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THIRD
SUNDAY IN LENT
EXODUS 17:1-7
PSALM
95
ROMANS
5:1-11
JOHN
4:5-42
COLLECT
Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ gives the water of eternal life,
may we always thirst for you,
the spring of life and source of goodness;
through him who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
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A
READING FROM THE BOOK OF EXODUS
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. 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?" 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?" So Moses cried out to the Lord,
"What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to
stone me."
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. 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. He called the place
Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled and tested
the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"
EXODUS 17:1-7
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PSALM
REFRAIN Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice: harden not
your hearts.
Come,
let us sing to the Lord; let us shout for joy to the rock of our
salvation.
Let
us come before his presence with thanksgiving and raise a loud
shout to him with psalms. R
For
the Lord is a great God, and a great king above all gods.
In
his hand are the caverns of the earth, and the heights of the
hills are his also.
The
sea is his, for he made it, and his hands have molded the dry
land. R
Come,
let us bow down, and bend the knee, and 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. Oh, that to-day you would hearken to his voice! R
Harden
not your hearts, as your forebears did in the wilderness, at
Meribah, and on that day at Massah, when they tempted me.
They
put me to the test, though they had seen my works. R
Forty
years long I detested that generation and said, "This people
are wayward in their hearts; they do not know my ways."
So
I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter into my
rest." R
PSALM 95
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A
READING FROM THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, 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. And not only that, but we also boast
in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and
endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 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.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for
the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person
- though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to
die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were
sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we
have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him
from the wrath of God. 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. But more
than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.
ROMANS 5:1-11
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THE
HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
ACCORDING TO JOHN
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 worshipped
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 worshippers
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." 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?" Then
the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said
to the people, "Come and see a man who told me everything I
have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?" They left
the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples
were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said to
them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."
So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has
brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My
food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his
work. 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. The reaper is already receiving wages and is
gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may
rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and
another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not
labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their
labour." Many Samaritans from that city believed in him
because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I
have ever done." So when the Samaritans came to him, they
asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And
many more believed because of his word. 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."
JOHN 4:5-42
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PRAYER
OVER THE GIFTS
Spring of life and Source of goodness,
receive all we offer you this day,
and bring us to the living water,
Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord.
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PRAYER
AFTER COMMUNION
God of our pilgrimage,
we have found the living water.
Refresh and sustain us
as we go forth on our journey,
in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord.
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