SONG
The opening song is, “All people that on earth”, courtesy of Emu Music. If you have problems connecting, try this direct link to YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRklkCklycU
Call to worship
We come to hear the Good News, to embody the love of God in Christ as we share our lives with others. .
You may like to light a candle at this time.
God’s truth is revealed in Jesus Christ the light of the world. May the light shine for the hope of the world.
Prayer
God’s deep heart of life is like a well of infinite love. It flows towards all creation in living waters of grace. Christ sits beside our life, inviting us to open ourselves, our body, our mind, and our heart and soul.
Let us pray,
Be known to us in this place and wherever we pause to be near you, O Christ.
Take us by surprise if we cannot believe that you would visit us. Meet us wherever you will so that we may receive the wonder of your living water for this day and all that lies ahead. This we pray. Amen.
From the Bible
The Bible reading for today is from the Gospel of John 4:5-27. The words of the reading are below. There is also a musical retelling of the Gospel reading underneath.
John 4:5-27
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 worshiped 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 worshipers 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.”
Song
Here is a musical re-telling of today’s story from the Gospel of John with Olivia Lane’s song, ‘Woman at the well’. If you have trouble connecting you can go directly to YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dzx9uNU0JY
Message
The message is brought to you by Geoff Wellington from the Saltbush Community. Jesus has an encounter with a Woman at Jacob’s Well in Samaria. Jesus offers life giving water to her, and changes the woman’s life and her village. I wonder if we too can drink from this life giving water and be transformed as we prepare for the events of Easter.
What did you hear in the Word today? How might you turn everyday conversations, like Jesus at the well into conversations about exploring faith and life? How might your Christian community respond to Jesus’ life-giving water?
Before a time of prayer you may like to spend some time in silence sitting still. Close your eyes lightly. Sit relaxed but alert. Simply be still and open to God. You may prefer to do this while listening to the reflective music below.
The reflective music is, ‘Dear Lord and Father of mankind”. If you have problems connecting, also try this link at YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAxiN0egN-I
Prayers for Others
Let us pray.
Flow the living waters of your creative life around us, among us and within us, O God.
Help us to draw from your gift and to make a faithful commitment to share it with others, filling up the empty cups around us with overflowing rivers that bring healing to those around us.
Give us a new vision of a world in which people trust the kindness of others, in which leaders are not corrupted by power, in which violence does not prevail and does hold the world to ransom.
Silence
Be near to us, Jesus Christ. Flow your living water over us, O God, that our hearts and hands may be made clean, and that our lives may inspire people around us with the hope that things can be changed.
Hold close to you these people and situations for which we now pray —
Guide all of these people close to you, and may your living water and lift up their lives in energy and courage. These prayers we pray in your name, O Christ. Amen.
Blessing
Go out into the world, to love and serve the Lord. Bless us and the people we meet along the way. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Song
The closing song is “In Christ alone”, sung by Kristin Getty. If you have problems connecting, try this direct link to YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9VzJmtmSFI
Resources
You may also like to explore some additional resources at the excellent StandNZ site, which also includes some fun activities for the young at heart:
https://www.bibleexplore.nz/lent3a.html
The prayers are based on content in the Saltbush service for this week, which can be found at:
https://saltbushcommunity.uca.org.au/video/the-word/lent-3-woman-at-the-well-john-4-5-42/