BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//https://messiahofthemountains.org///NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.10.15// METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20260416T042942UTC-5324pfLx0W@https://messiahofthemountains.org/ DTSTAMP:20260416T042942Z DESCRIPTION:We are a small church\, but big on Grace. We gather each Sunday at 11:00 am for worship by singing hymns\, hearing readings from the bibl e\, praying together and a celebration of Holy Communion. Communion is the spiritual bread our bodies need to live. All are invited to join us at th e Lord's table to be fed by his heavenly food\, There are no strangers in God’s house\, and if you choose to worship with us\, we would be honored b y your presence.\nIntroduction\n \nIn today’s gospel the Samaritan woman a sks Jesus for water\, an image of our thirst for God. Jesus offers living water\, a sign of God’s grace flowing from the waters of baptism. The earl y church used this gospel and those of the next two Sundays to deepen bapt ismal reflection during the final days of preparation before baptism at Ea ster. As we journey to the resurrection feast\, Christ comes among us in w ord\, bath\, and meal—offering us the life-giving water of God’s mercy and forgiveness.\n \nPrayer of the Day\nMerciful God\, the fountain of living water\, you quench our thirst and wash away our sin. Give us this water a lways. Bring us to drink from the well that flows with the beauty of your truth through Jesus Christ\, our Savior and Lord\, who lives and reigns wi th you and the Holy Spirit\, one God\, now and forever.\nAmen.\n \nFirst R eading: Exodus 17:1-7\nBecause the thirsty Israelites quarreled with Moses and put God to the test\, Moses cried out in desperation to God. God comm anded Moses to strike the rock to provide water for the people. The doubt- filled question—“Is the Lord among us or not?”—received a very positive an swer./p>\n \nPsalm: 95\nLet us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation. (Ps. 95:1)/p>\n \nSecond Reading:  \nRomans 5:1-11\nThough we often hear that God helps those who help themselves\, here Paul tells us that through Jesus’ death God helps utterly helpless sinners. Since we who had been en emies are reconciled to God in the cross\, we now live in hope for our fin al salvation.\n \nGospel:  \nJohn 4:5-42\nJesus defies convention to engag e a Samaritan woman in conversation. Her testimony\, in turn\, leads many others to faith.\n5  [Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar\, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.\n6  Jacob’s we ll was there\, and Jesus\, tired out by his journey\, was sitting by the w ell. It was about noon.  \n7  A Samaritan woman came to draw water\, and J esus said to her\, “Give me a drink.”\n8  (His disciples had gone to the c ity to buy food.) \n9  The Samaritan woman said to him\, “How is it that y ou\, a Jew\, ask a drink of me\, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share t hings in common with Samaritans.)\n10  Jesus answered her\, “If you knew t he gift of God and who it is that is saying to you\, ‘Give me a drink\,’ y ou would have asked him\, and he would have given you living water.”\n11   The woman said to him\, “Sir\, you have no bucket\, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?\n12  Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob\, who gave us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?”\n13  Jesus said to her\, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be t hirsty again\,\n14  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 s pring of water gushing up to eternal life.”\n15  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.”  \n16  Jesus said to her\, “Go\, call your hus band\, and come back.”\n17  The woman answered him\, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her\, “You are right in saying\, ‘I have no husband\,’\n18   for you have had five husbands\, and the one you have now is not your husb and. What you have said is true!”\n19  The woman said to him\, “Sir\, I se e that you are a prophet.\n20  Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain\, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”\n21  Jesus said to her\, “Woman\, believe me\, the hour is coming when you wi ll worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.\n22  You worship what you do not know\; we worship what we know\, for salvation is from the Jews.\n 23  But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth\, for the Father se eks such as these to worship him.\n24  God is spirit\, and those who worsh ip him must worship in spirit and truth.”\n25  The woman said to him\, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes\, he w ill proclaim all things to us.”\n26  Jesus said to her\, “I am he\, the on e who is speaking to you.”  \n 27  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?”\n28  Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people\,\n29  “C ome and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be th e Messiah\, can he?”\n30  They left the city and were on their way to him.  \n31  Meanwhile the disciples were urging him\, “Rabbi\, eat something.” \n32  But he said to them\, “I have food to eat that you do not know about .”\n33  So the disciples said to one another\, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?”\n34  Jesus said to them\, “My food is to do the wil l of him who sent me and to complete his work.\n35  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.\n36  The reaper is alread y receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life\, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.\n37  For here the saying holds true\, ‘On e sows and another reaps.’\n38  I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored\, and you have entered into their labor.”   \n39  Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’ s testimony\, “He told me everything I have ever done.”\n40  So when the S amaritans came to him\, they asked him to stay with them\, and he stayed t here two days.\n41  And many more believed because of his word.\n42  They said to the woman\, “It is no longer because of what you said that we beli eve\, for we have heard for ourselves\, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”\n \nAfter the Sermon\, Holy Communion will be offer ed. Come as you are\, the gift of the Table of the Lord has been prepared as Jesus has requested and now we are invited to the meal. Come to the tab le like Peter\, with m ore enthusiasm than resolve and like James and John \, disappointed and the priorities of God’s reign. Come to the table like Martha\, hosting and leading with confidence like Mary\, full of love and grief. Come to the table like Judas\, disillusioned and rebellious and lik e Mary Magdalene\, faithful till the end. Come to the table\, because it i s God who invites us and it’s God’s will that those who want to should mee t God here.\nBlessing for the day (Our blessing is an adaptation of a Fran ciscan Prayer)\nMay God bless us with discomfort at a Easy answers\, half truths and superficial leaderships so that we may live out God’s will deep in our heartland in our world.\nMay god bless with anger at injustice\, o ppression and exploration and the environments that we may work for justic e\, freedom and peace.\nMay God bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain\, rejection\, hunger and war so that we may reach out wit h hands and hearts to help them\, walk with them and turn their pain into hope and joy.\nAnd may God bless us with enough foolishness to believe tha t we can make a difference in this world\, so that we can do what others c laim cannot be done. To bring justice\, peace\, hope and love to all child ren\, the poor and all others in any need.\nGod be your comfort\, your str ength\;\nGod be your hope and support\;\nGod be your light and your way\; and the blessing of God Creator\, Redeemer and Giver of Life\, remain with you now and forever. https://messiahofthemountains.org/events/event/631-t hird-sunday-in-lent-year-a-worship-service-11-00-am-service-pastor-naomi-c arriker DTSTART:20260308T150000Z DTEND:20260308T160000Z LOCATION:Messiah Of The Mountains Lutheran Church (3690 US-19E\, Burnsville \, NC 28714\, USA) SUMMARY:Third Sunday in Lent -- Year A - Worship Service - 11:00 AM Servic e -- Pastor Naomi Carriker URL:https://messiahofthemountains.org/events/event/631-third-sunday-in-lent -year-a-worship-service-11-00-am-service-pastor-naomi-carriker END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR