Third Sunday in Lent
Christ Lutheran Church
Deepening people’s connections to Christ
Bringing meaning to daily life
Making a difference in our community
Welcome to Worship!
All are welcome, and we are glad you are with us as we pray and worship together, growing in faith as followers of Christ.
Today’s Worship Theme: God sees us in all our humanity, and reminds us who we are!
Lent 2023: He Had a Face
Every Christmas, we celebrate the God of the universe, who made all that is, come to earth as Jesus. Jesus was God. And Jesus was fully human. He had a human body, with flesh and blood, arms and legs, fingers and toes, skin and hair.
He had a face.
Nowhere in scriptures does it ever tell us what Jesus looked like. As a result, for the last 2,000 years, Christians all over the world have envisioned Jesus in many different ways, represented him in art often with features and tones that reflect our own cultures. We, along with millions of followers of Christ, have seen ourselves reflected in images of Jesus. And, we can see Jesus reflected in others.
This Lent, we walk with Jesus, God in human form, who walks with us through all joys and sorrows. We walk with Jesus all the way to death on the cross. Jesus was human. Jesus was one of us. He had a face.
Where do you see the face of Jesus?
Masks are optional in the sanctuary since Covid levels have decreased in the community. Thank you for silencing your cell phones.
We extend a special welcome to guests worshipping with us today! Please sign the visitor log in the narthex or sign-in on Zoom in the live chat. We hope you’ll feel welcomed and spiritually nourished. If you’d like to speak to the pastor about the congregation, please let her know directly or call the church office at 314-962-6011.
We welcome young children to worship. Children’s bulletins and bags with children’s materials are available in the narthex.
We will celebrate communion together. Those on Zoom are invited to gather the bread and wine and join us for worship. All are welcome at God’s table!
This bulletin will be your guide in Worship. In our spoken readings and prayers, the congregation speaks the items in bold.
Assistive Listening Devices are available at the rear of the sanctuary. Please see an usher for use instructions.
We are here to help you! To be added to our e-mail list, to have a hymnal delivered to your home, or to get a printed bulletin mailed to you, or of there is any other way we can assist you, please let us know.
Sunday, March 12, 10:00 am
Click to join Zoom Worship or
Call in from any phone 312-626-6799
Meeting ID: 278 217 453 Password: 971744
GATHERING
PRELUDE – Toccata in D Minor – Dietrich Buxtehude
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
SILENT MEDITATION Let us prepare for worship by quieting our hearts and minds.
Please stand in body or spirit.
GREETING The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And also with you.
CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
Every week, we start out by remembering that we are God’s children. Sometimes, we take time to ask for God’s forgiveness and help using a Confession and Forgiveness, because we all make mistakes! Other Sundays, we remember our baptisms, and celebrate God’s love and the gift of life.
Blessed be the ☩ holy Trinity, the one who fashions us, the one who heals us, the one who reforms us again and again. Amen.
Let us confess our sin, calling for God’s transforming power.
Silence for reflection and self-examination.
Source of all life, we confess that we have not allowed your grace to set us free. We fear that we are not good enough. We hear your word of love freely given to us, yet we expect others to earn it. We turn the church inward, rather than moving it outward. Forgive us. Stir us. Reform us to be a church powered by love, willing to speak for what is right, act for what is just, and seek the healing of your whole creation. Amen.
God hears our cry and sends the Spirit to change us and to empower our lives in the world. Our sins are forgiven, God’s love is unconditional, and we are raised up as God’s people who will always be made new, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
GATHERING HYMN – 777 Come to Me, All Pilgrims Thirsty, v. 1-4
We sing in Worship because it is a way to come together and pray to God as a family. And then, we offer one another peace, promising to love, forgive, and care for one another.
SIGN OF PEACE Peace Be With You!
KYRIE Setting 3
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Let us pray. God of life, you are living water. We experience the life you give reflected in the faces around us. As we gather in Worship today, show us who we are: channels of your love and vessels of your grace. Through Jesus Christ, your love in human form. Amen.
Please be seated.
WORD
We Lutherans call the Bible the “Living Word.” It was written a long time ago by people who were inspired by God to share about their faith. It is “living” because even today, reading the Bible helps us learn about God, and how to bring God’s love and mercy to the world. So, every week, we read from the Bible together at Worship. We call this part of the service “The Word” because we read the word of God!
Reader: Jim Bennett
FIRST LESSON Exodus 17:1-7
The First Lesson is from Exodus, chapter seventeen.
1From 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. 2The 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?” 3But 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?” 4So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5The 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. 6I 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. 7He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
PSALM 95
We will read Psalm 95 responsively.
Leader: 1Come, let us sing to the Lord; let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
People: 2Let us come before God’s presence with thanksgiving and raise a loud shout to the Lord with psalms.
Leader: 3For you, Lord, are a great God, and a great ruler above all gods.
People: 4In your hand are the caverns of the earth; the heights of the hills are also yours.
Leader: 5The sea is yours, for you made it, and your hands have molded the dry land.
People: 6Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker.
Leader: 7For the Lord is our God, and we are the people of God’s pasture and the sheep of God’s hand. Oh, that today you would hear God’s voice!
People: 8“Harden not your hearts, as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the desert.
Leader: 9There your ancestors tested me, they put me to the test, though they had seen my works.
People: 10Forty years I loathed that generation, saying, ‘The heart of this people goes astray; they do not know my ways.’
Leader: 11Indeed I swore in my anger, ‘They shall never come | to my rest.’ ”
SECOND LESSON Romans 5:1-11
The second lesson is from Romans, chapter five.
1Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and 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.
6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10For 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. 11But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Please stand in body or spirit.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION Return to the Lord your God, Setting 3
Reader: Pastor Meagan
GOSPEL John 4:5-42
The Holy Gospel according to St. John, chapter four, Glory to you, O Lord.
5[Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
7A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9The 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.) 10Jesus 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.” 11The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but 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.” 15The 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.”
16Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But 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. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” 26Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
27Just 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?” 28Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30They left the city and were on their way to him.
31Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35Do 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. 36The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41And many more believed because of his word. 42They 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.”
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
Please be seated.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
SERMON
Please stand in body or spirit.
HYMN OF THE DAY – 1082 O God, You Search Me
APOSTLES’ CREED
Each week, we say a creed, a statement of what we believe as Christians. We say it every week, because we are all still learning about our faith, and it helps to practice it together. We use different words sometimes, but we always say that we believe that God created all things, that God came in Jesus to show us how much he loves us, and that the Holy Spirit brings life, courage, and hope.
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 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.
Please be seated.
PRAYER REQUESTS
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
The Prayers of Intercession are when we pray together as God’s family. “Intercession” means we are praying for each other, and for the world, not only for ourselves.
Prayer Leader: Katie Ciorba
Please stand in body or spirit.
Sustained by God’s abundant mercy, let us pray for the church, the world, and all of creation.
A brief silence.
We pray for your church, here at Christ Lutheran and around the world. Bless partnerships with other Christians and inter-religious dialogue. Guide the daily work of denominational and congregational leaders. Strengthen our combined witness for the sake of the gospel, that all experience your life-giving love. Merciful God, receive our prayer.
We pray for the universe. All creation teems with life, from the depths of the earth and seas to the skies above. Fill us with awe and reverence for the diversity and preservation of life. Merciful God, receive our prayer.
We pray for the nations of the world. Topple the dividing walls that separate us from our neighbors. Form us into your beloved community where diversity of gender, race, language, ability, and ethnic origin is celebrated and affirmed. Merciful God, receive our prayer.
We pray for this congregation, especially those preparing for Confirmation. Nurture their faith and pour your love into their hearts. Inspire our community by their testimony to God’s grace in their lives. Merciful God, receive our prayer.
Presider
We pray for those who suffer in mind, body, or spirit. Be present with all who are lonely, and give courage to all who are afraid. Comfort those who live with chronic illness or other sickness. Give them your living water always. We pray especially for those named in Remembering One Another in Prayer, and those named by we who gather this morning . . . Merciful God, receive our prayer.
We give thanks for the lives of all your saints. Their hope in you sustained lives of faith and service. Encourage us with the hope they shared in you. Merciful God, receive our prayer.
We lift our prayers to you, O God, trusting in your steadfast love and your promise to renew your whole creation; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
OFFERING
We are called to be stewards of all of God’s abundance, so that the community in which we are planted may thrive: time, presence, and skills, and God’s creation. We are also called to financially embody care for our community inside and outside our sanctuary. Please support our ministries as you are able. To support ministry financially, you can give electronically on our website, or send a check in to the office. If you give electronically, place the “I give electronically” slip from your pew in the basket if you wish.
OFFERTORY – Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Please stand in body or spirit.
OFFERTORY HYMN – 188 Create in Me a Clean Heart
OFFERTORY PRAYER
Let us pray. Abundant God, you are our God, and we are the people of your pasture, the sheep of your hand. As you have fed us by your mercy, may it be our daily bread to do your will and embody your love for all the world. Amen.
MEAL
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
When Jesus was here on earth, he had meals with all different people, everywhere he went. Sometimes he even got into trouble because people didn’t like who he ate with! At the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples they should eat with one another, so they would remember that no matter what, Jesus is right here with us, not just in our imaginations, but in the bread and wine we share together. We have Communion every week so we remember Jesus is with us, and invites us to care for each other as he did.
It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God, for you are our savior, 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 with the law and prophets to guide them. You sent your child, Jesus, to reconcile us to yourself. While we were still sinners, he showed your love for us in dying for us. You raised him to life that we might be saved through him, and drink from the spring of living water
that gushes up for eternal life. Through your Holy Spirit poured into our hearts, you have shown us grace and formed in us endurance, character and hope that we might worship you in spirit and truth and share in your eternal glory.
And so, with the earth and all of its creatures, with all of your children of all corners of the earth, and with all of the angels and saints, we join your joyful hymn of praise.
SANCTUS Setting 3
THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION
In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples saying: Take and eat, this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.
Again after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sins. Do this for the remembrance of me.
THE PRAYER OF JESUS
We say the Lord’s Prayer together every week, because when the disciples wanted to know how to pray, this is how Jesus taught them. We are reminded that God loves us like a parent. We ask God to provide what we need, help us to follow God, and to forgive us when we make mistakes. And we remember that everything belongs to God.
In faith and hope, let us join together in praying the words that Jesus taught us.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
INVITATION TO THE TABLE
Gathered together, separated by space, but not by time, let us, people of all ages and genders and histories, eat the bread, and drink the wine. Come to the table and be nourished with Christ’s love in his body and blood.
Please be seated.
For those in the sanctuary, we invite you to come forward, waiting at the front pew until it is your household’s turn to receive communion. We will serve communion by intinction, with the servers dipping the bread into the wine for you.
For those on Zoom, we invite you to take time right now to break bread, and know that this whole community of faith joins in the meal with you. Peace be upon you this day!
AGNUS DEI Setting 3
COMMUNION HYMNS
332 I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say
484 You Satisfy the Hungry Heart
Please stand in body or spirit.
POST-COMMUNION PRAYER
Each week, we are nourished and fed as we gather in the sanctuary and on Zoom to celebrate communion together. And each week, members of this community bring the sacred meal to those who are unable to be with us for Worship. Share not only the sacrament we have celebrated, but also the love of God and the Christ Lutheran Church family.
Let us pray. O God, we give you thanks for gathering and feeding us as a mother hen embraces her young. Open our hearts to experience Christ in our neighbors in these forty days, and prepare us to see our work as prayer, fast from complacency, and share with those in need; through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
SENDING
BENEDICTION
We come to Worship every week so we can go out and bring God’s love to the world, so we always end Worship with a Benediction–a blessing–to help us do that.
May God bless you and keep you.
May God’s face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May God look upon you with favor, and give you peace.
Amen!
CLOSING HYMN – 324 In the Cross of Christ I Glory
CHARGE
Go in peace. Share the good news! Thanks be to God!
POSTLUDE – Toccata in D Minor – Johannes Pachelbel
WORSHIP LEADERS AND ASSISTANTS
We would like to thank those who helped with worship today:
Usher: Sherry Mitchler, Bryan Dopuch
Key Person: Keith Lissant (open), Alan Richter (close)
Acolyte: Ruthie Helton
Assisting Minister: Katie Ciorba
Altar Guild: Janet Roock
Lector: Jim Bennett
Counter: Tore Stole
Zoom Host: Phil Hoerchler
Musicians: Christ Choir, Diane Drollinger (Director of Choirs)
Organist: Mark Ruff
Preacher & Presider: Rev. Meagan McLaughlin, Pastor
Acknowledgments: Portions of today’s service are from: All Creation Sings published by Augsburg Fortress, copyright 2020; Lutheran Book of Worship published by Augsburg Publishing, copyright 1978; Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year C, Volume 1, copyright 2012, printed by Westminster John Knox Press, Creative Worship Resources, Creative Communications for the Parish, reprinted by permission, all rights reserved; Now the Feast and Celebration, copyright 1990, printed by G.I.A. Publications; Sundays and Seasons, Year C 2022, copyright 2021; and Evangelical Lutheran Worship, copyright 2006, printed by Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, Minnesota, reprinted under OneLicense.net #A-71-939, all rights reserved.
REMEMBERING ONE ANOTHER IN PRAYER
Please include the following people in your prayer life during this week. To add a name to the Prayer List, inform Pastor Meagan (pastor@christwg.org or 314-962-6012) or the Church Office (office@christwg.org). Please assure that the individual agrees to have his or her name printed in the bulletin.
ONGOING HEALTH CONCERNS: Those who are suffering from chronic pain & diseases, Shelly Madden, Linda Armstrong, Gege Brightman, Christine Austin, Kate and Brian Bates (John Hoffmann’s sister and brother-in-law), Evan Deck, Helga Hayes, Joan (friend of the Roocks), John Hoffmann, Bev & Al Marcus (friend of John Hoffmann), Anna McIntyre, Donna Munger, Doris & Harry Rahlfs (Karen Wood’s parents), Shirley Wolf, Wayne Wellman (Susanne Reimer-Fey’s brother), Kerry Munger (son of Donna Munger), and Steve Hoerchler (Phil Hoerchler’s father).
IN BLESSED MEMORY: Norma Bailey Mendenhall, Jeff Schmid, and for all of those who have died and all of those who grieve, that they may know the presence of God who grieves with us.
IN MILITARY SERVICE: Josh Duncan, Chris Hudson, Jesse Proctor, Scott Warr.
A congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
WELCOME, GROW, SERVE IN CHRIST
1 Selma Avenue at Lockwood
Webster Groves, Missouri 63119-3199
Telephone: 314-962-6011
E-mail: office@christwg.org
Website: http://www.christwg.org
Rev. Meagan McLaughlin, Pastor
Pastor’s Contact Information: 314-962-6012 | pastor@christwg.org
Organist – Mark Ruff
Director of Choirs – Diane Drollinger
Church Administrator – Mahlik Good
Church Council President – Jessica Gunther
Stephen Leaders – Linda Griffith and Carolyn Crowe
Director of Senior Adult Ministries and Faith Community Nurse – Carolyn Crowe
A designated Webster University Campus Ministry congregation
A Stephen Ministry Congregation
A Reconciling in Christ Congregation
Called to Welcome and Serve