3rd Sunday in Lent A

Mar. 12

Scripture (from the Revised Common Lectionary, with links provided by TextWeek.com – a source for thoughtful worship and preaching throughout the year). Click on Scripture Lessons below for study links and resources:

Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42

Suggested Hymns from Chalice Hymnal

5-O for a thousand tongues

595-Be thou my vision

351-Fill my cup, Lord

393-One Bread, one Body

464-God of grace and God of glory

On Romans 5:1-11

In our helpless hour, O God,

Christ did die, entire for us.

We were sure ungodly then,

the day when we were lifted.

Now justified by Christ’s blood,

we look unto salvation.

Once foes of God, we freshen,

as reconciled in God’s love.

Our peace with God through Jesus

admits our standing in grace,

the abundant gift from God,

our hope to share in glory.

In suffering we endure,

gain character, hence sure hope

with nary disappointment.

For we are fed on God’s love.

7.7.7.7.

Suggested tune: Song 13

Dealing with the Psalm of the Day:

Since Chalice Hymnal does not provide a complete Psalter, there will be occasions when suggestions may be made for alternate Psalm use (or hymn equivalent). A metrical version of the Psalter, for those Psalms not provided in Chalice Hymnal, is being prepared by Rev. David Chafin. Where practical, these may be offered here as well. You may also want to visit http://lectionarypsalms.org/

This week: Psalm 95 in part is on p. 747

Concerning the Following Items: Except where otherwise noted, items are created or adapted by the editor. If you are aware of source notations which are missing, please bring them to his attention. No copyright infringement is intended, but is sure to happen.

Call to Worship

L: The God of all creation makes us one in the flesh.

P: Let us join hearts and voices in praise.

L: In Jesus Christ, we are made one in the Spirit.

P: Let us be united in truth through the same one Spirit.

L: We practice our faith in many different ways.

P: Yet we confess one Lord Jesus Christ.

L: We render different forms of ministry.

P: Yet our calling is one because Christ is undivided.

L: Rejoice, people of God: Christ is among us, calling us together at his one Table.

P: Praise the Lord!

L: When all seems lost, Lord, and we are afraid to begin again,

P: Forgive us, we pray, and inspire our hearts with hope.

L: When all our problems seem insurmountable,

P: Give us courage to carry on our daily living in faith.

L: When we think only of self and seek only our own good, without concern for others,

P: Help us to see that our strength is in our unity, and that only in working together in your name can we hope to see your reign of peace among us.

L: Our Lenten journey continues. Often the road has been stony and hard. Sometimes we have stumbled and even fallen.

P: But God has been our friend and our guide. We have no cause to be alarmed. God is faithful to us, even when we are faithless.

L: Today we rejoice in God’s faithful love, and together ask for strength and signs of hope and life.

P: And again we are drawn together to celebrate the life that is ours in Christ Jesus. Thanks be to God!

OR from ministrymatters.com

L: We come to the well of fear and doubt.
P: We have drawn deeply of those waters.
L: We come to the well of anger and hate.
P: These waters flourish in all the land.
L: Lord, bring us to the water of peace and hope.
P: Lord, bring us to the well of salvation. Amen.

OR from ministrymatters.com

L: Jesus bids us welcome. He brings peace and forgiveness.
P: Yet we dwell in the midst of doubt and fear.
L: Jesus bids us welcome. He brings hope and healing.
P: But we persist in our ways of stubbornness and greed.
L: Jesus, come among us once more and bring us your word of Peace.
P: Open our hearts, our spirits, our souls to receive your healing Word. Amen.

OR adapted from ministrymatters.com

L: Come and see a never-ending stream of water gushing from a rock.

P: Come and see the One who knows us through and through.

L: Come and see hope alive, right here, right now. Come and see, then give God thanks and praise.

P: We come to worship the God of life and love.

Invocation or Prayer of Approach

O God all powerful, true and incomparable, present in all things, yet limited by none, untouched by place, unaged by time, unhurried by the years, undeceived by words, not subject to birth, nor in need of protection; you are above all change, you are by nature immutable, living in light that none can approach, invisible, yet you make yourself known to me and you are found by all who seek you with their whole heart; you are the God of Israel and of all who hope in Christ. You are our God and we adore you. (who taught us to pray, “Our Father…”)

God whose very nature is wholeness and life, we give you thanks that in this holy assembly today you have called together people from different places, of many gifts, and with a multitude of ways of serving and loving. Make us one, Lord, even as you and your Christ are one, as we hear his clarion call to gather in the one body to feast on the word and receive from your hand the blessed gifts of bread and cup. Make us ready, Lord – ready to listen, ready to hear, ready to go and do your will, so that we all may be one, so that the world may know you in and among us. This we pray in the strong name of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord (who taught us to pray, “Our Father…”)

We who have come to know your love, O Lord, are here to worship you. We ask your blessing upon us in this offering of our praise, and we ask your presence in every act of our lives, that we, your Church, may be confirmed in our faith, and give glory to your son Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray (as he taught us to pray, “Our Father…”)

OR adapted from ministrymatters.com

Wellspring of eternal life, we come to you this day having drunk deeply the waters of anxiety and despair. Bring to us your living water. Quench our thirsting souls, for we offer this prayer in the name of Christ our Lord (who taught us to pray, saying, “Our Father…”)

OR from ministrymatters.com

Loving and caring God, we come this morning in hope—hope that will sustain us in our trying times, our lonely times, our doubting times. Refresh us this morning with the living water of your presence and love. Open us to the possibilities of friendship—the possibilities of encountering you in unexpected ways, the possibilities of seeing the miraculous in everyday life. This we pray through Christ our Lord (who taught us to pray, saying, “Our Father…”)

Confession of Sin

L: When all seems lost, Lord, and we are afraid to begin again,

P: Forgive us, we pray, and inspire our hearts with hope.

L: When all our problems seem insurmountable,

P: Give us courage to carry on our daily living in faith.

L: When we think only of self and seek only our own good, without concern for others,

P: Help us to see that our strength is in our union, and that only in working together in your name can we hope to see your reign of peace among us.

L: When tempted to put immediate gain ahead of wise use of the resources you have given us,

P: Grant us wisdom to see the error of our ways, and courage to repent.

L: When we are tempted to lose sight of your great vision for us,

P: Help us to see that our help comes from you, O Lord, and that your people can rise to greater glory only as we trust in you and commit ourselves to actions that we know in faith to be worthy.

OR (unison)

Our Maker God, we confess to you what we are: We like the path of life to be easy, comfortable, untroubled. We like problems to melt away, hardships to be smoothed over, stones to turn into bread for us. We do not want the hard and faithful way that Jesus takes. By your grace which kept him secure in your love during those forty desert days, arm us against temptation, alert us to corruption, and forgive our sins. Teach us to walk in the paths of Jesus, for his sake.

Words of Assurance

God has promised forgiveness of sins to those who repent and turn in faith. May God keep you in grace by the Holy Spirit, lead you to greater faith and trust, and bring you in peace to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

OR from ministrymatters.com

God of living waters, we confess that we have often turned from you and wandered in our own wildernesses of fear and doubt. Our thirst mounts daily, seeking to be quenched by your redeeming love. Yet, when that love is offered to us, we again turn away, unable to truly believe that you would actually heal and love us. We have behaved in very unloving ways. We have chosen to ignore those in need or to deal only passively with them. Our hearts are not placed in service to others, but rather in self-serving motives. Heal us, merciful God. Wash us again in the living water. Help us be faithful servants. Amen.

Words of Assurance

The waters of mercy and healing are poured over you. God is loving and faithful to those who come to God. Come, seek the loving presence and be healed.

OR from ministrymatters.com (Exodus 17)

Patient and ever-faithful God, we come to you this morning confessing that we can be a grumpy and unsatisfied people. When things are not perfect in our eyes, we murmur and complain, and grumble and doubt. We lose hope in the people around us and, even worse, we lose hope in you. We challenge instead of accept. We put you to the test rather than trust your caring love. Forgive our doubts and complaining. Forgive our loss of hope. Let your healing, life-giving waters pour over us. Restore our souls. Amen.

Words of Assurance (Exodus 17, Romans 5, John 4)

Our hope and assurance rest in God’s unfailing love and forgiveness. Open your hearts and minds and souls that the healing waters of God’s never-ending love and forgiveness may flow into and over you. Know that in this love and forgiveness you have encountered the living God.

Pastoral Prayer – Prayers of the People – Intercessions

(with excerpted prayer from ministrymatters.com)

God who has promised living water to all who will ask has called us to draw near and make our needs, our hopes, our desires known, that we might be transformed, and that our truest desires might be to live in closer communion with Christ and his people. Let us pray.

For the word of hope that pours over us like living water, for the word of grace that leads us to encounter the living Christ, we offer you our thanks, O God. You are our hope. We have often lived as though you were so distant, so uninvolved with us, and so aloof. Yet in Christ you have shown us just how near to us you are—walking by our sides, risking all to be near to us—so much that you would come to be our servant, our Savior and our friend.

Hear our prayers for those for whom we should take such risks, as we lift to you the yearnings of our hearts for your creation and its peoples. Help us as stewards of your many gifts to care more diligently for the brokenness of your world. May our lives honor you by caring for the earth and all of your creatures. May we be renewed and reconciled to live in peace with all people.

Many and great are the needs of those around us, Lord. Help us to better remember the poor, the homeless, the needy of our world, by serving those of them that live nearby—those we might too easily pass by on the streets. Teach us the meaning of prayer for the lost, the lonely and the grieving through the consolation of our encounters with them in everyday life. Empower us to heal the hurting, the sick and the dying by the touch and the love of Jesus who lives in us, his body. We especially lift to you those dear to us (____) along with our own needs in silence.

Raise up your people again to lives of deeper prayer through more ready service, that we in this community of faith might be joined with Christ in his suffering and in his resurrection, for it is in his name and by his faith that we lift our prayers to you.

OR from ministrymatters.com

Lord of living water, pour your mercy on us. Wash us clean and make us true disciples. Help us move from the paths of selfishness and stubbornness, to the channels of hope and peace. Enable us to place our whole trust in your love. As we have brought the names of those near and dear to us to your throne of grace in prayer, remind us again that you also hold us dearly and offer to us your healing grace. Keep us strong and give us courage to serve you in all that we do. In Jesus’ Name, we pray.

Prayers from Common Worship*

Collect

Almighty God,

whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain,

and entered not into glory before he was crucified:

mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross,

may find it none other than the way of life and peace;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion

Merciful Lord,

grant your people grace to withstand the temptations

of the world, the flesh and the devil,

and with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only God;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect

Eternal God,

give us insight

to discern your will for us,

to give up what harms us,

and to seek the perfection we are promised

in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect of the Day (from Book of Common Prayer, 1979**)

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves

to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and

inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all

adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil

thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus

Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy

Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

John 4:5-42

Beyond the boundaries of confidence, O God,

you bring us to attend your kingdom.

From wells of living water

to feats of doing your will

to knowing you in intimate release,

we come to seek the savor of our Lord.

Service of Table

While all of our congregations navigate the Sacred Board in a different way, it seems, there are common elements in most, which are provided here. We would love to hear if your congregation has variations to these elements which we might address in the future.

Offertory / Invitation to Give

Just as Christ has taught the way of life to us, the church, we have the responsibility of bringing life to the world around us through our ministries and the outreach of missions through our connections of faith around the globe. Let us offer gratefully and sacrificially to the work of God who has given all for us.

Through our offerings we identify with the cause of Christ. We proclaim our concern for all people, and we name them all as our next of kin. We identify with their suffering and grief and we rejoice when good comes to them. God gives both our material resources and our personal time and effort to us. Let us now extend them through the body of Christ into this moment of history and into the whole world.

Offertory Prayer

In these gifts, O God, we acclaim you as our Lord. May they be useful to you in bringing your kingdom into full flower through the ministries of your church, we pray in Christ’s name.

Holy one, your heart abounds with gifts. Receive this offering as a sign of our trust in you and our intention to live surrounded by your mercy, inspired by your Spirit, open to the joy of your presence, hospitable to one another, and generous toward your world. Amen.

OR from ministrymatters.com

Life-giving God, we offer you ourselves and our resources. Use us and our gifts, that we may be water bearers to a world thirsty for love, for meaning, for justice, and for hope. May all your people encounter fullness of life through the love of Christ, which lives within us. Amen.

Invitation to the Table

Friends, this is the joyful feast of the people of God. They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit at the table in the kingdom of God. This is the Lord’s table. Jesus invites all who seek to trust him to share in the feast which he has prepared. Let us come to his table now with hope and confidence as God’s children.

Prayer of Thanksgiving (Prayers for Bread and Cup)

(The following may be offered as one prayer, or broken between two Elders, if that is the tradition to be followed)

Holy and Loving God, you speak to us in silence, yet all languages interpret you. Because you call us into this community, we are able to become a gift to one another. We pray for your Holy Spirit to descend upon us and upon these gifts of bread and wine, that in sharing them we may discern your presence which becomes our life. We thank you for your anointed one, Jesus, who through his life, crucifixion, death and resurrection lived fully the promise of redemptive wholeness that is available to all who would obey your creating will. We celebrate his gifts, we rejoice in your presence, loving God, now and always.

O God, your vision for your people has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ – a vision of unity, of mutual care, and of peace. As we gather at Christ’s table this day, send forth the power of your Holy Spirit upon us who gather here in love for you. As we break the bread and drink from the cup, may we be made one with Christ, one with each other, and one in fellowship with all your people, from all times and places, loving and serving you faithfully in the days ahead.

Blessed are you, Lord our God; you bring forth bread from the earth, and wine in its season. We praise you, we bless you, we glorify you, we give thanks to you for your great glory. When you took upon yourself to deliver us, you came to us a man. When he had accomplished your purposes, he suffered death for our sakes; raised by the power of your might, he is enthroned forever in majesty where he makes intercession for us an for all believers. Your holiness calls to us today, Lord, as you called to your people in the life of Jesus Christ. Although many rejected him and reject him still, we remember and celebrate his presence with us.

Send your power and strength to us, Lord, as we gather here in love for you, and upon these gifts of bread and wine. Make them to be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we might be his true body, going about his work in our time and place; that in all things all glory might be given to you, Almighty God, now and forever.

Conclusion: Through him, with him, and in him, in the power of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor be to you, O God, now and forever. Amen.

If not previously offered: “And now with the confidence of your children, we offer the prayer our Savior taught us, ‘Our Father…’”

MORE…

Rev. Tim Graves offers Liturgy Bits with valuable, culturally sensitive and creatively contemplative works, well worth your time.

You may also want to visit Worship Connection at MinistryMatters.com, which offers numerous helps, including electronic versions of print resources for worship and preaching planning.

Intercessions and other helpful planning materials geared to the Lectionary (using Roman Catholic version, but normally quite useful for all traditions) for preaching and worship are supplied for several weeks in advance at The Sunday Website of St. Louis University.

Common Worship Almanac and Lectionary for the year beginning Advent Sunday 2022:

Compiled by Simon Kershaw October 2022 from the Common Worship Calendar and Lectionaries using Almanac Maker;

compilation (c) Simon Kershaw 2022; Almanac Maker (c) Simon Kershaw 2010-2022

The Revised Common Lectionary is copyright (c) the Consultation on Common Texts 1992.

Book of Common Prayer (1979), Public domain.

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Lent 3A