hymn: LBW #197, O Living Bread from Heaven (ELW #542)

*Written and shared by Pastor Cathy Amlung for the Third Sunday in Lent 2020.

 

 

Additional Resources:

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The Contemporary Worship Team has multiple play lists using the free service Spotify, please click here for additional music: Contemporary Worship.

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For some of our Adventure Club Families, we have several play lists available on Youtube.  We know that some of the exact “actions” or “hand-motions” don’t match up, or a word or phrase might be different in a song, but if it’s helpful to have access to some of the kids’ most-loved songs, please click here and scroll to the very bottom of the page where “Music” is listed: Adventure Club Music.

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During this season, offering can be mailed to the church at: 3220 Columbus Street, Grove City, Ohio 43123.  Additionally, contributions can also be made online, by visiting our Giving Page.

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