SPEAKER_07: Let us give thanks to God for all the gifts freely bestowed upon us.
SPEAKER_07: For the beauty and wonder of your creation in earth and sky and sea.
SPEAKER_07: For all that is gracious in the lives of women and men, revealing the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_07: For our daily food and drink, our homes and families and our friends.
SPEAKER_07: For minds to think and hearts to love and hands to serve.
unknown: We thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_07: For health and strength to work and leisure to rest and play.
unknown: We thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_07: For the brave and courageous who are patient in suffering and faithful in adversity.
unknown: We thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_07: For all valiant seekers after truth, liberty, and justice.
unknown: We thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_07: For the communion of saints in all times and in all places.
SPEAKER_07: We thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_07: Above all, we give you thanks for the great mercies and promises given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
SPEAKER_07: To you be praise and glory, with you, O Father, and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.
SPEAKER_07: Amen.
SPEAKER_07: Let us pray together.
SPEAKER_07: Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires open, and from whom the seekers are given.
SPEAKER_07: And is the laws of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy holy name through Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_07: Amen.
SPEAKER_07: Here's what our Lord Jesus Christ said.
SPEAKER_07: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
SPEAKER_07: This is the first and great commitment.
SPEAKER_07: And the second is like unto it.
SPEAKER_07: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
SPEAKER_07: On these two commitments hang all the law and prophets.
SPEAKER_07: Lord have mercy.
SPEAKER_07: Christ have mercy.
SPEAKER_07: Lord have mercy.
SPEAKER_07: The Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_07: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_07: Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves.
SPEAKER_07: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul.
SPEAKER_07: Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.
SPEAKER_01: And Moses said to them, Why do you quarrel with me?
SPEAKER_01: Why do you test the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: But the people thirsted there for water.
SPEAKER_01: 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?
SPEAKER_01: So Moses cried out to the Lord, What shall I do with these people?
SPEAKER_01: They are almost ready to stone me.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord said to Moses, Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you.
SPEAKER_01: Take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
SPEAKER_01: And I will be standing there in front of you on the rock of Horeb.
SPEAKER_01: Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.
SPEAKER_01: Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: And he called the place Masa and Merib, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 95.
SPEAKER_01: Please read responsibly by the half verse.
SPEAKER_01: Come, let us sing to the Lord.
SPEAKER_05: Let us shout with joy.
SPEAKER_01: Let us come before God's presence with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_05: And praise God and shout to the Lord with songs.
SPEAKER_01: For the Lord is a great God.
SPEAKER_05: And the greatest sovereign among all gods.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord holds the caverns of the earth.
SPEAKER_05: And the same is the highest of the hills.
SPEAKER_01: The sea belongs to God who made it.
SPEAKER_01: Come, let us bow down and bend the knee, the knee before the Lord our Maker.
SPEAKER_01: Don't we have a thanks to be to God or something?
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: And we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance.
SPEAKER_02: And endurance produces character.
SPEAKER_02: And character produces hope.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
SPEAKER_02: Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, someone might actually dare to die.
SPEAKER_02: But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners, Christ died for us.
SPEAKER_02: Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
SPEAKER_02: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_07: Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well.
SPEAKER_07: It was about noon.
SPEAKER_07: A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, Give me a drink.
SPEAKER_07: His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.
SPEAKER_07: The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?
SPEAKER_07: Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.
SPEAKER_07: 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.
SPEAKER_07: The woman said to him, Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep.
SPEAKER_07: Where do you get that living water?
SPEAKER_07: Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us the well with his sons and his flocks?
SPEAKER_07: And with his sons and his flocks drank from it?
SPEAKER_07: Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.
SPEAKER_07: But those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.
SPEAKER_07: The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.
SPEAKER_07: The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so that I may never be thirsty.
SPEAKER_07: Or I have to come keep coming here to draw water.
SPEAKER_07: Jesus said to her, Go call your husband and come back.
SPEAKER_07: The woman answered him, I have no husband.
SPEAKER_07: 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.
SPEAKER_07: What you have said is true.
SPEAKER_07: The woman said to her, to him, Sir, I see that you are a prophet.
SPEAKER_07: Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_07: Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_07: You worship what you do not know.
SPEAKER_07: We worship what we know.
SPEAKER_07: For salvation is from the Jews.
SPEAKER_07: But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.
SPEAKER_07: For the Father seeks such as these to worship him.
SPEAKER_07: God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.
SPEAKER_07: The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ.
SPEAKER_07: When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.
SPEAKER_07: Jesus said to her, I am he, the one who is speaking to you.
SPEAKER_07: Just then his disciples came.
SPEAKER_07: 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?
SPEAKER_07: Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city.
SPEAKER_07: She said to the people, Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done.
SPEAKER_07: He cannot be in the Messiah, can he?
SPEAKER_07: They left the city and were on their way to him.
SPEAKER_07: Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, Rabbi, eat something.
SPEAKER_07: But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about.
SPEAKER_07: So the disciples said to one another, Surely no one has brought him something to eat.
SPEAKER_07: Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.
SPEAKER_07: Do you not say, four months more, then comes the harvest?
SPEAKER_07: But I tell you, look around you and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.
SPEAKER_07: The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
SPEAKER_07: For here the saying holds true: one sows and another reaps.
SPEAKER_07: I sent you to reap for that which you did not labor.
SPEAKER_07: Others have labored and you have entered into their labor.
SPEAKER_07: Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony.
SPEAKER_07: He told me everything I have ever done.
SPEAKER_07: 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.
SPEAKER_07: 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 Savior of the world.
SPEAKER_07: The gospel of the Lord!
SPEAKER_08: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_08: Good morning, everyone.
SPEAKER_08: Journeying into the wilderness, quite literally, and sleeping on the ground and cooking their food on small fires and enjoying the outside.
SPEAKER_08: As much as I would love to be a part of that, I have an eight-month-year-old who disagrees and who prefers to sleep in AC and in bed.
SPEAKER_08: So but that fortunately gives me the chance to be here with you guys and to talk with you all, which I always love to do.
SPEAKER_08: I'm very excited because today I feel like for once Mike gave me an easy one, so I appreciate it because this one's pretty straightforward.
SPEAKER_08: I'm like, oh, the woman at the well, I got this one.
SPEAKER_08: Um so but I wanted to do something today at the start of the sermon that I usually don't do.
SPEAKER_08: But Mike was telling me that he had been playing his guitar a little bit here at the service, the eight o'clock.
SPEAKER_08: Um he usually plays like one song.
SPEAKER_08: Um and so I and I thought about in my sermons, I like to, when I give a sermon and I talk, I like to reference songs that I listen to in my life.
SPEAKER_08: And I thought, well, why don't I just combine the two and actually play a song for you all that reflects upon what we're talking about here?
SPEAKER_08: So I brought my guitar with me.
SPEAKER_08: Um, and if it's okay with you, I'd like to play you a song in reflection of what's going on today.
SPEAKER_08: So no words needed or no even joining, but um really I'd like to play a song for you before we start to let you listen and reflect on the words that are being said within the song.
SPEAKER_08: Um the song I'm gonna sing for you today is called Reckless Love.
SPEAKER_08: It is a contemporary word and quotation mark, contemporary worship song.
SPEAKER_08: All worship songs are worship songs, um, but it's a song that you would hear nowadays at a um, I'm thinking specifically, uh Texas AM, they have a very big um organization where they come together and they meet at the basketball stadium and all the college students come and they do like a worship service.
SPEAKER_08: And this is one of those songs you would hear at one of those worship services, but it's a really beautiful song with wonderful words.
SPEAKER_08: So I wanted to sing it for you.
SPEAKER_08: I want you to be able to reflect on the words that are being said because I think it really hits home the point that we're gonna talk about today in our story.
SPEAKER_08: So um, if you would indulge me in letting me play you a song, I'm also gonna turn off my mic because I'm a pretty loud singer as it is, and I don't want to blow out the microphone that's underconnected to my face.
SPEAKER_08: So the song is called Reckless Love.
SPEAKER_05: And I was introduced to this song, and so this is gonna be a part of the sermon.
SPEAKER_08: And when I was introduced to this song, I thought it was such a beautiful concept because when I think about God's love, rarely do I think of it reckless.
SPEAKER_08: Rarely do I not think of it as one focused energy of just simplicity.
SPEAKER_08: Rarely do I give it complexities, and I want to jump into that complex love that we have for ourselves.
SPEAKER_08: So I must say first and foremost, I applaud you all for being here this morning.
SPEAKER_08: Not only is it spring break Sunday, it is the spring forward, is this the spring forward where we lose an hour?
SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
SPEAKER_08: Impressive job being here this morning, really good.
SPEAKER_08: Guys are the good church goers.
SPEAKER_08: I'm taking note of who's all here and telling Mike who made it and who did it.
SPEAKER_08: Um, so thank you for being here too, because I know that that is not the easiest of uh wake ups.
SPEAKER_08: I know this morning I left a house that was very, very uh quiet.
SPEAKER_08: Um, even my eight-month-year-old was like, this is too early for me.
SPEAKER_08: I'm not up yet.
SPEAKER_08: And I was like, Alright, you just take a sleep, kiddo, and I'll be back later.
SPEAKER_08: Um but we're also woken up this morning and here to talk about a really wonderful part of the gospel.
SPEAKER_08: And this gospel is very interesting because we have uh Jesus doing a lot of boundary breaking, um, breaking the boundaries of the world and of our hearts.
SPEAKER_08: Um we we we are here, this part of the story where Jesus is literally, in the simplest form, if we had a map, is trying to get from this point to this point.
SPEAKER_08: And in between is the country of the Samaritans, the country that, according to the Jews, is quote unquote unclean.
SPEAKER_08: And what you would normally do, and and Jesus' friends want to do, his disciples want to do, is they want to go around the country of Samaritans.
SPEAKER_08: They're like, Jesus, we will take the time to go around this.
SPEAKER_08: Um, no need for us to go through it.
SPEAKER_08: And Jesus, in our first act of breaking the boundaries of our world, literally takes the maps, the boundaries of maps and says, no, no, we're going through.
SPEAKER_08: We're going to go into this in the country of the Samaritans, and we're going to do some work.
SPEAKER_08: We're going to make our way to where we need to be, but we're going to go through here and we're going to do what God is calling us to do wherever we need to.
SPEAKER_08: And so they're going through the heart of the people of the Samaritans.
SPEAKER_08: And so most Jews would have gone around, but Jesus is not most Jews.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus is not most people.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus doesn't care about the boundaries we have set on a map.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus goes in to a city, pursuing everyone.
SPEAKER_08: And Jesus does something that is quite interesting that you might think, how is that interesting?
SPEAKER_08: Jesus stops to rest.
SPEAKER_08: Rarely in the Gospels do we hear really anything about where Jesus is at physically.
SPEAKER_08: Rarely do we ever hear about, like, hey, is he tired or is he good to go?
SPEAKER_08: Sometimes we do hear he's tired and he takes a nap on the water.
SPEAKER_08: But this is like one of those times we really hear about like where Jesus is at.
SPEAKER_08: And Jesus is tired.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus is tired.
SPEAKER_08: He needs a rest.
SPEAKER_08: And this is kind of the first time we see him fatigued.
SPEAKER_08: Not only is he not as he just like, hey, I need to go take a nap, he's just like, he's resting, so I'm fatigued.
SPEAKER_08: And he's at this well, and what we know is it's noon.
SPEAKER_08: It's noon, it's hot, the sun is up.
SPEAKER_08: If you're out ever out in Texas heat at noon, you know it's hot.
SPEAKER_08: And a woman comes to the well.
SPEAKER_08: And he asks this woman for a drink.
SPEAKER_08: And this is significant because back in Jesus' time at this point, this is a big no-no.
SPEAKER_08: Not only is a man talking to a woman, there's a Jew talking to a Samaritan.
SPEAKER_08: This is a big, big deal.
SPEAKER_08: And the woman even knows this is a big deal.
SPEAKER_08: She kind of calls it out.
SPEAKER_08: She's like, why are you talking to me?
SPEAKER_08: Why are you asking for a drink from me?
SPEAKER_08: You're a Jew talking to a Samaritan, you're a man talking to a woman.
SPEAKER_08: And this is again the second time we see Jesus break the boundaries of our social norms.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus doesn't care about the boundaries we have set for our social norms, just as he doesn't care about the boundaries set for our maps.
SPEAKER_08: It's strange for this woman to be here alone at noon at the well.
SPEAKER_08: Back in the day, if you needed to get water, you would go in the mornings or late in the evenings.
SPEAKER_08: Just like in Texas, you know not to go mow your lawn at noon at the hottest part of the day.
SPEAKER_08: You just don't do it.
SPEAKER_08: It's hot.
SPEAKER_08: I did that once.
SPEAKER_08: It was the perfect time.
SPEAKER_08: I was like, oh, I can go right now and do lunch, Eevee's napping.
SPEAKER_08: I mowed that lawn, oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_08: Don't ever try it.
SPEAKER_08: Don't do it.
SPEAKER_08: And they knew that back then too.
SPEAKER_08: Don't do it.
SPEAKER_08: You don't go to the well at noon.
SPEAKER_08: It's super hot.
SPEAKER_08: Also, the well is kind of a social gathering in a way.
SPEAKER_08: You weren't the only one going to the well.
SPEAKER_08: There was lots of people at the well.
SPEAKER_08: So it was a social gathering of sorts.
SPEAKER_08: You had people there you talk to.
SPEAKER_08: You had some people would set up farm, a little market, some people would sell you stuff.
SPEAKER_08: You had social gathering.
SPEAKER_08: People were there.
SPEAKER_08: And so for this woman to be at the well alone at noon is significant.
SPEAKER_08: What we find is it tells us that she was a sinner.
SPEAKER_08: And you might think, well, we're all sinners, right?
SPEAKER_08: Well, she was a public sinner in the eyes of the Samaritans.
SPEAKER_08: One to be ashamed of what she was and who she was.
SPEAKER_08: One that it was common for her to come to the well alone at noon.
SPEAKER_08: But Jesus, again, like I said, breaks the boundaries.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus doesn't care.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus talks the woman, tells her to give her a drink of water.
SPEAKER_08: The woman says, Why are you talking to me?
SPEAKER_08: She also says something that's really funny, I think.
SPEAKER_08: She says, You don't have a bucket.
SPEAKER_08: The well is deep.
SPEAKER_08: There's water here.
SPEAKER_08: You don't have a bucket.
SPEAKER_08: What do you do you really need me to get you water?
SPEAKER_08: And Jesus says, if you had asked me that, I would have given you the living water.
SPEAKER_08: And it's funny, I feel like Jesus is being at this point a little confusing.
SPEAKER_08: I think he's trying to play it a little coy, because he knows who he's talking to.
SPEAKER_08: He knows he's talking to a Samaritan, and they're very different.
SPEAKER_08: So he knows he has to have this conversation differently than he would his disciples or someone who was really willing to listen to him and hear his stories.
SPEAKER_08: He's got to come out this a little bit in a different way.
SPEAKER_08: And he literally does say these words.
SPEAKER_08: He says, Everyone who drinks of this water that you're trying to give me will be thirsty again.
SPEAKER_08: But those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.
SPEAKER_08: The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.
SPEAKER_08: I love that imagery, water gushing.
SPEAKER_08: The woman, I think, at this point is probably confused.
SPEAKER_08: And if we see, as the story goes on, her progression of asking questions, of like trying to get clarity of what Jesus is talking about.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus tells her that, like, hey, I like this water you're talking about.
SPEAKER_08: How can I get some?
SPEAKER_08: And Jesus does an interesting thing and says, call for your husband.
SPEAKER_08: It's interesting because we know that Jesus knows the answer of what he's about to ask.
SPEAKER_08: Call for your husband.
SPEAKER_08: He knows what he's doing.
SPEAKER_08: He's a smart guy.
SPEAKER_08: And she knows the answer.
SPEAKER_08: And she says the answer, of course, is that I have no husband.
SPEAKER_08: And Jesus says, Yeah, you're right, you don't have a husband.
SPEAKER_08: You had five.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus sees her.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus sees her sins.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus sees her past.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus knows her.
SPEAKER_08: And this is very revealing to this woman because she knows she's never seen this man.
SPEAKER_08: She knows that this guy has just come in off the streets, that he's a Jew, not a Samaritan, and a man talking to her.
SPEAKER_08: She's like, I don't know how he would know these things.
SPEAKER_08: They then have a back and forth about how he's a prophet.
SPEAKER_08: She assumes at this point that she's like, okay, you're a prophet.
SPEAKER_08: I see that.
SPEAKER_08: I can see you're a prophet.
SPEAKER_08: And she starts to kind of ask more questions.
SPEAKER_08: And then she asks kind of the obvious question.
SPEAKER_08: She says, you know, I know that there's a Messiah who's coming.
SPEAKER_08: Are you him?
SPEAKER_08: And Jesus tells her, I am him.
SPEAKER_08: All this leading up to this point, all these questions, all this introduction, all the way that kind of Jesus is talking to her, all to end up with the solution to the point where, yes, I am the Messiah.
SPEAKER_08: He knows that this is pretty strong.
SPEAKER_08: This is pretty strong from Jesus.
SPEAKER_08: This is different.
SPEAKER_08: But this is Jesus trying to be firm.
SPEAKER_08: In a way, he's showing us what it's like to be pursued by God.
SPEAKER_08: Relentless, honest.
SPEAKER_08: No boundaries that can hold him back.
SPEAKER_08: The disciples come back, and of course, just like the disciples are always worried, as the disciples always are.
SPEAKER_08: They're worried about Jesus and why he's talking to this woman and what's going on.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_08: It feels like a lot of the time I laugh for the disciples a lot in the gospel school.
SPEAKER_08: It feels like a lot of time they're going, Jesus, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_08: Jesus, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_08: And Jesus is kind of like, oh my gosh, we gotta get this together.
SPEAKER_08: And the disciples again are Jesus, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_08: This is not the norm.
SPEAKER_08: What are you doing?
SPEAKER_08: And Jesus says to the disciples, I don't need your earthly bread, I don't need your earthly stresses.
SPEAKER_08: I have been fed.
SPEAKER_08: There is a harvest that is ready to be harvested, an abundance of it.
SPEAKER_08: We're told that when the disciples come and start asking Jesus, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_08: the Samaritan woman leaves the place, probably naturally, as a group of men come, this kind of conversation with Jesus is over.
SPEAKER_08: She's probably at that point feeling like, oh, I gotta get out of here.
SPEAKER_08: She grabs her bucket, her water jar, and she goes back to the city.
SPEAKER_08: And in the city, the woman does something very interesting, and she starts to what we call today give her testimony.
SPEAKER_08: She starts to tell her story of what happened, of how she met Jesus, how she met the Messiah, how he impacted her life.
SPEAKER_08: The well is the interesting part of the story, I think.
SPEAKER_08: The well is interesting because sometimes what we focus on when we read this story is a lot of times we might focus on how after the Samaritan goes and tells her story, the city of people all come to Jesus for two days.
SPEAKER_08: They come to the well to be with Jesus.
SPEAKER_08: And many people are moved by the Messiah, and they're moved by God to come to him.
SPEAKER_08: And that's really impactful, and that is really cool, the idea of coming to the well, and that is a place to come be with Jesus.
SPEAKER_08: But I want us to think about the well today as a representation of where the woman was coming from to the well.
SPEAKER_08: The woman was coming for something, right?
SPEAKER_08: We all have a version of that well, something we go to and drink from to get just that little satisfaction, to quench our thirst for the day, for the next hour, for the next couple minutes.
SPEAKER_08: We have that metaphorical well in our lives, things that we go to, where we drink from it, and it's just enough to keep us going, just enough to kind of keep us motivated, either emotionally or sometimes physically.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus meets her at that well.
SPEAKER_08: Jesus says to her, I want to give you something more than this water in this well that you can go down again.
SPEAKER_08: If you would ask me what kind of water I would want, I would tell you I want the living water gushing out from you.
SPEAKER_08: What is our well?
SPEAKER_08: What is the thing we're going to that is that is keeping us focused and alive and kind of quenching our thirst, but that that is keeping it, that is keeping our focus from Jesus.
SPEAKER_08: When Jesus wants to pursue us, wants to meet us at the well.
SPEAKER_08: How can we meet him there and put down our water jugs and talk with Jesus?
SPEAKER_08: In the season of Lent, we're kind of doing that, right?
SPEAKER_08: In the season of Lent, we kind of commit to, I'm gonna give something up.
SPEAKER_08: I'm gonna give up something that means something.
SPEAKER_08: This is the important part that I always have to remind the youth and the children.
SPEAKER_08: You have to give up something that means something important to you, right?
SPEAKER_08: You can't just give up homework or cleaning my room.
SPEAKER_08: That's cheating and not what this is about.
SPEAKER_08: It's about giving up something that's important to me.
SPEAKER_08: Something that I go to to the well to quench my thirst, to satisfy my heart with earthly desires.
SPEAKER_08: For example, it's not this year I haven't done this because I don't have any time to do anything anymore with children.
SPEAKER_08: But there was one year for Lent, I'm a video game player.
SPEAKER_08: I like video games, I'm big into it.
SPEAKER_08: And at nighttime, before children, when I when I was just the day was done, what I did was I just like busted out a video game and I played.
SPEAKER_08: And I just played for like two, three hours.
SPEAKER_08: And for Lent, one year I decided, you know what?
SPEAKER_08: I'm gonna give that up.
SPEAKER_08: And instead, what I'm gonna do is I'm going to open up my Bible.
SPEAKER_08: I'm gonna read some verses.
SPEAKER_08: I bought a book with um that would come as a guide of a lesson.
SPEAKER_08: I said, I'm gonna do this through Lent.
SPEAKER_08: And that was really cool.
SPEAKER_08: That year, I had a lot of life-giving moments and new understandings of my faith by doing this.
SPEAKER_08: I had a well that I was going to that that quenched my thirst, that gave me the break I needed at night, that gave me relief and helped me just kind of blow things off.
SPEAKER_08: But I had this moment where I said, I'm putting my bucket down.
SPEAKER_08: And I want to go to the living water, I want to talk with Jesus and with the living water.
SPEAKER_08: This idea during Lent that we are in pursuit of Jesus on the cross, this idea that we are in this pursuit of being focused on Him and His life and His death coming up, is a beautiful concept of here, of us on this world.
SPEAKER_08: But something that I want us to think about as we think about the Samaritan woman and Jesus' interaction is the pursuit of God for us during this season of Lent and beyond.
SPEAKER_08: That God is not just a God who stands in heaven and just does this and goes, yes, come.
SPEAKER_08: But he is a God who is pursuing you as well.
SPEAKER_08: Just as much as we are making an effort to think about God, think about our relationship with Him, focus our energy on Him during the season of Lent as we give something up, remembering that God is doing even more.
SPEAKER_08: He is pursuing you in a way much like this maritan woman we might not even understand at first.
SPEAKER_08: During this time of Lent, may we be reminded of our own pursuit of greater faith and relationship with God.
SPEAKER_08: But may we also be reminded of his ultimate pursuit of us.
SPEAKER_08: There's no wall he won't break down, no lie he won't tear down.
SPEAKER_08: Coming after us.
SPEAKER_08: Let it get out of us.
SPEAKER_08: Let us take it into the world and share it with others.
SPEAKER_07: We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
SPEAKER_07: We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten of man, of one being with the Father, through him all things were made.
SPEAKER_07: For us, for our salvation, he came down from heaven.
SPEAKER_07: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary and was made man.
SPEAKER_07: For our sake he was crucified in the conscious father, he suffered death and was buried.
SPEAKER_07: On the third day he rose again, in accordance with the scriptures.
SPEAKER_07: He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
SPEAKER_07: He will come again in glory, the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
SPEAKER_07: We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Brother of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
SPEAKER_07: With the Father and the Son, he is worshiped and glorified.
SPEAKER_07: He has spoken through the prophets.
SPEAKER_07: We believe in one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
SPEAKER_07: We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_07: We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
SPEAKER_07: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: For all people in their daily life and work, for our families, friends, and neighbors, and for those who are alone, for this community, the nation, and the world.
SPEAKER_00: For all the freedom and peace, for St.
SPEAKER_00: Thomas the Apostle School, for those to teach and those who are rejoice and all of their truth.
SPEAKER_00: For the just and proper use of your creation, for the victims of honor, and justice of God.
SPEAKER_00: For all who are in danger, sorrow, or any kind of trouble, for those who have to death, for friends, and for the peace and unity of the Church of God.
SPEAKER_00: For all who are the gospel and all the churches, for all bishops, priests and deacons.
SPEAKER_00: For the priests in our community, Mike, Jim, and Craig, for Andy, Hector, Jeff, Kay, and Scott are bishops.
SPEAKER_00: In the diocesan cycle of prayer, St.
SPEAKER_00: Bartholomew's Campstead, St.
SPEAKER_00: Cecilia's Round Top, St.
SPEAKER_00: Francis of the City State Prairie View, and for St.
SPEAKER_00: Francis College Station, and for Michael, our presiding bishop.
SPEAKER_00: For all their college churches, for the special needs and concerns of this congregation, and for those of the congregations which is to name silently or aloud.
SPEAKER_00: Hear us, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: For your mercy and grace.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you, Lord, for all the blessings of this life.
SPEAKER_00: We will exalt you, O God or King, and pray that your name is forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: We pray for all who have died, that they may have a place in your eternal kingdom, especially Lunion.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, let your loving kindness be upon them.
SPEAKER_00: We pray to you also for the forgiveness of our sins.
SPEAKER_00: Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father.
SPEAKER_00: Your compassion, forgive us our sins.
SPEAKER_00: So hold us by your spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Serve you in this life.
SPEAKER_00: To the honor and glory of your name.
SPEAKER_00: Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
SPEAKER_07: Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life.
SPEAKER_07: Amen.
SPEAKER_07: Stand please.
SPEAKER_07: The peace of the Lord be always with you.
SPEAKER_07: I thank Alex for his uh thoughts this morning and his beautiful voice.
SPEAKER_07: You may know that Janet Morgan, the wife of Craig Morgan, Craig, who is listed as one of the clergy in this community, Janet died uh the other day.
SPEAKER_07: She fell in their apartment and hit her head, and she evidently she died very quickly, and so uh that's a mercy, as we say.
SPEAKER_07: And uh I ask you to keep Craig and uh their family in your prayers.
SPEAKER_07: Uh Wynn Bomar, who whom I know from the cathedral, and Lane, uh her sister, uh, who's married to David Dear.
SPEAKER_07: Thank you, David Dear.
SPEAKER_07: Uh another priest in the diocese uh as well, as they uh deal with uh the loss of Janet.
SPEAKER_07: Her funeral will be here at St.
SPEAKER_07: Thomas, but we don't know when yet.
SPEAKER_07: Those arrangements are ongoing.
SPEAKER_07: Uh other announcements uh are found in the uh leaflet that you found outside on the table.
SPEAKER_07: Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God.
unknown: And I love you.
SPEAKER_07: This is the table not of the church, but of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_07: It is made ready for those who love him and for those who want to love him more.
SPEAKER_07: So come, you who have much faith, and you who have lived, you who have been here often, and you who have been here, not been here in a long time or ever before, you who have tried to follow, and you who have failed.
SPEAKER_07: Come not because the church invites you is Christ, and he invites you to meet.
SPEAKER_05: He invites you to meet him here.
SPEAKER_05: O Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_05: Lift up your hearts.
SPEAKER_05: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
SPEAKER_07: It is very right in our bounding duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty everlasting God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who was in every way tempted as we are, yet did not sin.
SPEAKER_07: By whose grace we are able to triumph over every people, and to live no longer unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again.
SPEAKER_07: And therefore the angels of our angels and with all the company of heaven, we all have to sin.
SPEAKER_07: Ever more praise and sin.
SPEAKER_07: All the people.
SPEAKER_07: Likewise after supper he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink this, all of you, for this is my blood living covenant, which is shed for you and for all, for the remission of sins.
SPEAKER_07: Do this as often as ye shall drink it in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_07: Wherefore, O Lord and Heavenly Father, thy people, do celebrate and make the peace, thy holy gifts which now offer unto thee, the memorial thy son hath commanded us to me.
SPEAKER_07: Having in remembrance his blessed, blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension, and looking for the coming again of power and great glory.
SPEAKER_07: And we must come and receive the worship of the Father who hear us.
SPEAKER_07: And with thy word of the Holy Spirit we bless and sanctify the gives the bread and wine, that they be unto us the body of the Father, and thy Lord, and Son Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_07: And we earnestly desire thy Father's goodness to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanks to you.
SPEAKER_07: We're by the offering present of ourselves, our souls and bodies.
SPEAKER_07: May work to receive the most precious body and blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, and be filled with thy person heavenly venues, and also that we are all by the church, that we made one body with him, that he may well be in him, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, by whom and with whom, and in whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, offering for you to be all my father.
SPEAKER_07: World without you.
SPEAKER_07: And believe in the people the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
SPEAKER_07: Amen.
SPEAKER_07: The gifts of God for the people of God, holy gifts for holy people.
SPEAKER_07: Feed on Him in your hearts by faith, and always with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_07: Almighty and ever-living God, we most heartily thank thee for that thou dost feed us in these holy mysteries with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of thy Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, and dost assure us thereby of thy goodness towards us, and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, the blessed company of all faithful people, and are also heirs through hope of thy everlasting kingdom.
SPEAKER_07: And we humbly beseech thee, O Heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in.
SPEAKER_07: Through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honor and glory, world without him.
SPEAKER_07: Amen.
SPEAKER_07: Your task is not to seek for love, but meet but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
SPEAKER_07: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be upon you and remain with you always.
SPEAKER_07: Amen.