Worship & Prayers for  The  Third Sunday of Lent

Opening Rite

If you’re at home you might wish to light a candle, make sure you are sitting comfortably and take a few deep breaths to still yourself. 

The Lord is here  His Spirit is with us

Compassion and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God, though we have rebelled against him.

Let us then renounce our wilfulness and ask his mercy by confessing our sins in penitence and faith

Prayers of Penitence

After a period of reflection

We confess to you our selfishness and lack of love: fill us with your Spirit. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

We confess to you our fear and failure in sharing our faith: fill us with your Spirit. Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.

We confess to you our stubbornness and lack of trust: fill us with your Spirit. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

May almighty God, who sent his Son into the world to save sinners bring us his pardon and peace, now and for ever. Amen

The Collect

You might like to keep a few moments of silence

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. Amen

Exodus 17:1-7

From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarrelled with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ 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 complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’  So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’ Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’

Psalm 95:1-7

/R: The Lord is a great God, and a great king above all Gods

O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us heartily rejoice in the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving and be glad in him with psalms. /R:

For the Lord is a grëat God and a great king above all gods. /R:

In his hand are the depths of the earth and the heights of the mountains are hïs also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands have moulded the drÿ land. /R:

Come, let us worship and böw down and kneel before the Lord our Maker.For he is our God; we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. /R:

Romans 5:1-11

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.  For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Gospel Acclamation

Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory. Blessed are those who have endured temptation; they have stood the test and will receive the crown of life.  James 1.12

Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory.

The Gospel according to John                                               Chapter 4:5-42

So Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.  A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common 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 no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’  Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ 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 have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 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 worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these 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’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’  Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ They left the city and were on their way to him.  Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ So the disciples said to one another, ‘Surely no one has brought him something to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, “Four months more, then comes the harvest”? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is 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 labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.’  Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for 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 truly the Saviour of the world.’

This is the Gospel of the Lord    Praise to you O Christ

Reflection

The Gospel’s scene takes place in the blazing heat of midday in Samaria, where a woman is collecting water – possibly in the heat of the day because she is something of an outcast.  Jesus, a Jewish man, an itinerant rabbi, meets a Samaritan woman tethered to domesticity. There is more that divides than unites them. In the eyes of his people, she is ‘other’, a mixed-race woman of impure blood. She sees Jesus as a member of the race who not long ago destroyed her people’s temple, which is now rebuilt on the mountain only 100 metres away. The history of hatred and bitterness overshadow the context of their meeting.  Yet for all that separates them, they both need water. Their conversation has hardly got going before Jesus begins talking again in riddles, this time about ‘living water’. For her, this is water that doesn’t need to be drawn because it gushes out of the ground. For him, it’s a symbol of something even more life-giving. Jesus catches her off guard by alluding to the well’s legend as a pre-marital meeting place. But she seizes the initiative by naming the elephant in the room: their competing temples. He repeats the standard Jewish line about Jews and their Temple and salvation, before adding a twist: ‘The hour is coming, and is now here’ when true worship will transcend tribal shrines.  The returning disciples are shocked that their rabbi is talking with a woman. She takes him to her village, where people, surprisingly, welcome the Jew into their homes. But the greatest audience is drawn by John the evangelist, whose readers and hearers listen in, as each asks the other the same fundamental questions: ‘Who are you? Who are we?’  Each character in the narrative learns something more about the others – the woman learns that Jesus has something to offer that is beyond her imagination. Jesus learns that Samaritans, too, are thirsty for the gift of God, the eternal life that he brings as ‘the Saviour of the world’, whose word draws Jews and Samaritans together. We in the Gospel’s greater audience are called to consider who we are, and how what makes people ‘other’ is transcended by learning to ‘worship the Father in spirit and truth’.

Linking the readings

Moses encourages the complaining crowd not to lose sight of their freedom and identity as God’s people and in who God is – a faithful God. Paul is fully focused on the way God’s faithfulness has come to Jews and Gentiles through the crucified and risen Jesus, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus directs the Samaritan woman to blessings that will draw their divided nations together. Though these gifts come in different ways and at various times, God uses them to remake us. This requires us to ask the most profound questions of ourselves and each other: Who are you? Who are we? Who am I? 

Reproduced with permission www.rootsontheweb.com 2002-2021  

Prayers

Spend a few moments praying for the people you know and love, for the world, for peace and for the relief of refugees everywhere. 

On the Third Sunday of Lent

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. Amen

Praying for the Earth                                                      Weather patterns

We give thanks for the weather in its infinite variety. We thank you for the rain and the snow, the winds that blow across the face of the earth and the warmth of the sun upon our faces. As we read the signs of the ever-changing weather, help us to understand the signs of the times in which we live.      Amen

From the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer for the Church

Porvoo Communion: Diocese of Chelmsford and the Diocese of Karlstad (Church of Sweden)

Anglican Communion: The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East Primate: The Most Reverend Hosam Naoum

Diocese of Møre: Adviser for Catechesis: Bente Wangensteen

Bellingham Deanery:   St Aidan’s Church, Thockrington

From our Parish Prayer Cycle this week 

pray for all care workers visiting homes in the parish; pray for the hygiene service workers caring for our parish

For the sick and those being cared for in hospital or at home      

For those in residential care    

For those who have recently died

Henry Chee

For those whose year’s minds are this week 

Isabel March, John Kerr Flood, Derek Walker, Louise Taylor and George Render

You might like to end your prayers with The Lord's Prayer  

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever.  Amen.

The Conclusion

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen

Let us bless the Lord!  Thanks be to God!