Welcome & Announcements

Prelude

Confession and Forgiveness:
Blessed be the holy Trinity, + one God, who journeys with us these forty days, and sustains us with the gift of grace.
Amen.

Let us acknowledge before God and one another our need for repentance and God’s mercy.

Silence is kept for reflection.

Holy God,
we confess to you our faults and failings.  Too often we neglect and do not trust your holy word; we take for ourselves instead of giving to others; we spoil rather than steward your creation; we cause hurt though you call us to heal; we choose fear over compassion. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, as we seek to follow in your way of life.
Amen.

Hear the good news: God so loved the world that God gave the only Son, so that all may receive life. This promise is for you! God embraces you with divine mercy, + forgives you in Christ’s name, and revives you in the Spirit’s power.
Amen.

Opening Hymn: ELW 777 “Come to Me All Pilgrims Thirsty”
“Come to me, all pilgrims thirsty; drink the water I will give.
If you knew what gift I offer, you would come to me and live.”

Jesus, ever flowing fountain, give us water from your well.
In the gracious gift you offer there is joy no tongue can tell.

“Come to me, all trav’lers weary; come that I may give you rest. 
Drink the cup of life I offer; at this table be my guest.”

Jesus, ever flowing fountain, give us water from your well.
In the gracious gift you offer there is joy no tongue can tell.

“Come to me, believers burdened; find refreshment in this place.
Come, receive the gift I offer, turn to me and seek my face.” 

Jesus, ever flowing fountain, give us water from your well.
In the gracious gift you offer there is joy no tongue can tell.

“Come to me, repentant sinners; leave behind your guilt and shame.
Come and know divine compassion, turn to me, I call your name.” 

Jesus, ever flowing fountain, give us water from your well.
In the gracious gift you offer there is joy no tongue can tell.

“Come to me, distressed and needy; I would be your trusted friend.
Come and seek the gift I offer, come, your open hands extend.” 

Jesus, ever flowing fountain, give us water from your well.
In the gracious gift you offer there is joy no tongue can tell.

“Come to me, abandoned, orphaned; lonely ways no longer roam.
Come and take the gift I offer, let me make in you my home.” 

Jesus, ever flowing fountain, give us water from your well.
In the gracious gift you offer there is joy no tongue can tell.

Apostolic Greeting:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.

Hymn of Praise:
Salvation belongs to our God and to Christ the Lamb forever and ever. Great and wonderful are your deeds, O God of the universe;  just and true are your ways, O Ruler of all the nations. Who can fail to honor you, Lord, and sing the glory of your name? Salvation belongs to our God and to Christ the Lamb forever and every. For you alone are the Holy One, and blessed is the one whose name is the Word of God. All praise and thanks to you, holy God! Salvation belongs to our God and to Christ the Lamb forever and ever.

Prayer of the Day:
Let us pray.
Merciful God, the fountain of living water, you quench our thirst and wash away our sin. Give us this water always. Bring us to drink from the well that flows with the beauty of your truth through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.

First Reading: Romans 5:1-11
¹Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and 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.

⁶For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. ⁸But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. ⁹Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰For 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. ¹¹But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God!

Gospel Acclamation:
Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and a abounding in steadfast love.

Gospel Reading: John 4:5-42
This is the Holy Gospel according to John, the 4^th chapter.
Glory to you, O Lord.

⁵So [Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

⁷A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) ⁹The 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.) ¹⁰Jesus 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.” ¹¹The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹²Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” ¹³Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but 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.” ¹⁵The 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.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” ¹⁷The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” ¹⁹The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” ²¹Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” ²⁶Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

²⁷Just 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?” ²⁸Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ²⁹“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” ³⁰They left the city and were on their way to him.

³¹Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” ³²But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” ³⁴Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. ³⁵Do 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. ³⁶The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

³⁹Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹And many more believed because of his word. ⁴²They 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 Savior of the world.”

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

Children’s Message

Sermon

Hymn of the Day: ELW 611 “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say”
I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto me and rest;
lay down, O weary one, lay down your head upon my breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was, so weary, worn, and sad;
I found him in a resting-place, and he has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Behold, I freely give
the living water, thirsty one; stoop down and drink and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life-giving stream;
my thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “I am this dark world’s light;
look unto me, your morn shall rise, and all your day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found in him my star, my sun;
and in that light of life I’ll walk till trav’ling days are done.

Apostle’s Creed:
Let us confess our faith using the Apostle’s Creed:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.*
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Prayers of Intercession:
Sustained by God’s abundant mercy, let us pray for the church, the world, and all of creation.

Prayers continue with each petition ending:

Merciful God,
receive our prayer.

We lift our prayers to you, O God, trusting in your steadfast love and your promise to renew your whole creation; through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Amen.

Sharing of the Peace:
May the peace of the Lord be with you always.
And also with you.

The minister and congregation greet one another in the name of the Lord. Please share the peace at whatever level of physical contact with which you are comfortable.

Offering:
https://tithe.ly/give_new/www/#/tithely/give-one-time/468062

Offertory Hymn:
Let the vineyards be fruitful, Lord, and fill to the brim our cups of blessing.
Gather a harvest from the seeds that were sown, that we may be fed with the bread of life.
Gather the hopes and dreams of all; united them with the prayers we offer now.
Grace our table with your presence, and give us a foretaste of the feast to come.

Offering Prayer:
Let us pray.
God of good gifts, receive these and all our offerings as we present them in faithful service for the sake of your gospel. Prepare our hearts to receive you in this meal as you pour out your presence through Christ Jesus, the wellspring of eternal life.
Amen.

The Great Thanksgiving:
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God, through our Savior Jesus Christ. You call your people to cleanse their hearts and prepare with joy for the paschal feast, that, renewed in the gift of baptism, we may come to the fullness of your grace. And so, with all the choirs of angels, with the church on earth and the hosts of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, Lord God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the  Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed are you, O God of the universe. Your mercy is everlasting and your faithfulness endures from age to age.

Praise to you for creating the heavens and the earth. Praise to you for saving the earth from the waters of the flood. Praise to you for bringing the Israelites safely through the sea. Praise to you for leading your people through the wilderness to the land of milk and honey. Praise to you for the words and deeds of Jesus, your anointed one. Praise to you for the death and resurrection of Christ. Praise to you for your Spirit poured out on all nations.

In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.

Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.

With this bread and cup we remember our Lord’s passover from death to life as we proclaim the mystery of faith:
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

O God of resurrection and new life: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on these gifts of bread and wine. Bless this feast. Grace our table with your presence.
Come, Holy Spirit.

Reveal yourself to us in the breaking of the bread. Raise us up as the body of Christ for the world. Breathe new life into us. Send us forth, burning with justice, peace, and love.
Come, Holy Spirit.

With your holy ones of all times and places, with the earth and all its creatures, with sun and moon and stars, we praise you, O God, blessed and holy Trinity, now and forever.
Amen.

Lord’s Prayer:
Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us saying:
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, and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.

O Lamb of God, you bear the sin of all the world away; you suffered death our lives to save: have mercy now, we pray.  O Lamb of God, you bear the sin of all the world away; you set us free from guilt and grave: have mercy now, we pray.  O Lamb of God, you bear the sin of all the world away; eternal peace with God you made: give us your peace, we pray.

Communion

Table Blessing:
The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in his grace.
Amen.

Post-Communion Canticle:
O Lord, now let your servant depart in heavenly peace, for I have seen the glory of your redeeming grace: a light to lead the nations unto your holy hill, the glory of your people, your chosen Israel.

Post-Communion Prayer:
Let us pray.
Embodied God, at your table we have tasted the goodness of Jesus. With the eyes of our hearts open to your promise, empower us to hear the needs of our neighbors and touch the world with your love.
Amen.

Benediction:
God the giver of love, + Christ, the resurrection and the life, and the Holy Spirit of rebirth bless you in this Lenten journey.
Amen.

Sending Hymn: ELW 618 “Guide Me Ever, Great Jehovah”
Guide me ever, great Redeemer, pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but you are mighty; hold me with your pow’rful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me now and evermore, feed me now and evermore.

Open now the crystal fountain where the healing waters flow; 
let the fire and cloudy pillar lead me all my journey through.
Strong deliv’rer, strong deliv’rer, shield me with your mighty arm, shield me with your mighty arm.

When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside;
death of death and hell’s destruction, land me safe on Canaan’s side.
Songs and praises, songs and praises I will raise forevermore, I will raise forevermore.

Dismissal:
Go in peace. Serve the Lord.
Thanks be to God!

Postlude

 

Prayer Requests: Gaye Stahl, Dale Strassner, Scott Clewell, Marie Tanner, Cindy Reedy, Denise Clark, Karen Aikey, William Clewell, Loren, Ken Criswell, Robert Becker, Laurel Hertz, Amanda Galer, Peggy Dugan, Martha Ketchem, Susan Dinsmore, Annette Baker, Rusty, Shirley Russell, Russ Wynn, Viv Marsh, Alice Snyder, Peg Swinehart, Bob Keifer.

 

Portions reprinted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, copyright 2006.  Used by permission of Augsburg Fortress, license #SBL09796L.  Music reprinted from the ELW, by permission of OneLicense, license #A712349.  Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.   Used by permission.