Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and good morning!
We have a rather unique way of meeting today!! I invite you to pray the following prayer as a way of invoking God’s spirit and connecting with one another in worship today.
Calling upon God’s Spirit Together
Dear God, we gather this morning as your people. We gather this morning grounded in your love. We humbly ask that you fill us with your spirit this morning. (spend a moment in silence, taking time to feel God’s love, to breath in God’s love) Dear God, even though we are physically apart this morning, connect us one with the other. We think of our Sunday School children. (Picture the children at the front of the church. Picture a little one offering you a handshake) We think of our youth (Picture our youth participating in worship, being confirmed, grouping together and chatting) We think of our older members (Picture one of our folks offering you a beautiful smile) We think of everyone in between (Picture someone holding the door for you or offering you a cup of coffee, hear someone saying good morning or extending Christ’s peace to you) We think of our choir (Think of your favourite anthem our choir sings, picture their faces and hear their voices.) Dear God, we can feel your presence. We can feel the presence of one another. Thank you for the gift of community. Amen.
This is our call to worship this morning…
Call to Worship:
One: We are on a journey of faith.
All: We travel with Jesus Christ as our guide.
One: The promises of God shine before us, and give us confidence for our journey.
All: But still, in the wilderness, we can become impatient. We can lose confidence in God. We can falter in our journey.
One: And, so, we gather in worship, to receive of God’s grace.
All: We seek to be nourished and sustained by God’s word, and to be led in paths along healing and wholeness.
One: Truly God is with us!
Our opening hymn this morning is “God, Reveal Your Presence”. Sing or read the first verse:
God, reveal your presence: as we now adore you
and with awe appear before you.
Here in this your temple: all within keep silence,
gather now with deepest reverence.
You alone God we own,
you, our God and Saviour: praise your name forever.
Let us come together with our prayer of approach…
Prayer of Approach:
All: Gracious God, you are the spring of life and the source of goodness. In Jesus Christ you offer us life-giving water, to restore us and renew us. And in worship we begin to respond to your gracious offer. In this time of worship may we find ourselves both thirsting for you and refreshed by you. And may our prayers and our praises help us to travel in the Spirit in coming days. Amen.
Let us hear a call to confession…
Call to Silent Confession
We walk through this valley of Lent, but we are not alone. God speaks to us, assuring us that love, healing, guidance and forgiveness are there for the taking. Let us spend a quiet moment with our G-d. May we be healed of all that breaks and destroys and demeans us as human beings. May we be freed to treasure life, to honour creation, and to receive as a gift each day that G-d has given us.
And now may all of our prayers and thoughts together as one, as we pray in the words 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, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Forgiven and set free, let us assurance ourselves of God’s healing love…
Assurance of God’s Healing Love:
All: Each of us is thirsty for good news.
One: And the good news is that we depend not on ourselves, but on the grace of God.
All: The grace of God overflows with generosity and abundance;...
One: … the grace of God fills us with gentleness and love; …
All: … the grace of God blesses us with fullness of life.
Let us all now read the gospel reading from our lectionary today…
Gospel Reading: John 4:5-29; 39-42
5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. 7 A 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.) 9 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.)[a] 10 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.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 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.” 15 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.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you[b] say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 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. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 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.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he,[c] the one who is speaking to you.”
27 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?” 28 Then 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,[d] can he?”
39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 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 Savior of the world.”
Today’s Reflection: “Living Water”
Before you read this morning’s reflection on our gospel reading, please pour yourself a glass of water and place it nearby. Don’t drink it, just let it be for the moment.
In this morning’s scripture reading we encounter the woman at the well. First and foremost, she is thirsty. What are you thirsting for this morning? To be together? For a little bit of calm? For a little bit of reassurance?
These are very interesting times indeed. In short, we are being asked to sacrifice our free movement in society for the benefit of all. We hope that it will protect our health care system and our health care workers. We hope that it will protect our most vulnerable in society, especially those with compromised immune systems. We may look back a year from now and think, “Wow that was an extreme reaction.” Or we may look back a year from now and think, “That was the right call, we made a difference” Only hindsight will tell us the truth. (Thank you to Leanne Kerr for this insight!). Right now, we find ourselves in the midst of things. And like the woman at the well, we need to, first and foremost, become aware of our own needs, concerns and worries. If we can name those needs or fears or frustrations, it goes a long way in keeping us strong and being wise over the coming days. Coming before our God with our whole selves is always a good idea, because, as our scripture reveals to us today, God sees right through us anyway!! Jesus, a stranger at the well, was able to see and know the woman at the well through and through. Once you have taken a moment to name your fears and frustrations, your concerns and confusion around this situation, here are some thoughts to consider from this morning’s passage…
Jesus, a Jew, approached a Samaritan woman. First, Jews and Samaritans in those days did not mix. Second, men did not speak to unrelated women and especially did not do so in public.
What was it about Jesus that made the Samaritan woman feel safe in Jesus’ presence and to engage in conversation with him? Are you able to open up yourself so that you too feel safe in Christ’s presence and know that you are completely seen and loved by him?
We can’t blame the Samaritan woman for thinking of her practical needs and wanting water that would deal with her thirst now and always…after all we are scrambling over toilet paper!! What is it about human beings that can makes us start grabbing for what we can when our materials needs are threatened? I am guessing it is our inner survival instinct and our urge to protect our families. We think: “If you are grabbing it, I better grab it too…just in case.” A more positive way of looking at this behaviour is that it is tapping into our will to live and thrive. If that is the case, let’s slow down and get in touch with that will. Our will to live and thrive is a reflection of our love and appreciation for life. And this is all a gift from God. It is good to want to live and thrive! God wants us to live and thrive. I am guessing, however, that grabbing toilet paper is not the way to do it!! So here are few questions to ponder:
What are the best ways for us humans to live and thrive?
What makes us feel good about being human?
Listen on YouTube and/or read the articles in the papers about the amazing and beautiful things human beings are doing in the face of this crisis. People singing to each other from their apartment buildings, people applauding health care workers from their windows, folks buying groceries for those who are needing to avoid crowds. What good and beautiful people we are. What strong spirits we have, God-given spirits we have!
Now let’s turn our thoughts to the living water Jesus speaks of. It is very interesting that Jesus does not call himself living water. He offers the living water. It is something available to us all.
Living water is a reoccurring image in the bible. As you can imagine, in the Middle East, water is scarce and precious. There are only a few months of the year that rain falls. In bible times, the rest of the year the people survived on stagnant water. This water was stored in cisterns in the ground. So, rain falling after many months of clear skies, would have felt like a gift from God indeed! I can only imagine the difference rain makes in the middles east, turning brown, barren hills into lush places of grass and flowers. Author and preacher Lois Tvreberg writes that “Out of this arose the idea of living water, or mayim chaim (MY-eem KHY-eem), which refers to water in the form of rain or flowing from a natural spring, which has come directly from God, not carried by human hands or stored in cisterns. It also is a contrast to sea water, especially that of the Dead Sea, which looks refreshing but is poisonous, and makes the land around it barren.”
She goes on to write: “Living water was strongly associated with the presence of God.”
I invite now to drink the glass of water you poured for yourself earlier (which is good for your immune system!) Imagine this is God’s presence slowly filling you up. The wonderful thing about God’s living water is that its source never dries up. We don’t need to hoard it. We don’t need to ration it.
Enjoy the thought and feeling of God’s living water, God’s presence within you.
As Christians we are called to be God’s light and love in the world, Christ’s hands and feet in the world. Filled with God’s presence, we are asked to be God’s presence in the world. How can you and I be living water to one another and to our community in the coming days?
Will it simply be by being patient and positive?
Will it be by reaching out to our neighbours and making sure their physical and emotional needs are being met?
Will it be by sharing our supplies or offering to get groceries for someone?
I don’t think it will be by watching the news 24/7. I don’t think it will be by panicking or by willfully ignoring health care advisors’ suggestions. It will be by remembering who we are and whose we are. Loving our family (we will all have to muster lots of patience with one another in the days ahead!!) Loving our neighbour. And letting the love of God flow through us.
My final and direction question to everyone is: What can we do as a church to be living, refreshing waters to our community? Please share your ideas with me…elaine@portperryunited.com
Every day gives us new and different opportunities to know the love of God and live it. This day is no different!
Our next hymn this morning is “As the Deer Pants for the Water”. Sing or read the first verse:
As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you;
you alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you.
You alone are my strength, my shield, to you alone may my spirit yield;
you alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship you!
As our moderator Richard Bott reminds us on The United Church of Canada website) “God is with us in this, and we are with each other—even when we aren’t able to be together. We are not alone.” Let us now all come together in prayer…
Holy G‑d, you come to us today as a suffering Messiah, as a teacher whose wisdom has pushed us, and challenged us, as one who offers us living water.
Like that woman at the well, may we find in you the source for our living, the reason for our being. Remind us that we cannot earn your love, but that you give it freely and lavishly to us all. Break down our walls of conceit and pride, low self-esteem and self-doubt–so that we might be more open to your unconditional love for us. So that we might live out our days in gratitude and love. Let your living water flow through us.
Holy God, we bring prayers for your world today which in need of your healing and loving touch.
We pray for those in refugee camps today.
We pray for the homeless today.
We pray for all who are sick today.
We pray for those who are dealing with chronic illnesses today.
We pray for those in long term care homes today.
We pray for those who are feeling fearful or uncertain today.
We pray for all leaders today. Keep them calm and clear thinking. Keep them loving and just.
We bring special prayers today for health care workers worldwide who are on the frontlines of working to keep us safe and working to save lives.
We bring special prayers today for Amy, Andrea, Ava, Barb, Betty, Bev, Carolyn, Jeff, Joan, John, Kyla, Laura, Morrison, Patty, Sarah, Scott, Stephanie, and Steven. And for those we name in our hearts or aloud…
And we pray for our church. May we as a congregation witness in word and in deed to your never‑failing love. May we stand with the broken, the weak, the little ones. We ask that you show us in the coming days where we can be your healing hands and loving heart.
And finally, O God, we pray for ourselves. You know our every need, our every sorrow, our every hope. Touch us now and in the Lenten Days ahead. Amen.
As we each head out into our day and week let us remember that God goes with us. Spend some time today listening to beautiful music or watching birds at a bird feeder or going out for a walk or calling a friend. And now…
Benediction
And now may the blessing of God, the
creator, the peace of God, the Christ,
and the power of God, the Holy Spirit,
abide with us now and forever. Amen.
We have a rather unique way of meeting today!! I invite you to pray the following prayer as a way of invoking God’s spirit and connecting with one another in worship today.
Calling upon God’s Spirit Together
Dear God, we gather this morning as your people. We gather this morning grounded in your love. We humbly ask that you fill us with your spirit this morning. (spend a moment in silence, taking time to feel God’s love, to breath in God’s love) Dear God, even though we are physically apart this morning, connect us one with the other. We think of our Sunday School children. (Picture the children at the front of the church. Picture a little one offering you a handshake) We think of our youth (Picture our youth participating in worship, being confirmed, grouping together and chatting) We think of our older members (Picture one of our folks offering you a beautiful smile) We think of everyone in between (Picture someone holding the door for you or offering you a cup of coffee, hear someone saying good morning or extending Christ’s peace to you) We think of our choir (Think of your favourite anthem our choir sings, picture their faces and hear their voices.) Dear God, we can feel your presence. We can feel the presence of one another. Thank you for the gift of community. Amen.
This is our call to worship this morning…
Call to Worship:
One: We are on a journey of faith.
All: We travel with Jesus Christ as our guide.
One: The promises of God shine before us, and give us confidence for our journey.
All: But still, in the wilderness, we can become impatient. We can lose confidence in God. We can falter in our journey.
One: And, so, we gather in worship, to receive of God’s grace.
All: We seek to be nourished and sustained by God’s word, and to be led in paths along healing and wholeness.
One: Truly God is with us!
Our opening hymn this morning is “God, Reveal Your Presence”. Sing or read the first verse:
God, reveal your presence: as we now adore you
and with awe appear before you.
Here in this your temple: all within keep silence,
gather now with deepest reverence.
You alone God we own,
you, our God and Saviour: praise your name forever.
Let us come together with our prayer of approach…
Prayer of Approach:
All: Gracious God, you are the spring of life and the source of goodness. In Jesus Christ you offer us life-giving water, to restore us and renew us. And in worship we begin to respond to your gracious offer. In this time of worship may we find ourselves both thirsting for you and refreshed by you. And may our prayers and our praises help us to travel in the Spirit in coming days. Amen.
Let us hear a call to confession…
Call to Silent Confession
We walk through this valley of Lent, but we are not alone. God speaks to us, assuring us that love, healing, guidance and forgiveness are there for the taking. Let us spend a quiet moment with our G-d. May we be healed of all that breaks and destroys and demeans us as human beings. May we be freed to treasure life, to honour creation, and to receive as a gift each day that G-d has given us.
And now may all of our prayers and thoughts together as one, as we pray in the words 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, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Forgiven and set free, let us assurance ourselves of God’s healing love…
Assurance of God’s Healing Love:
All: Each of us is thirsty for good news.
One: And the good news is that we depend not on ourselves, but on the grace of God.
All: The grace of God overflows with generosity and abundance;...
One: … the grace of God fills us with gentleness and love; …
All: … the grace of God blesses us with fullness of life.
Let us all now read the gospel reading from our lectionary today…
Gospel Reading: John 4:5-29; 39-42
5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. 7 A 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.) 9 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.)[a] 10 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.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 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.” 15 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.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you[b] say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 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. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 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.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he,[c] the one who is speaking to you.”
27 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?” 28 Then 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,[d] can he?”
39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 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 Savior of the world.”
Today’s Reflection: “Living Water”
Before you read this morning’s reflection on our gospel reading, please pour yourself a glass of water and place it nearby. Don’t drink it, just let it be for the moment.
In this morning’s scripture reading we encounter the woman at the well. First and foremost, she is thirsty. What are you thirsting for this morning? To be together? For a little bit of calm? For a little bit of reassurance?
These are very interesting times indeed. In short, we are being asked to sacrifice our free movement in society for the benefit of all. We hope that it will protect our health care system and our health care workers. We hope that it will protect our most vulnerable in society, especially those with compromised immune systems. We may look back a year from now and think, “Wow that was an extreme reaction.” Or we may look back a year from now and think, “That was the right call, we made a difference” Only hindsight will tell us the truth. (Thank you to Leanne Kerr for this insight!). Right now, we find ourselves in the midst of things. And like the woman at the well, we need to, first and foremost, become aware of our own needs, concerns and worries. If we can name those needs or fears or frustrations, it goes a long way in keeping us strong and being wise over the coming days. Coming before our God with our whole selves is always a good idea, because, as our scripture reveals to us today, God sees right through us anyway!! Jesus, a stranger at the well, was able to see and know the woman at the well through and through. Once you have taken a moment to name your fears and frustrations, your concerns and confusion around this situation, here are some thoughts to consider from this morning’s passage…
Jesus, a Jew, approached a Samaritan woman. First, Jews and Samaritans in those days did not mix. Second, men did not speak to unrelated women and especially did not do so in public.
What was it about Jesus that made the Samaritan woman feel safe in Jesus’ presence and to engage in conversation with him? Are you able to open up yourself so that you too feel safe in Christ’s presence and know that you are completely seen and loved by him?
We can’t blame the Samaritan woman for thinking of her practical needs and wanting water that would deal with her thirst now and always…after all we are scrambling over toilet paper!! What is it about human beings that can makes us start grabbing for what we can when our materials needs are threatened? I am guessing it is our inner survival instinct and our urge to protect our families. We think: “If you are grabbing it, I better grab it too…just in case.” A more positive way of looking at this behaviour is that it is tapping into our will to live and thrive. If that is the case, let’s slow down and get in touch with that will. Our will to live and thrive is a reflection of our love and appreciation for life. And this is all a gift from God. It is good to want to live and thrive! God wants us to live and thrive. I am guessing, however, that grabbing toilet paper is not the way to do it!! So here are few questions to ponder:
What are the best ways for us humans to live and thrive?
What makes us feel good about being human?
Listen on YouTube and/or read the articles in the papers about the amazing and beautiful things human beings are doing in the face of this crisis. People singing to each other from their apartment buildings, people applauding health care workers from their windows, folks buying groceries for those who are needing to avoid crowds. What good and beautiful people we are. What strong spirits we have, God-given spirits we have!
Now let’s turn our thoughts to the living water Jesus speaks of. It is very interesting that Jesus does not call himself living water. He offers the living water. It is something available to us all.
Living water is a reoccurring image in the bible. As you can imagine, in the Middle East, water is scarce and precious. There are only a few months of the year that rain falls. In bible times, the rest of the year the people survived on stagnant water. This water was stored in cisterns in the ground. So, rain falling after many months of clear skies, would have felt like a gift from God indeed! I can only imagine the difference rain makes in the middles east, turning brown, barren hills into lush places of grass and flowers. Author and preacher Lois Tvreberg writes that “Out of this arose the idea of living water, or mayim chaim (MY-eem KHY-eem), which refers to water in the form of rain or flowing from a natural spring, which has come directly from God, not carried by human hands or stored in cisterns. It also is a contrast to sea water, especially that of the Dead Sea, which looks refreshing but is poisonous, and makes the land around it barren.”
She goes on to write: “Living water was strongly associated with the presence of God.”
I invite now to drink the glass of water you poured for yourself earlier (which is good for your immune system!) Imagine this is God’s presence slowly filling you up. The wonderful thing about God’s living water is that its source never dries up. We don’t need to hoard it. We don’t need to ration it.
Enjoy the thought and feeling of God’s living water, God’s presence within you.
As Christians we are called to be God’s light and love in the world, Christ’s hands and feet in the world. Filled with God’s presence, we are asked to be God’s presence in the world. How can you and I be living water to one another and to our community in the coming days?
Will it simply be by being patient and positive?
Will it be by reaching out to our neighbours and making sure their physical and emotional needs are being met?
Will it be by sharing our supplies or offering to get groceries for someone?
I don’t think it will be by watching the news 24/7. I don’t think it will be by panicking or by willfully ignoring health care advisors’ suggestions. It will be by remembering who we are and whose we are. Loving our family (we will all have to muster lots of patience with one another in the days ahead!!) Loving our neighbour. And letting the love of God flow through us.
My final and direction question to everyone is: What can we do as a church to be living, refreshing waters to our community? Please share your ideas with me…elaine@portperryunited.com
Every day gives us new and different opportunities to know the love of God and live it. This day is no different!
Our next hymn this morning is “As the Deer Pants for the Water”. Sing or read the first verse:
As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you;
you alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you.
You alone are my strength, my shield, to you alone may my spirit yield;
you alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship you!
As our moderator Richard Bott reminds us on The United Church of Canada website) “God is with us in this, and we are with each other—even when we aren’t able to be together. We are not alone.” Let us now all come together in prayer…
Holy G‑d, you come to us today as a suffering Messiah, as a teacher whose wisdom has pushed us, and challenged us, as one who offers us living water.
Like that woman at the well, may we find in you the source for our living, the reason for our being. Remind us that we cannot earn your love, but that you give it freely and lavishly to us all. Break down our walls of conceit and pride, low self-esteem and self-doubt–so that we might be more open to your unconditional love for us. So that we might live out our days in gratitude and love. Let your living water flow through us.
Holy God, we bring prayers for your world today which in need of your healing and loving touch.
We pray for those in refugee camps today.
We pray for the homeless today.
We pray for all who are sick today.
We pray for those who are dealing with chronic illnesses today.
We pray for those in long term care homes today.
We pray for those who are feeling fearful or uncertain today.
We pray for all leaders today. Keep them calm and clear thinking. Keep them loving and just.
We bring special prayers today for health care workers worldwide who are on the frontlines of working to keep us safe and working to save lives.
We bring special prayers today for Amy, Andrea, Ava, Barb, Betty, Bev, Carolyn, Jeff, Joan, John, Kyla, Laura, Morrison, Patty, Sarah, Scott, Stephanie, and Steven. And for those we name in our hearts or aloud…
And we pray for our church. May we as a congregation witness in word and in deed to your never‑failing love. May we stand with the broken, the weak, the little ones. We ask that you show us in the coming days where we can be your healing hands and loving heart.
And finally, O God, we pray for ourselves. You know our every need, our every sorrow, our every hope. Touch us now and in the Lenten Days ahead. Amen.
As we each head out into our day and week let us remember that God goes with us. Spend some time today listening to beautiful music or watching birds at a bird feeder or going out for a walk or calling a friend. And now…
Benediction
And now may the blessing of God, the
creator, the peace of God, the Christ,
and the power of God, the Holy Spirit,
abide with us now and forever. Amen.
