FOLLOWINGTHE LEAD OF JESUS
Lent is, first of all, about God baptizing us into a life of faithful discipleship. Lent attests to the power of the cross through word and water, bread and wine to conform the lives of God’s people to the image of Christ. Lent prepares us and leads us to the life-giving cross which ends not in death but resurrection. The tone of this Lenten order of worship—in the midst of its call to turn, repent, and be cleansed of sin— is one of promise and hope. Sunday after Sunday the Scripture Readings reflect God’s promises. These promises are centered in the fact that God sends Jesus not to condemn the world but to invite, seek, heal, and raise those entombed in tradition, culture, sickness, and death. Over and over we will see, hear, touch, and taste, how the impossible difficulties of sin are met with the promise of God’s saving action.
CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION
WE REMEMBER OUR BAPTISMS, CONFESS OUR FAITHLESSNESS,
AND HEAR GOD’S FAITHFUL PROMISE OF FORGIVENESS
Pastor: Let us return to our gracious and merciful God,
remembering God’s life-giving promises declared at our baptisms,
and confessing our need for God’s continual healing.
Ever-loving God,
People: through the gift of baptism
you give new birth to your children
by water and the Spirit.
Yet we seem to remember only that we
come from dust and return to dust.
We forget that we are also born from grace.
We prefer to hide in our darkness,
rather than receive your gracious light and life.
We thirst for all those things and desires that can never satisfy.
We are blind to all the ways you invite us to come and see your goodness.
We wander from your promises and
find ourselves entombed in the ways of death.
We use your gifts to our own ends,
are reluctant to share these gifts with others,
and treat the gifts of your creation with carelessness.
Turn us again, O God.
Renew us.
Forgive us our sin,
and gather us again into your abundant life.
Pastor: A world cut off from God can never hope to be a place of life.
But God is not cut off from us.
God so loved the world that having sent the Son, Jesus,
we are gathered into God’s embrace of forgiveness and abundant
life.
We are reconciled to God.
Once lost, we are now found.
Once dead in sin we are now alive.
For the sake of Jesus Christ,
I declare to you the good news that
grace, mercy, forgiveness, and peace are yours.
People: Amen.
GATHERING
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S CALL WITH PRAISE AND PRAYER,
AND PREPARE TO HEAR GOD’S WORD OF LIFE
GREETING
Pastor: From our God who loves us with an everlasting love
who brings forth a new creation in Christ,
who leads us by the Spirit in the wilderness,
grace, love and abundant peace be with you all.
People: And also with you
KYRIE [click on the link below] https://youtu.be/b8WdyJHLUgg
Kyrie eleison Lord have mercy,
Christe eleison Christ have mercy
Kyrie eleison Lord have mercy
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Pastor: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Pastor: Let us pray:
People: Merciful God, the fountain of living water, you quench our thirst and wash away our sin. Give us this water always. Bring us to drink from the well that flows with the beauty of your truth through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
WORD
THE CHURCH HEARS THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD ACTING
IN THIS AND EVERY TIME AND PLACE
FIRST READING
Exodus 17:1-7
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 quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’
SECOND READING
Romans 5:1-11
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.
THE GOSPEL
Pastor: The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the fourth chapter.
People: Glory to you, O Lord.
John 4:5-42 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.’
Pastor: The Gospel of the Lord.
People: Praise to you, O Christ.
SERMON
[click on the link below]
HYMN OF THE DAY
“Come to Me, All Pilgrims Thirsty”
[click on the link below]
(Lyrics are on video)
APOSTLES’ CREED
Pastor: Let us confess our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed.
All: I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord.
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
TODAY IN OUR PRAYERS
Bill, Carol, Curtis, and Christine Buchkowsky, Teri Peterson, Wayne Turner, Janet Gregory, Marge McMillan, Kyrie Parimi, Doris Turner, Hilda Anderson, Linda Wolfe, Naomi, Bev Gregory, Dale Robinson, Audrey Hedlin, Mona Neher, Oma Ywo, Owen Peterson, Helga Halldorsdottir, Evaline Sanders, Wayne Andre, Pat Sarich, Lauren and Brandon Pelletier and baby Grace, the family of Norm Gregory, the family of baby Mavrick Gallant (Bev Gregory’s great-grandson), the family of Katherine Meger (Joshua Bratvold’s great grandmother), the family of Lois Jenkins (Ann Salmon’s mother), the family of John Beaven (Bev Gregory’s brother), and the family of Carl Rausch.
We remember the missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada, the children and people buried in unmarked graves at residential schools and First Nation lands, and all those who have suffered the trauma of residential schools, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the people of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Yemen, Venezuela, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, the Palestinians and Israelis, Ethiopia and Tigray, Myanmar and the Rohingya Muslim refugees, Lebanon, all at the Mexico/United States border seeking refuge, the 100 million refugees and displaced persons, the people of Haiti suffering from political disasters, the victims and communities in Turkey and Syria devastated by earthquake, the people of New Zealand recovering from a cyclone, the victims and families of the train crash in Greece, the victims of the mass shooting in Hamburg, Germany, those in the United States, Canada, and throughout the world caught up in racism and injustice and the resulting violence, and those throughout the world, in Canada, in our province, and in our community still threatened by the coronavirus and the many omicron variants.
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE OF FAITH
[The congregational response after each petition is: “ GRANT US YOUR PEACE.”]
Pastor: As we journey with Jesus to the cross, the tree of life, witnessing to the transformation of life that comes with faith, repentance and forgiveness, let us pray for the renewal of the Church and the restoration of the whole world to the life of God, saying, “O God, in your compassion” and responding, “Grant us your peace.”
Petitioner: Merciful God, we thirst for your grace and forgiveness. Give us this grace always through scripture, baptism, and the holy supper that awash in grace we might seek out those who, knowingly or not, thirst for the grace that only Christ can provide, that like the Samaritan woman, they may find living water and that renewed by this living water we might all become vessels of your redeeming love to the world. O God, in your compassion …
Petitioner: God of wisdom, Jesus once welcomed an outcast woman because of her need and renewed her with the living water of faith. Give us faith like hers, that we also may trust only in your love for us and may accept one another as we have been accepted by you. Satisfy the thirst of all who long for you, move us all to draw deeply from your well of hope. O God, in your compassion …
Petitioner: Righteous God, drench the earth with your peace, bring peace to all nations who are now caught up in violence and hostility and those seeking refuge in the United States and Canada. Turn hostility into hospitality for all peoples, bring aid and care to the hungry, poor, and oppressed, so that mercy, peace, and justice might reach to the ends of the earth. O God, in your compassion …
Pastor: Comforting God, your grace sustains all whose hearts are broken and you supply every human need. Bless all who are parched by doubt, despair, illness, conflict, loss, and grief. We remember especially before you …. Refresh them with your comfort , strength, and healing. O God, in your compassion …
Petitioner: God of new life, renew the creation and give all people water for life, for deep wells and safe sewer systems; for acid-free rain and radiation-free water, for plastic-free and oil-free oceans, lakes and rivers; for clean and abundant drinking water for every living creature. Renew all people that the goodness of creation might bear witness to your love for all that is yours. O God, in your compassion …
Petitioner: Praiseworthy God, renew your people through our baptism when we seem to be drowning in complacency, fear, doubt, and sin. Shower us with your promises, assure us, give us faith, may the decisions and elections made at our Annual Meeting be a calling to us to follow your will. Deepen our care for one another as we reach out to those who are absent or experiencing difficult circumstances. Empower us to be your light, salt, and the body of Christ in this community. O God, in your compassion …
Petitioner: Sustaining God, Jesus through his suffering death shows us a new way of love and invites us to love one another as he loves us. Plant this Word in our hearts, so that in its power and love, our love may not grow cold in your service, nor that we may be tempted to fail, deny, or leave you, but in faith, cling to the cross and its way to life.
O God, in your compassion…
Pastor: Gracious God, hear us as we pray. As you have made us and redeemed us, so now sustain us with your hope, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
People: Amen.
THANKSGIVING
THE COMMUNITY PRAISES GOD FOR THE GRACIOUS GIFTS OF CREATION
AND THE SAVING DEEDS OF JESUS CHRIST
THE GREETING AND SHARING OF PEACE
Pastor: Sisters and brothers, rejoice, encourage one another, live in peace.
God through Christ has given us the gift of reconciliation.
People: Therefore, let us be reconciled to God and to one another.
Pastor: The peace of the Christ be with you always.
People: And also with you.
(If with others greet one another with a gesture of peace, using these or similar words: “Christ’s peace be with you.”)
THE OFFERING
(We worship God with the offering of our selves, our time, our talents, and our possessions.)
OFFERTORY SONG
“Create In Me”
[click on the link below]
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
Let me be like you in all my ways.
Give me your strength,
Teach me your song,
Shelter me in the shadow of your wings.
For we are your righteousness.
If we die to ourselves and live through your death,
We shall be born again to be blessed in your love.
OFFERTORY PRAYER
Pastor: Let us pray.
God our abundant Giver,
People: you provide us with every gift of creation,
and you quench our thirst with living water.
You have not fed us with bread alone,
but with words of grace and life.
Receive these tokens of your goodness to us.
May our lives be bread for the hungry
and streams in the wilderness,
signs of the abundance of your grace
in Jesus Christ. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Pastor: Lord, remember us in your kingdom, and teach us to pray:
People: 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 forever. Amen.
SENDING
ALL RECEIVE THE BLESSING OF GOD, LEAVE IN PEACE,
AND ARE SENT OUT TO SERVE
BENEDICTION
Pastor: God give you the strength to raise up the cross of Christ,
wisdom to follow in the cross of Christ,
and the guidance of the Spirit to carry the cross of Christ
into our world.
People: Amen.
CLOSING HYMN
“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
[click on the link below]
Come Thou fount of every blessing Tune my heart to sing Thy grace Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious sonnet Sung by flaming tongues above Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it Mount of Thy redeeming love
Here I raise my Ebenezer Hither by Thy help I come And I hope by Thy good pleasure Safely to arrive at home Jesus sought me when a stranger Wandering from the fold of God He to rescue me from danger Interposed His precious blood
Oh, to grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be Let Thy goodness like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to Thee Prone to wander, Lord I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Here’s my heart, Lord take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above
DISMISSAL
Pastor: Reconciled to God through the life-giving cross of Christ,
let us go out into the world in peace..
People: Thanks be to God.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
TODAY AT KOG
THIS WEEK AT KOG – Thursday, March 6, Bev Gregory is hosting (154 Arrand Crescent) quilt-making bees every Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. – Thursday, March 16, Bible Study, “A Short History of Grace,” 7:30 p.m. Hosted by Karen McKenzie. We meet in Pastor Michael’s home, 1010 Duke Street.
COMING UP AT KOG – Sunday March 19, Annual General Meeting. Potluck at 5:00 p.m. Meeting at 5:30, Worship at 7:00 – Wednesday, March 22, Women’s Breakfast Out, at 10:00 a.m. – Saturday, March 25, Men’s Breakfast Out at Mulberry’s Restaurant 2326 B Millar Avenue, 8:30 a.m. – Tuesday, March 30, Church Council meeting via Zoom, 7:30 p.m. – Sunday, April 2, Coffee Social after the service. Host needed. – Thursday, April 6, Bible Study, “A Short History of Grace,” 7:30 p.m. Host needed. We meet in Pastor Michael’s home, 1010 Duke Street.
February, March, and Year-to-Date Budget and Contribution Report for KOG
2023 Budget: $50,471 Monthly Budget: $4,260 Weekly Budget: $971
2023 income/expenses: $4,479.08
January income/expenses: -4,453.08
Weekly contributions for February: February 5: $13,050 February 12: $250
February 19 and 26: $140
Weekly contributions for March: March 5: $740
“A Short History of Grace”. This Bible and theology study looks at the ways grace is interpreted from the time of the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, through St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther and to contemporary theologies of liberation.
Emergency Appeal – Earthquake in Türkiye and Syria: Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR), along with other leading Canadian aid agencies in the Humanitarian Coalition, is appealing for funds to assist those in need in Turkey and Syria affected by the earthquake and to support rescue efforts. Our focus right now is to provide blankets, shelter, life-saving clean water, food and healthcare. Please give what you can by donating at clwr.org/earthquake or by calling 1-800-661-2597 (office hours Mon-Fri, 9 am-4 pm), and pray for all those who are affected.
LENTEN SCHEDULE
WEEKHOSTPREACHERStart timeWeek #3 (March 15) Resurrection Good Shepherd7:30 PMWeek #4 (March 22) Good Shepherd Zion7:30 PMWeek #5 (March 29) Redeemer Resurrection7:30 PM
St. David’s Trinity United Church
IRISH STEW SUPPER
Saturday, March 18th
Takeaway Meal Tickets: $20
(Curbside Pick-up from 3:30-5:00)
Extra dinner rolls and cookies are provided for
children’s shared meals.
Meal includes 12 oz. beef stew, soda bread, shamrock cookie
OR: Sit down Meal at 5:30 p.m.: $25
Sit-down meal also includes
dessert & coffee, tea, juice
Gluten free options are available.
You may order your tickets through Interac e-transfer to st.davidstrinityuc@sasktel.net or by cash or cheque during office hours
at 306 978-0707
(catered by Mulberry’s Catering)
St. David’s Trinity United Church
Music, Meditation and Muffins
Join us for 30 minutes of quiet reflection
every Wed. morning at 10:00 a.m.
for the 6 weeks of Lent (starting Feb. 22nd).
You are invited to stay for coffee to enjoy your muffin following your quiet time,
or you may take it home to enjoy.
Offerings.
(Please no cash for mail security reasons)
Send your contributions to: King of Glory Lutheran Church
3318 Merritt Street
Saskatoon, SK S7M 3P6
Thank you for your generosity.
King of Glory Lutheran Church 