Lent 3a

Overview

Scripture for the Day:

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

Liturgical Color:

1st Reading

 Exodus 17:1-7 (NIV)

The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”

3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lordsaying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. NIV®. COPYRIGHT © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Psalm

 Psalm 95 (NIV)

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.

3 For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.

6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
7 for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.

Today, if only you would hear his voice,
8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
10 For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. NIV®. COPYRIGHT © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

2nd Reading

 Romans 5:1-11 (NIV)

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith,we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. NIV®. COPYRIGHT © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Gospel

 John 4:5-42 (NIV)

5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is comingwhen you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now comewhen the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.41 And because of his words many more became believers.

42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. NIV®. COPYRIGHT © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Contemporary Song Suggestions for the Day: 

 WE HUNGER AND THIRST Alex Couch \ Dave Fournier \ George Romanacce | 2011 | CCLI Song #6169277

 I NEED YOU NOW  Jonas Myrin \ Matt Redman \ Scott Ligertwood | 2013 | CCLI Song #7000694

 ALL IS WELL  Casey Corum \ John Barnett \ Ryan Delmore | 2011 | CCLI Song #6077888

 I LAY ME DOWN  Michael Farren \ Michael W. Smith \ Seth Mosley | 2014 | CCLI Song #7019324

 ALL MY FOUNTAINS  Chris Tomlin \ Christy Nockels \ Daniel Carson \ Nathan Nockels | 2011 | CCLI Song #5925670

 FILL ME UP  Don Poythress \ Jared Anderson | 2009 | CCLI Song #5366693

 ALL WHO ARE THIRSTY  Brenton Brown \ Glenn Robertson | 1998 | CCLI Song #2489542

 OH HOW I LOVE YOU  Chris Quilala \ Ian McIntosh | 2012 | CCLI Song #6514561

 PRAISE IS THE OFFERING  Glenn Packiam \ Shannon Alford \ Sion Alford | 2010 | CCLI Song #5783647

 PRAISE LIKE FIREWORKS  Rend Collective Experiment | 2011 | CCLI Song #6186023

 WONDERFUL GOD  Paul Baloche \ Rita Baloche | 2008 | CCLI Song #5584970

 OH YOU BRING  Matt Crocker | 2008 | CCLI Song #5371341

 LIKE THE MORNING SUN  Brandon Collins \ Jennie Lee Riddle \ Sean Carter \ Travis Ryan | 2014 | CCLI Song #7013120

 FOREVER WE WORSHIP  Aaron Lucas | 2007 | CCLI Song #5101597

 YOU ARE THE ONE  Jennie Lee Riddle \ Sean Carter  | 2012 | CCLI Song #6479170

 BEAUTIFUL KING  Chad Cates \ Jonathan Lee \ Matt Underwood | 2007 | CCLI Song #5000368

 BECAUSE OF YOUR LOVE  Brenton Brown \ Paul Baloche | 2006 | CCLI Song #4662501

 THE NEW SONG WE SING  Jason Ingram \ Keith Everette Smith \ Meredith Andrews | 2007 | CCLI Song #5135587

 MY GOD  Jon Egan \ Kari Jobe \ Mia Fieldes | 2012 | CCLI Song #6151742

 SWEETLY BROKEN  Jeremy Riddle | 2005 | CCLI Song #4514635

 ALL THE POOR AND POWERLESS  David Leonard \ Leslie Jordan | 2011 | CCLI Song #5881130

 YOU GAVE YOUR LIFE  Laura Story | 2013 | CCLI Song #7003276

 WE ARE SAVED  Ben Fielding \ Jason Ingram \ Paul Baloche | 2010 | CCLI Song #5880588

 THE POWER OF YOUR NAME  Lincoln Brewster \ Mia Fieldes | 2008 | CCLI Song #5200900

 LOVE LIKE RAIN  Daniel Doss | 2005 | CCLI Song #4592190

 TASTE AND SEE  Paul Baloche \ Rita Baloche | 2002 | CCLI Song #3685266

 OPEN HANDS  James Tealy \ Matt Papa | 2009 | CCLI Song #5618822

 CARRIER Jared Anderson | 2009 | CCLI Song #5502725

 THE WELL  Adam Smucker \ Jeremy Scott \ Kim-Maree Janzen | 2016 | CCLI Song #7068775

 THE FEAST OF LIFE Evan Shelton | 2012 | CCLI Song #6152923

 THE WELL  Mark Hall \ Matthew West | 2011 | CCLI Song #6093707

 COME JUST AS YOU ARE  Joseph Sabolick | 1993 | CCLI Song #1189479

 KINDNESS  Chris Tomlin \ Jesse Reeves \ Louie Giglio | 2000 | CCLI Song #3028373

 DEEP CRIES OUT  Christiann Koepke \ William Matthews | 2010 | CCLI Song #5858156

 This week’s worshipcurrent pick for Holy Communion/Eucharist
 Found exclusively on worshipcurrent

Hymn Suggestions for the Day:

 YOU SATISFY THE HUNGRY HEART  Omer Westendorf \ Robert E. Kreutz | 1977 Archdiocese of Philadelphia | Hymnary

 JOYFUL JOYFUL WE ADORE YOU  Henry Van Dyke \ Ludwig van Beethoven | Public Domain | CCLI Song #25321 | Hymnary

 GLORIOUS THINGS OF THEE ARE SPOKEN  Franz Joseph Haydn \ John Newton | Public Domain | CCLI Song #99371 | Hymnary

 HELP US ACCEPT EACH OTHER  Fred Kaan | 1975, 1977 Hope Publishing | CCLI Song #1515081 | Hymnary

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About W. Zachary Taylor

W. Zachary Taylor is the founder and lead curator of worshipcurrent.com, worship leader, songwriter, producer, organist, and consultant in his twenty-fifth year of worship music ministry. He loves challenging worship music professionals to design deeply meaningful worship experiences, healing broken ministries, pushing boundaries, and helping others. He can typically be found somewhere in Minneapolis - usually in a studio, church, or office of some kind. Zachary currently serves as Worship & Music Director at Atonement Lutheran Church in Bloomington, MN and Alternative Worship Music Minister at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in West St. Paul, MN.

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