Lent 3.
Call to Worship
If you are thirsty, you are in the right place.
Here for us is personal refreshment from the depths of that most profound well-spring that we call God.
The God of Christ Jesus, the God of the church, who quenches the thirst of those who come in trust. saying, blessed are those who thirst, for they shall be satisfied.
In the name of Christ Jesus I welcome you all.
Song: Glorious things of thee are spoken
Prayer of thanksgiving
We give you all thanks and praise, O God, for you are our saviour, our rock, the shepherd who leads us with care.
You formed the earth by hand and brought forth all things from nothing.
You led your people to freedom and provided them with living water, and the law and prophets to guide them.
You sent your Son, Jesus, to reconcile us to yourself. While we were still sinners, he proved your love for us in dying for us. You raised him that we might be saved through his life, and drink from the spring of living water that gushes up for eternal life.
Through your Holy Spirit poured into our hearts, you have given us access to grace and formed in us endurance, character and hope that we might worship you in spirit and truth and share in your eternal glory.
We offer you thanks and praise through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen.
Prayers of forgiveness:
Let us pray to that Jesus may be the source of life to all
(PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, spring of living water,
give us always that water that purifies our heart of the things we carry that make us feel unclean.
Jesus Christ, spring of living water,
give us the water that makes our faith grow : forgive us our apathy and indifference to the things of God.
Lord Jesus, spring of living water,
give us the water that that quenches our thirst for the fullness of your life and love :
Have mercy on us, Lord. and give us the living water
of your gentle forgiveness. May we know your cleansing and your refreshment.
Water your life in us and let it well up to everlasting life. Amen.
The Lords Prayer.
Notices and Offering
Song: Jesus, Name above All names
Service of Baby Blessing: Tia Louise Griffiths Small
Introduction
In the name of Jesus we welcome today Darren and Judith with their daughter Tia and members of their wider family and friends.
Darren and Judith are here to present their child before the Lord, as Jesus was presented in the Temple by his parents. In so doing they recognise that Tia is not their personal property but belongs also to God, and that as parents they have responsibilities before God. In their promises they will commit themselves to fulfil those responsibilities.
Curtis and Nadia, are the special friends chosen by Darren and Judith who will promise to nurture and encourage Tia throughout her life.
And as a church, we shall welcome Tia on behalf of the Church of Christ as Jesus welcomed children brought to him. Also we shall promise in the presence of God to offer our support and friendship to this child and her family, and to join with Darren and Judith in sharing our faith in Jesus Christ in the hope that she may one day discover such a faith for herself.
Finally, we shall ask God’s blessing on Tia.
First some verses from Matthew's Gospel 18: 3-4.
Jesus said: Truly, I tell you, unless you turn round and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever humbles himself and becomes like this child will be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven”.
Let us pray:
The Promise: The parents are asked by the minister:
Minister Darren and Judith do you thank God for his gift of your child, and do you accept the joys and duties of parenthood, promising to give love and care to your child?
Parents We do.
Minister Do you promise to bring your daughter up within the Christian community and to share your own faith with her?
Parents We do.
Minister What names have you given to your daughter?
Parents Tia Louise Griffiths Small
Minister then takes the child from the mother and going to the centre of the church, says:
Minister Tia Louise Griffiths Small I welcome you in the name of the Lord.
(Show her to the congregation)
Turn to Godparents:
Minister Do you Curtis and Nadia, as Tia's God parents accept the privilege and responsibility of Godparent to Tia. To stand with Darren and Judith and help them in every way you can and to join with them in the nurturing and encouragement of this little one.
Godparents: We do!
Blessing- Placing hand on the child’s head, the leader says:
Minister over the child
Tia Louise Griffiths Small, the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26
..... you are one of God’s children, held forever in his love. The blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, rest and remain with you now and always.
Minister gives Baby back to Father:
Celtic Blessing: Christ as a light, illumine and guide me. Christ as a shield, overshadow me. Christ under me, Christ over me, Christ beside me on my left and my right, this day be within and without me. Lowly and meek, yet all powerful, be in the heart of each to whom I speak, in the mouth of each who speaks to me. This day be within and without me. Lowly and meek, yet all powerful, Christ as a light, Christ as a shield, Christ beside me on my left and my right. Amen. …
Prayer of Thanksgiving
God our Father, maker of all that is living, we praise you for the wonder and joy of creation. We thank you for the love that has summoned this child into being, for a safe delivery, and for the privilege of parenthood. Accept our thanks and praise; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We ask your rich blessing on Tia on her parents Darren and Judith, on the Godparents, Curtis and Nadia and on this family of faith that is Leytonstone United Free Church. We pray that you will surround Tia with love and security. Give her parents grace and wisdom to teach Tia your truth and guide her in your ways; and through their love for this child may they learn to love you more.
We commend to you this home and family, and all the homes and families represented ere this day. Help us in our homes to honour you and to serve one another in your love, and help us to care in Christ’s name for all who are one with us in the family of His church, and for all our neighbours. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Song: Amazing Grace
(Children Go to Junior Church)
Bible Readings Ex 17: 1-7; Keith Hardy
John 4: 5-42. Nelsia Hardy
Song: As the deer pants for the water
Sermon: Introduction:
First pic Book cover
There's a Professor Hendricks, at New York Theological Seminary who has written a book entitled Living water..It’s a book about the Biblical story of the woman at the well which is one of the best-known parables in Christian theology. Scripture recounts how a Samaritan woman offered a cup of water to a thirsty stranger at a well, before knowing that this stranger was, in fact, Jesus.
Hendricks has tried to portray her in his own culture, as an African American.He asks questions about her place in the community, and her relationships with others. He attempts to retell the story majoring in the issues that are raised here, rather than the particular settings, telling us that the issues raised in this story are so very relevant today.
He sees the issues as:
He challenges us to look again at this story and take a deeper and more intimate look on all the relationships involved here. Relationships between Jesus and the woman, and the woman her five husbands, and the man she was currently with. Relationships between the disciples and the woman, and between Christ and his disciples. To look again at the struggle of women for a place in society. Look again at the legacy of oppression, which results in the inability to love our self and love one another.
Wow……there is so much in this story, that it's good to take another look at it this morning.
Pic: Sad woman
But let's think for a moment – if we were writing a novel and set this story in our time, where would the point of meeting be? In the checkout que in Tesco; The post office? The Bank? Sat quietly in the Pub?Who would the woman be? Who are the outcasts in our community?Who would be the other women who avoided her?Who would be like the disciples, who disapproved? Where would you be in this story? Just have a think for a moment. How is this story retold in our community, where Jesus comes to the most unlikely candidates and changes peoples lives?Pic: berlin wall
The Mission and History of the church is all about change. We are engaged in a process of change. We have a transforming gospel, we preach about conversion and regeneration through the spirit. We know a Christ who brings sight to the blind – change; freedom to the prisoners – change, and release the oppressed – that's change!
Someone said to me only this week - this is how we are - we know, we wont change now! Yet because of the gospel we believe in - to make this admission is to deny the power of a transforming Christ who always comes to bring about new beginnings and change, a church who always strives for the betterment of society and the coming of the Kingdom.
We believe in liberation and salvation – that’s change if ever there was change. But the question is, how are we seeing our beliefs come to fruition? Where are the women at the well in or community, being touched by the people of Christ and telling their friends “"Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.”
Jesus was never afraid to cross cultural barriers, I wonder was there anyone who he would not have spoken to, and would have crossed the road to avoid. I don’t think there was. If he had have been this way, this incident would never have happened, for on this occasion he met a woman and had nothing in common with her!
Let's take a closer look at the two characters in this story:
Pic: Jewish world leader - Palestinian world leader pics
History – When Samaria was invaded and conquered 700 years earlier, the Jews in Samaria, who were not deported, began to mingle with the foreigners and in some case inter marry with them, so they were no longer racially pure.
This was seen as an unforgivable crime by their Jewish brothers in the south.
A few years later the Jews decided to rebuild the temple.
The Samaritans offered to help, this offer was rejected. The Samaritans established their own Temple on mouth Gerizam, and in 129 BC a Jewish Army attacked and destroyed it. So there was real religious tension between these two groups, and both Jesus and the woman would have know about it.
Sexual difference: She’s a woman, he’s a man.
(Pic: Couples Sil)
Jewish Rabbis were not permitted to speak to women in the street.
2 rules of the day:
“One should not talk with a woman on the street, not even with his own wife, and certainly not with somebody else’s wife, because of the gossip of men”
“It is forbidden to give a woman a greetings”
Another difference between Jesus and Her:
Pic: Woman at the well
Jesus was morally upright, her morality was questionable.
He had been married 5 times, and the recognised maximum was 3 times (Rabbinic Law)
Her present relationship had an informal basis, which no religious authority recognised.
It is fair to suggest, she was a woman of such low repute, she had been came to the well alone in the middle of the day, away from the morning rush, and gossiping.
As for Christ……here we find a perfect example of Holy Living – no questions asked here!
Jesus came preaching freedom for captives, He himself was free. He was not confined to laws and structures, but was free to be who he truly was. The Son of God, living amongst us.
The woman was not free – she was a woman at a time when women were simply the property of men. Women’s rites were hardly mentioned, and the fact that this lady had been the wife of five men, and now lived with another, says something about her hurt, pain and rejection. Anyone here who has been divorced can immediately empathise with her as to the feelings she may have, but to have experienced this five times? …..think of her low self esteem, and her baggage she would carry from the past?
Jesus was literate, she was not.
As a woman in 1st Century Israel, she could not read or write.
This did not stop Jesus from having deep and earnest conversation with her.
These were the differences, and yet Jesus treated her with respect, and dignity. He spoke at her on level, addressing her issues, responding to her needs.
Jesus was not afraid to break the norms of his culture to reach this woman. It didn’t matter what anyone else though of him, his own reputation was not the thing he treasured most, other people and their needs were far more important to him.
Pic: Reaching out
How do we break the normal of our culture to share the love of Christ?Do we care more for our reputation that about the needs of others?How are we breaking down the barriers to reach out? (be they Church barriers, cultural barriers or personal barriers?)When Jesus spoke to this woman he met her own ground. At a safe place for her, a familiar place a place of daily routine. Let's connect with this.Jesus meets people in the ordinary things of life, and calls us, his people to do the same. We don’t turn on something for Sunday – God requires people to be involved in his business always. To be prepared to share his love with people in everyday encounters at work, at home, in the playgrounds, at school, at the modern wells in today’s society. Simply to take opportunities as they arise, to share His love at anytime.
One great part about this story of Jesus is that if you look again we see that the person asking for help initially was not the woman with all her great needs, but Christ himself. It’s his words “"Will you give me a drink?" that open up dialogue and allow this life changing conversation to take place.
Pic: Bucket
It was Christ who made himself vulnerable – he saw that this woman had something he didin’t – A Bucket!, and so in this encounter Jesus became powerless, for she had the means to assist him.
Let us learn from this.
If we arrogantly believe that we have all the answers, and we wait for people to ask the questions, we may just discover that they never will, That the question we feel are all-important are the questions that they would never dream of asking, because it’s not part of their world.
Jesus knew this. No way would this woman have ever entered into this dialogue with a Jewish stranger, but there was something about his vulnerability, about his openness that was attractive, and she responded to this by opening her heart to him, and being changed.
Are we, as a church, willing to meet people on their grounds?
Are we willing to become vulnerable so that we can reach people with Gods love?
Let's reflect for a moment on his word to us this morning.
Let us pray:
You discern correctly, O God, the secrets of the human heart. You know the barriers that discourage human dialogue and encourage enmity. You break the sounds of silence with invitations to serve. Help us to know for ourselves what you have promised for the world - that you are "the Living Water" from which no one returns thirsty, that you are the Christ who comes "to explain everything" and save us from ourselves, that yours is the field that is ready for harvest. As you embraced the Samaritan woman with compassion and understanding, so will you embrace us. Help us to remove the obstacles that isolate us from one another. Renew our pledge to witness for truth and justice in all places. Refresh us with the Living Water of your Spirit. Amen.
Intercessions: Lord let your living Water flow.
Hymn: At the Name of Jesus
Benediction
Closed to you be every pitfall,
Smooth to you be every steep hill,
Warm to you be every bare place,
Sweet to you be every stream of God.
(old Celtic blessing)
For pilgrims on the way to the Promised Land, God’s mercies never end.
The Grace (And the Grace…)