Cycle A Lent 3

3/23/2014  Confession

Sunday Title:  Question Sunday

Sermon Title: “Is the Lord with us or not?”

Previously:

Sunday Title:  Need Sunday

Sermon Title: “Wants vs. Needs”

Sunday Title:  Desert Sunday

Sermon Title: “Water in the Desert”

Sunday Title:  Water Sunday

Sermon Title: “The Basic Thirst”

Exodus 17:1-7 ...‘Why do you test the Lord?’ 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?’

-or-

Moses…called the place Massah (test) and Meribah, (quarrel)

because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord saying,

“Is the Lord among us or not?”

Psalm 95 O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”

Romans 5:1-11 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

John 4:5-42 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’ 

-or-

 “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.”

All may make the sign of the cross in remembrance of baptism

as the presiding minister begins:

P:  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen

P:  From our wilderness of sin let us make our confession to the God who knows everything we have ever done. (pause)

  O Lord...

C: you know what we thirst for,

and it is not your righteousness.

  You know how we cling to the ways of old,

without regard for the evil in them,

  and how we reject even your living water

    because it means change.

Lord you know in our hour of greatest need

  we find a quarrel

  instead of turning to your faithfulness.

Save us Lord from the sins we know in our heart.

Save us Lord from the sins we hide.

     (pause for reflection and self-examination)

P:  Lord you are a great God...

C: the rock of our salvation. Amen

P:  For the Lord who made all the earth and freed God’s people from slavery has offered us a hope in sharing the glory of God. God proves love for us, that while we were still sinners Christ died for us, that we might be saved through him. (For Christ's sake our sins are forgiven)And God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. In the name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen. -wjw

P:  The peace of the Lord be with you always!

C: And also with you!

-or-

P:  In the Name of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen

P:  The Lord is our Maker

C: and our provider.

P:  Shall we bring our parched lives before God. (pause)

  Merciful God...

C: we live in a spiritual wasteland,

and thirst for pleasures that do not satisfy.

  We grumble about the life we are given,

    and complain throughout your greatest gifts.

We suffer the tyranny of the urgent,

  allowing crisis to direct our days,

    and fatigue to set our nights.

So rarely are we ready to accept your grace

  maybe because we know our way but not your way..

Forgive the sin we recognize.

Save us from the sin we shroud. (pause for reflection and self-examination)

P:  The Lord our Maker does indeed provide all our needs. Even to call us out of the desert we make. Though God knows all our sin he chooses to redeem. For this God has sent his Son to give us the living water. (For Christ's sake our sins are forgiven) When we receive the living God we may become true worshipers, in Spirit and truth. To the glory of the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen. -wjw

P:  The peace of the Lord be with you always!

C: And also with you!

during Lent the Absolution may be withheld