Collect, Readings and Prayers for the Third Sunday of Lent

Collect

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.

Readings

Exodus 17:1-7

Water from the Rock

17 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. ² 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?’ ³ 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?’ ⁴ So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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. ⁷ He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’

Romans 5:1-11

Results of Justification

5 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² 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. ³ And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ 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.

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

John 4:5-42

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 worshipped on this mountain, but you 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 worshippers 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, 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, can he?’ ³⁰ They left the city and were on their way to him.

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

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 for 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 Saviour of the world.

Prayers

Let us come to the Lord in hope,

Let us pray to the Lord in faith

And let us hold to the Lord throughout our lives.

• The psalmist writes:
  “I call on the Lord in my distress,

  and he answers me.”
  Lord, we call to you in our distress.
  and trust you to answer us.

Lord, we lift up the people of the Middle East before you at this perilous time.
We call to you for mercy and peace.
Bring comfort to the bereaved, bring an end to violence.
 

We pray for the church in the countries affected by the war,
give strength to use their hands for healing,
and courage to speak truth, justice and love.
 

We pray for world leaders,
guide their responses to this crisis,
may hope and grace triumph over fear and hate.
 

     God of peace,

God of love,

We lift our fears our sorrows and our hopes to you.

Have mercy on our world,

have mercy on the Middle East.

Lord, we call to you in our distress

and trust you to answer us.  Amen.

• Gracious God, we lift up to You the people of Iran, who are caught in the deep shadows of war, unrest, and suffering. Where there is hatred grown in their streets and communities, we ask You to sow the seeds of Your enduring love. As we pray for an end to the conflict in Iran, we also ask You to heal the unrest within our own hearts. Strip away our personal resentments, our quickness to anger, and our own inner battles. Amen

•  O Lord, you are the rock of our salvation; we pray for ourselves that you may help us to turn from our sins and seek your righteousness. We pray that we may be like the Samaritan woman, leaving behind our old ways to witness to the saving power of Jesus. and we pray for all who are searching for meaning, that they may encounter the living water that quenches all thirst. Amen

• Lord often our violence is rooted in our inner conflicts and our unfinished attempts to grow up. Where once we fought in the school playground, now we fight in our marriages and offices and committees. By your Spirit, help us to grow in grace so that we can put things in perspective, step back from the brink of conflict and speak your words of peace. We call to mind an area of conflict in which we have some involvement or where we could be a peacemaker,  and we ask for the wisdom and strength of your Spirit to be an agent of peace in that situation. Amen

• God of all beauty, whose will it is that all your creatures should enjoy the world and the life you have given us; we know that there are many who are unable to do this through hunger, poverty, disease, oppression, ignorance or sin.  Let us never rest content in your joys until we have done everything in our power and by your grace, to help others to share them also.  Amen

• Lord of Lent, look with compassion on those whose minds are full of anxiety and bewilderment. We remember people who are lonely, imprisoned, despairing and humiliated. Clear away from them all unnecessary feelings of fear, guilt and self-hatred . Turn your healing love towards them and towards all who are sick and in pain today. We bring those known to us to mind now – remove from them, we pray, those things which hurt and harm them and fill them with the knowledge of your presence and your promise that you will never leave us or forsake us.  Amen.

• Lord, in the week of the Annual Meeting of Ashby Youth for Christ, we lift up the Youth for Christ organization. We pray that You will empower those who work or volunteer for them so that they may be enabled to come alongside young people and build up relationships with them, reaching them with the Good News of the Gospel and so transforming their lives by bringing them into a lasting relationship with Jesus. Amen

• Loving Father, So many times I turn away from you and always you welcome me back. Your mercy and love gives me confidence Thank you for the invitation this Lent to share, fast and pray so that you can form a new heart within me. Your powerful compassion for my weaknesses leads me to ask for mercy and await with great hope the Easter joy you share with us. May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life Amen