Scriptures and Reflection Questions for March 27

Scriptures and Reflection Questions
Third Sunday in Lent, Year A
March 27, 2011
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Collect

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: 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; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary
Year A
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How to use this page:

Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it.  Some questions
are offered to help stimulate your reflection.  You'll find your experience of worship
on Sunday will be intensified.

For a method to read and pray with the scriptures you might try to use the ancient
practice of Lectio Divina (Divine Reading).  We've written some instructions on
how to use Lectio with the Sunday Scriptures at the following link:
http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id272.html
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The Lessons

Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42

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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 quarreled 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?"

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Water in the desert.  When have you been in a personal desert?
How did you survive?
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Psalm 95

Come, let us sing to the Holy One; *
     let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before God's presence with thanksgiving, *
     and raise a loud shout with psalms.

For you, O God, are a great God; *
     you are great above all gods.

In your hand are the caverns of the earth, *
     and the heights of the hills are yours also.

The sea is yours, for you made it, *
     and your hands have molded the dry land.

Come, let us bow down and bend the knee, *
     and kneel before God, our Maker,

For you are our God, and we are the people of your pasture and the sheep of your
 hand, *
     Oh, that today we would hearken to your voice!

Harden not your hearts, as your forebears did in the wilderness, *
     at Meribah, and on that day at Massah, when they tempted me;

They put me to the test, *
     though they had seen my works.

Forty years long I detested that generation and said, *
     "This people are wayward in their hearts; they do not know my ways."

So I swore in my wrath, *
     "They shall not enter into my rest."

                                  The Saint Helena Psalter

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How does profound praise of God help us enter God's rest?
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Romans 5:1-11

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.

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Study the progression that Paul offers beginning with "suffering produces endurance..."
How mighty you see that progression in your life?

What does it mean to you that "Christ died for the ungodly"?

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John 4:5-42

Jesus 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 worshiped 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 worshipers 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 labor. Others have labored, and you have entered
into their labor."

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 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 Savior of the world."

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List some of the cultural barriers that naturally divide Jesus and this woman. 
Where do you see cultural barriers in our time?

Jesus speaks of divine water and food.

How does God's spirit nurture you?

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Lowell

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Our Rule of Life:
  We aspire to...
     worship weekly
     pray daily
     learn constantly
     serve joyfully
     live generously.

Check our website: www.stpaulsfay.org