Hybrid Church, Third Sunday in Lent, Theme:  “Healing Peace” March 12, 2023 Rev. Sally Bullas

Hybrid Church, Third Sunday in Lent, Theme:  “Healing Peace”

March 12, 2023

Rev. Sally Bullas

Musician: Dorothy Dittrich

We acknowledge these lands upon which we worship are the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.

Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey,

you are welcome here!

Welcome & Announcements

Whether you are gathering in person, on zoom or worshipping at home with the bulletin, welcome! We are one community, one in the body of Christ. 

Centering & Stillness                                                                                                                     (Jan Richardson)

Rest yourself beside this blessing and you will begin to hear the sound of water entering the gaps.  Still yourself and you will feel it rising up within you, filling every emptiness, springing forth anew.                     (invitation to sit in silence)

Introit: Spirit Dancing                                                                              VU #388 vs 5 

Spirit dancing on the waters, 
give your people their new birth, 
healing, loving one another 
in community with earth.

The Christ Candle is Lit 

One:  The light of Christ!

All:    Spring of Living Water.

Greeting
One:  The grace of Christ Jesus, the love of God, 

          and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

All:     And also with you

Opening Words                                                               (Cara Heafey,worshipwords.co.uk)

One:  Wild and restless spirit of God, accompany our Lenten journeys.

All:    Give us courage to spend time in the wilderness,
One:  the place where you bring us face to face with ourselves.

All:    Help us to pray with honesty.
          Help us to live with simplicity.
One:  Make us hungry and thirsty for your life-giving presence.

Hymn: Travel On, Travel On                                                                                   VU #647

1Travel on, travel on, there's a spirit that is flowing

a spirit that is flowing night and day.

Travel on, travel on, with the spirit that is flowing,

the spirit will be with us all the way.

Travel on, travel on, to the river that is flowing,

the spirit will be with us all the way. 

2Travel on, travel on, there's a spirit that is growing

the spirit grows like flowers night and day.

Travel on, travel on, with the spirit that is growing,

the spirit will be with us all the way.

Travel on, travel on, with the flower that is growing,

the spirit will be with us all the way.

3Travel on, travel on, there's a spirit that is playing

the spirit plays like music every day.

Travel on, travel on, with the spirit that is playing,

the spirit will be with us all the way.

Travel on, travel on, with the music that is playing,

the spirit will be with us all the way.

4In the kingdom of heaven is our end and our beginning,

the road that we must travel every day.

Travel on, travel on, to the kingdom that is coming,

the kingdom will be with us all the way,

Travel on travel on, to the kingdom that is coming,

the kingdom will be with us all the way.

Opening Prayer                                                                       (Ana Gobledale, worshipwords.co.uk) 

One:  God, are you with us?  We seek assurance.

All:    Like the Israelites at Massah we desire proof.

One:  Like the people of Meribah we ache for assurance beyond words,

All:    something we can see and touch.

One:  Forgive our testiness and fickle faith.

All:    Renew our commitment to hold fast.

One:  Strengthen our belief in your mysterious presence.

All:    Shatter the stoniness of our resistance.

One:  Break forth as water from a rock,

All:    filling our minds to overflowing with your being.

          Amen.

(time to reflect)

Passing of the Peace

One:       The peace of Christ be with you! 

All:         And also with you!

You are invited to turn to those directly around you and share Christ’s peace. Those on zoom, please unmute and share with one another.

Reader: By the gift of your Spirit, calm and quiet our souls that we may hear your Word today and be lifted up to walk with you. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen

First Reading: Exodus 17:1-7 (NRSV)                                       Reader: Tim Leadem

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?’

Psalm 95 (VU #814 Part 1)                                                           Reader: Tim Leadem

Refrain

Come, let us bow down and worship, let us kneel before God our maker                            

O come, let us sing to God,

          let us shout with joy to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come into God’s presence with thanksgiving;

          let us joyously shout to God with songs of praise.   R

For you are a great God,

          high sovereign above all gods.

In your hand are the depths of the earth;

          to you belong the heights of the mountains.

The sea is yours, for you made it;

          your hands also formed the dry land.

You are indeed our God;

          we are your people, the flock that you shepherd.   R

Gospel Reading:                                                                               Reader: Tim Leadem

As is your custom, please stand or sit for the reading of the gospel. 

Reader: God be with you.  
All:    And also with you

Reader: The Good News of Jesus the Christ according to John

All:     Glory to you, Christ Jesus.

John 4:5-42 (NRSV)

So he 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 for 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.’        

Reader: This is the Gospel of Christ.   

All: Praise be to Jesus Christ       

Reflection:                       “Grace is a Listening Ear”

Silent Reflection

Lenten Theme: Forward in Faith – Step by Step

Third Sunday in Lent: “Healing Peace”

In the name of the Holy One, our call to ministry is achieved step by step.  Our Lenten journey places us one step after another on a pathway towards the unfolding of God’s “Kin-dom Come.”  Christ Church Gabriola is on the journey.  Our ministries bear witness to our discipleship and following in Jesus’ way.  This Third Sunday of Lent is all about heart work.  The CCG Pastoral Care Committee’s ministry (Paddy Waymark, Chair) responds to those many things in our lives that bear upon us…sometimes wearing us down, pushing our edges, causing us pain, suffering and sadness.  While the focus is often on life’s struggles, Pastoral Care ministry is also with us in our celebrations as well as our sorrows.  There are many ways to experience Jesus’ healing peace.  As a ministry of listening, Pastoral Care ministry is one way to experience the hand and ear of God’s healing love.  As a ministry of presence, it is a knowing that someone is paying attention and cares for a person’s wellbeing, no matter what it is that is impacting them in the moment.  At the conclusion of today’s Lenten “story,” a stepping stone representing the healing peace of this ministry will be placed at the front of the church.  

Hymn: The Care the Eagle Gives Her Young                                         VU #269

1The care the eagle gives her young, 

safe in her lofty nest,

is like the tender love of God 

for us made manifest.

2As when the time to venture comes,

she stirs them out to flight,

so we are pressed to boldly try, 

to strive for daring height.

3And if we flutter helplessly, 

as fledgling eagles fall,

beneath us lift God's mighty wings 

to bear us, one and all.

A New Creed                         

Let us affirm our faith . . . 

We are not alone,

    we live in God’s world.

 We believe in God:

    who has created and is creating,

    who has come in Jesus,

       the Word made flesh,

       to reconcile and make new,

    who works in us and others

       by the Spirit.

We trust in God. 

We are called to be the Church:

    to celebrate God’s presence,

    to live with respect in Creation,

    to love and serve others,

    to seek justice and resist evil,

    to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,

       our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,

    God is with us.

We are not alone.

    Thanks be to God.

Offering Invitation

Doxology                                                                                                                                        CP #669

Praise God the Source of life and birth,

Praise God the Word, who came to earth.

Praise God the Spirit, holy flame.

All Glory, honour to God’s name.

Offering Prayer                                            (Fiona Crowther, worshipwords.co.uk, adapted)

One:  Almighty God, you light up the way for us.  

All:    Help us to see our path and our purpose as we journey in                       this season of Lent.

One:  Help us all to re-commit our lives to you,

All:    and take your love out of this place and into the wider world.

Prayers of the People                                                         Paddy Waymark                                                                       

One:  Loving Saviour,

All:    Hear Our Prayers

The Prayer of Jesus (sung)                                                                                        VU #959

Our Father in heaven, 

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come, 

your will be done

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil,

for the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,

now and for ever.

Benediction                                                                                                               (faithandworship.com) 

The peace of God be in your heart
The grace of God be in your words
The love of God be in your hands
The joy of God be in your soul
and in the song that your life sings.

Hymn: Spirit Dancing                                                                                                             VU #388

1 Spirit dancing on the waters,

sun reflecting song of grace

calling life to all the creatures

giving life to human race.

2 Spirt dancing on the waters,

naming moment they should part,

giving freedom to the peoples,

signed for all in dancer’s art.

3Spirit dancing on the waters,

paradox of womb and grave,

welcome now the Word child’s coming,

no one prisoner, no one slave.

4Spirit dancing on the waters,

can the dance by cross be stilled?

Earth be shaken! Dead awaken!

What was emptied shall be filled.

5Spirit dancing on the waters, 

give your people their new birth,

healing, loving one another

in community with earth.

6Spirit dancing on the waters,

we would come and dance with you

‘til our world is filled with music

and in Christ all things are new.

Thank You

Blessing                                                                                (Stephen Best, worshipwords.co.uk)                                                                                                                                                                           

if you are with another person, you are invited to bless each other, taking every other line.

One:  God of life and wholeness, God within, around, and beyond,
Right/ Zoom: fill our minds with wonder, our hearts with love
One:  and make us thirsty for trusting beyond where we can see,
Left:  so our worship can inspire and transform us
One:  and help us travel with relevance today

All:      in the way of Gospel gladness.