Ministry Matters of Nashville,Tennessee, United States "A day without women | Disney boycotts | Generational power and the Church" for Monday, 13 March 2017

Ministry Matters of Nashville,Tennessee, United States "A day without women | Disney boycotts | Generational power and the Church" for Monday, 13 March 2017
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A day without women...in church by Kira Schlesinger
Bigstock/Rawpixel.comLast week on March 8th, International Women’s Day, the group that put together the Women’s March on Washington led a one-day demonstration of economic solidarity – A Day Without A Woman. Some women did not go to their jobs, closing down a couple of school districts. Other women opted to refrain from buying things, except from small women-owned businesses, or wore red in solidarity. While it’s unclear how much of an effect this strike had, the purpose was to highlight the enormous value that women add to our economic system while receiving lower wages and often suffering discrimination and even harassment.
As Wednesdays during Lent are not an opportune time for a clergyperson to take the day off, I did not participate in that aspect of the strike; but I did think about what a day without women might look like in the church. In denominations like mine, that strike would include ordained women. Per the latest statistics from the Church Pension Group, in the Episcopal Church forty-percent of priests are women, while only twenty-percent of Head-of-Staff clergy are women and fewer than ten-percent are bishops. A day without clergywomen would be more likely to affect youth and pastoral ministries, chaplaincies, smaller churches, and interim positions.
More importantly, when I think about my church and the other churches I have known, the truth is that women do a vast amount of the unpaid labor that keeps the church going. Women provide the food for funerals. Women teach Sunday School, set up the altar, and clean the vestments. Women are the first to arrive and the last to leave. Women answer the phones and take casseroles to the person recovering from surgery. The prayers of women undergird the mission and ministry of the church. It is not that men do not also do these things, but without the commitment and dedication of women, the work of the church would grind to a halt.
Going back to Scripture, we can apply the same “Day Without a Woman” lens. Where would Christianity be without Mary, the mother of Jesus, without Mary and Martha of Bethany, without the women who were the first witnesses of an empty tomb and a risen Christ, the first evangelists of the good news that God has overcome death and the grave? Paul’s letters include the names of women who were crucial to the spread of Christianity in their support of the early church – Prisca, Phoebe, Euodia, Syntyche, and Junia. While the history of the church has privileged the stories and authority of men, without the women going to tend to Jesus’ body and finding the stone rolled away, we might not even have a church.
If the Day Without A Woman strike was intended to disrupt the economic status quo, just imagine how a Day Without A Woman would disrupt the work of the church. Particularly in churches where the leadership is mostly men or where women are not allowed to pursue ordination, the work of women still undergirds the mission and ministry of the Body of Christ. Without women, what percentage of your pews would be empty? Without women, how many men would come to church by themselves?
The women I know who faithfully serve the church do not do it for recognition or for their own benefit; they do it as disciples of Christ and members of a community. This does not mean that their contributions should not be lifted up as an example for the whole body. At the same time, the church can take advantage of the sacrificial service of women, both lay and ordained, leading to resentment and burn-out. Without others to pitch in and pick up the slack, we may very well find out what a church without women looks like.
Imagine arriving at church on Sunday to a mostly empty parking lot. You enter the sanctuary and notice there aren’t any fresh flower arrangements. Your children show up to teacher-less Sunday School rooms and no one is available to watch the nursery. The altar coverings are askew, and the candles haven’t been replaced. There are no musicians, so everyone fumbles through the hymns a capella. After the service, people gather normally, but no one has made the coffee or provided snacks so everyone stands around awkwardly chatting until people drift back to their cars and head home. Perhaps only in their absence are the contributions of women noticed and appreciated at all.

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Disney boycotts, Christians, Muslims and discrimination by Shane Raynor
Beauty and the Beast, a live-action film from Walt Disney Pictures opens March 17 in the United States and some prominent Christian leaders are encouraging Christians to boycott the film because of what the film's director has called "an exclusively gay moment." Brandon Showalter, who has been covering this story for The Christian Post, offers some insight. And a recent survey shows that two-thirds of Americans believe that Muslims face more discrimination in the U.S. than Christians, but among white evangelicals, that number drops to 44 percent. Mark Lockard and I discuss why.
Beauty and the Beast" photo courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

Beauty and the Beast, a live-action film from Walt Disney Pictures opens March 17 in the United States and some prominent Christian leaders are encouraging Christians to boycott the film because of what the film's director has called "an exclusively gay moment." Brandon Showalter, who has been covering this story for The Christian Post, offers some insight. And a recent survey shows that two-thirds of Americans believe that Muslims face more discrimination in the U.S. than Christians, but among white evangelicals, that number drops to 44 percent. Mark Lockard and I discuss why. [Download episode]

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Generational power and the Church by Logan Robertson
Bigstock/duallogicA post detailing the 12 Reasons Millennials are Over Church has been making the rounds on my social feeds this week and is being widely praised by youngsters and sympathetic oldsters alike. The church has failed to adapt to Millennials' needs or include the voices of younger people, says the author.
Missing from the conversation is the fact that Boomers are experiencing a severe loss of cultural capital as Millennials come of age. On one hand we have (until recently) the largest, most powerful generation in American history. No generation in 241 years has inherited a greater horde of wealth, power, and unprecedented economic growth than the Boomers. On the other hand we have... their kids, another huge generation with enormous cultural capital and an unprecedented ability to connect across geography and create culture unbounded from traditional gatekeepers. In fact, Millennials have surpassed Baby Boomers as the country’s largest age group, according to Census data.
This is a power struggle. Boomers know how to wield power and Millennials are just learning what it means to have some. We see this across every institution: the church, education, even in the CIA.
People usually don't just give up power. Many of the institutions Millennials are rejecting or seeking to change (Boomers taught us to disrespect institutional authority, by the way) were built from nothing by Boomers. It's no wonder they feel a little threatened when Millennials question the way those institutions function, or point out they're no longer relevant.
People usually don't just give up power, except Christians are to be a people who specifically live out a sacrificial love which inherently forfeits power for the good of others. We must forgive Boomers and Millennials alike for lacking spiritual formation the church rarely has sought to offer.
This article originally appeared on Disembodied Beard. Reprinted with permission.

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Fasting from feasting on stuff By Mike Slaughter
Bigstock/designer491Each year before Lent begins, I spend time wrestling with God as to how I am being called to feast or fast. As I noted in my book and study Renegade Gospel: The Rebel Jesus, most Lenten seasons I find myself convicted in my tendency toward materialism. Many of us can find it so easy to seek the gifts of God rather than the God who gives. And, our expectations grow with income and age. The 36-inch color TV may still work fine, but a 52-inch flat screen is so much better, especially when expertly installed with surround sound. Materialism continues to slither forward, thanks to the engineered obsolescence of our smartphones, tablets and laptops.
The alluring addiction of a consumerist culture bids us to come forth and indulge. The “buy now and pay later” mantra has created a massive debt load for the average American. NerdWallet reported in 2016 that the average household credit card debt is $16,748, and the average household with any kind of debt, including mortgages, owes $134,643. We Christians have long taught the biblical principle of tithing, giving 10 percent of income to serve God’s kingdom; yet we trend with the rest of the American public in giving about 2.2 percent of our personal disposable income to nonprofit groups. We avoid the gospel call to give our lives sacrificially with Jesus for the world that God loves and instead use God to serve our personal interests. “Thy will be done” becomes “My will be done.”
Following Jesus in the way of the cross will mean a radical reordering of our priorities. We get a glimpse of those priorities in two of Jesus’ parables. In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus told the story of a good Samaritan who sacrifices his time and financial resources to help an unknown stranger. “Go and do likewise,” Jesus commanded a Jewish expert in the Law. In Luke 12:13-21, Jesus related the parable of a rich man who forgets his responsibility to be a channel for God’s blessings in helping the least and the lost. The man in the story wastes his precious gift of life, living only to serve his expanding lust for bigger, better and more. Jesus told him, “‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God” (verses 20-21).
What a poignant reminder — the only thing we can take with us beyond death is what we do for God and others.
Following Jesus means relinquishing the rights to all that we are and all that we possess. When a young entrepreneur came asking how to prioritize his life, Jesus told him, “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Luke 18:22). When the young man heard this he walked away, choosing the comfort and security of his lifestyle over the renegade gospel of Jesus and the kingdom of God.
Following Jesus means being “rich toward God” by serving God’s interests in meeting others’ needs. Jesus put it this way in one of his parables: “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:9). The rebel Jesus calls us to use our affluence for the purpose of influence in the lives of people who have neither.
What are you feasting or fasting this Lent?
Mike Slaughter is the almost four-decade chief dreamer and lead pastor of Ginghamsburg Church and the spiritual entrepreneur of ministry marketplace innovations. Mike’s call to "afflict the comfortable" challenges Christians to wrestle with God and their God-destinies. Join Mike for his final Change the World missional church conference as lead pastor on March 16/17, 2017. His newest books are Down to Earth, The Passionate Church and The Christian Wallet.
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This can't be the Christ, can it? By William H. Willimon

Will Willimon is a bishop in the United Methodist Church and one of the most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. He is also a prolific author, having written more than 60 books. Will has something to say. In this sermon from John 4:5-42 he has something to say about the woman at the well of Samaria, and how her encounter with Jesus changes the world.
Will Willimon is the author of Fear of the Other and Who Lynched Willie Earle? Preaching to Confront Racism, both from Abingdon Press. He also publishes Pulpit Resource, a weekly preaching resource available through Ministry Matters.-------

What it takes to organize confirmation
Bigstock/blackzheepOn this episode of the Youth Ministry Partners podcast, Ben Howard talks with Tonya Lawrence about what it takes to organize confirmation: how to structure it, what confirmation means and the unexpected joys of seeing kids learn.

Subscribe to the Youth Ministry Partners podcast: By Youth Ministry Partners
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7 hidden costs of attempting to eliminate risk By Ron Edmondson
Every leader I know attempts to limit a certain amount of risk when making decisions or leading change. We should attempt to have good systems, adequate resources and even contingency or emergency plans. We don’t want to jeopardize the organization — ultimately the people — we are trying to lead.
The problem for some leaders, however, is they confuse limiting risk with attempting to eliminate risk. I’m not sure we can ever fail-proof anything completely, so it’s a futile attempt at best.
But the bigger problem is what we end up missing out on in the process of attempting to eliminate risk. There are hidden costs involved for a leader who is overly cautious.
Here are seven hidden costs of attempting to eliminate risk:
Limited growth. Personally and corporately, without a certain amount of risk there is no potential for growth. Growth happens in environments where the potential to fail is prevalent, accepted and not scorned.
Unfulfilled dreams. Dreams are made of the seemingly impossible. The bigger the dream the greater the risk. Healthy teams and organizations have big, lofty dreams pulling them forward.
False reality. Life is a constant risk. If a leader has as a goal an attempt to eliminate it they are essentially playing tricks with mirrors and fancy lights. They’ve created an unacheivable expectation for people who follow.
Underutilized resources. “Playing it safe” may make more sense on paper. It may even feel comfortable, but often when resources are stretched is when the greatest growth potential occurs. Ask the question “What would we do if we were forced to change and there was no money available?” It’s amazing how creative people can become.
Wasted time. The time you invest trying to eliminate risk could be used to leverage risk for a greater gain. All of us only have so much time, so leaders must be diligent stewards of it.
Expensive opportunity loss. Whenever you choose not to do something because of the risk involved, there is always a loss associated. The organization will miss out somewhere on something by not moving forward soon enough. The greatest discoveries often involve people who are willing to assume the greatest risks.
Diminished momentum. The fact is risk fuels momentum. There is something inside of most of us — especially the entrepreneurial or leader types — that thrives on achieving those things which seem impossible. When the chance of failure is high so are the components which fuel momentum.
Leader, you can never fully eliminate risk, and this is one of the hard parts of leading. The time you spend attempting to do so will take precious time from doing other things, which probably can reap higher reward. Risk is a reality to be managed, not a problem to be avoided.
(This is absolutely true when leading in the church — perhaps more so, because we are to always be faith-driven. Faith always, by definition, deals with a level of the unknown.)
Ron Edmondson blogs at RonEdmondson.com.
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The collar in context  By Michelle Shrader
Bigstock/AnnekaS
I don’t wear my clergy collar every day, but many clergy in South Africa do. I would have worn an Alb during services in the US and the collar mostly for Activist work or other occasions when I knew it was important for the Church to be seen as present. This past Ash Wednesday, I had my collar on when I was walking home. I walked past an art gallery that was having an event. I was invited inside by a man who shared with me that he was in a conversation with a group inside that had just asked about the ashes on the foreheads of people on the street and would I explain what Lent and Ash Wednesday is all about. I sat with them for almost an hour answering their questions about faith before I made my way out the door and up the street a bit further to my home.
A couple of days later, a waitress in one of the restaurants near the church asked me if I could teach her how to pray. I asked her to sit down, listened to her story, and shared with her how important it was to allow our very being to rest in God, that we find our way to that rest in quiet. I shared that the answers we seek can be heard best in the quiet, and then I grabbed a napkin and taught her a way of understanding the flow of the Lord’s Prayer I learned long ago called the ACTS prayer. A-stands for adoration, C-confession, T-thanksgiving, S-supplification. Then we prayed quietly and with words. Afterwards, I finished the last two bites of my Friday pizza and headed back to the office to get back to “work.”
I have taught three people that prayer in the past three days, each of them in the community right around the church. I am not sure they would have known I was a Pastor had I not been wearing my clergy collar around them one day, but each of them knew who I was for my walking around the City as a practice — every day. There was a woman who reached out to me yesterday who I met when I was walking in the Company Gardens months ago. As I approached her yesterday, I saw that her eye was swollen shut and she looked like she had been beaten badly. This was how she looked the first time we met.
I took her hands and listened as she told me what happened. I didn’t know what to say; I felt at a complete loss. Then she taught me my lesson for the day when she said to me, “Thank you, it was the first time I could hear what it is I must do. I know I must leave and it is because of you.” I had taught her many months ago how to pray. I shared with her that I can only guide her to a place where she can listen. I can hold her hands and be with her, but it is God who gives us strength, who breathes life into us, and that it is because of God that we can know we are never alone. I said, "It is important that we thank God for this strength you found in trusting in this truth," and we prayed.
She didn’t need me to tell her where to go or who to talk to; there were women in her community that guided her through all that. She came to me in the trees where we had first met so that I could hold her hands like I had once before and pray. It is moments like this that remind me that I am but a breath of a presence in someone’s life, whereas God is their eternity.
I am so thankful for the trust that people extend to allow me into the holy space of their prayers and their lives. I found myself unable to sleep last night for thinking about the gift of what it is to be someone who people stop on the street and ask, “Will you teach me about God? Will you teach me to pray?” I could barely catch my breath for recognizing the precious, holy, stilling beauty of it.
This article originally appeared on the author's blog. Reprinted with permission.
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The Dead Sea Scrolls: Why are they important? By Peter Surran
Bigstock/VadimLAn amazing discovery
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of manuscripts written on leather and papyrus scrolls that had been sitting in clay jars, waiting to be discovered for almost 2,000 years. Around the beginning of 1947, Bedouin teenagers were tending sheep and goats in the West Bank area, as it’s now called, bordering Israel. One of the boys tossed a stone into a cave, and the surprising shattering sound he heard has reverberated throughout history.
The shattering sound the boy heard was a clay jar. The contents of the jar were the scrolls. A complete copy of the Book of Isaiah was found among the manuscripts, as well as fragments from every book of the Old Testament except for Esther. They’re believed to have been written between 150 B.C. and A.D. 70. Other texts found among the scrolls were a rule of life for the Essenes of Qumran, the group believed to have produced the scrolls and various other religious writings not from the Hebrew Scriptures. In total, over 900 manuscripts are represented in the fragments discovered.
Interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls was recently renewed after it was announced in early February that a 12th cave had been discovered. The previous cache of scrolls and artifacts was from 11 other caves. This 12th cave, while an exciting development, didn’t yield any new manuscripts. A tantalizing discovery was made though: an intact scroll in a jar. It was blank.
Though no new scrolls or fragments were found, the new cave contained string and cloth wrappings indicating that there had been scrolls there. These were probably stolen by looters, as rusty pickax heads were also found. Because the area has been such a target for looters, the Israeli Antiquities Authority is urging the Israeli government to sponsor a “systematic excavation” of the area in hopes of finding scrolls before thieves do.
Importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Renowned American archaeologist W. F. Albright described the Dead Sea Scrolls as “the greatest archaeological find of modern times.” But why are they so important? Perhaps the most significant reason they’re so important is because, in the words of contributing editor Ed Stetzer from a 2012 article in Christianity Today, the scrolls “affirm and enhance the Hebrew Bible used by scholars.” This is because the scrolls were written hundreds of years prior to the oldest copy of the Hebrew Bible known at the time. That one, called the Leningrad Codex, was from A.D. 1008, and the oldest scroll from the cave discovery was from 250 B.C.
The scrolls are remarkably similar to the texts of the Hebrew Bible in use today, giving confidence that these translations are close to the original manuscripts, or at least as confident as scholars can currently be. Also, the scrolls give support to or clarify some of the editorial choices that have been made in translating the Bible.
Aside from the light that has been shed on the accuracy of Bible translations, the Dead Sea Scrolls have also given insight into the life of first-century Jews, particularly the community believed to have produced the scrolls, the Essenes. This group was essentially desert monks. They followed a rule of life called the Manual of Discipline, which was found in the cache of scrolls. The Essenes separated themselves from the rest of their Jewish peers because they believed what was happening in the Temple was corrupt and contrary to God’s will as revealed through the Scriptures. They held out until the Romans came in and destroyed the Temple in A.D. 70.
The similarities between the concerns the Essenes had with the state of Temple worship at the time and the actions of Jesus, such as the cleansing of the Temple, recorded in all four Gospels, cause some scholars to wonder if Jesus and John the Baptist had some connection with that community. Of course, this kind of question could never be answered definitively.
The Dead Sea Scrolls, then, increase our confidence in the reliability of the Bible, that the texts we have now are faithful transmissions of the oldest known copies of the books. They also give a fascinating look at the diversity of Jewish faith at the time of Jesus. On the whole, these discoveries are positive developments for people of faith.
Other archaeological discoveries
Those who would look to archaeology either to confirm or disprove biblical texts will largely be disappointed. The discoveries have been a mixed bag. An inscription found in Israel in 1993 dated back to 800 B.C. is attributed to King Hazael of Damascus. It calls Jerusalem the “City of David.” This lends some credence to the existence of David as an actual historical figure. Other evidence, such as the data that suggested the walls of Jericho did indeed fall at the time of Joshua, has later been disproved by more reliable testing methods.
In some cases, archaeological evidence flies in the face of long-held traditions. In 2001, excavations in Jerusalem unveiled the foundation walls and sewage system of Herod’s palace. Modern historians believe that this would have been the place where Pilate would have lived when he was in the city. Therefore, this would most likely be the place of the praetorium, which is where the Gospels state that Jesus was condemned to die.
The traditional site of Jesus’ condemnation is the Antonia Fortress, and it’s here that the Via Dolorosa, the pilgrimage route that traces Jesus’ last steps on the way to the cross, begins and has been observed since the 18th century. The route ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a site made prominent by Helena, the mother of Constantine, in the fourth century. It’s quite possible that this, too, is inaccurate. The church is inside the city walls, and the Bible says that Jesus died outside the city walls (Hebrews 13:12).
Archaeology and faith
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was a watershed moment in biblical studies. Archaeology had provided a boost to faith in the accuracy of Bible translations as well as shed a light on the practices of the Jews of the first century from which the early church sprang.
Other archaeological discoveries seemingly affirm what’s presented in the Bible as true, while some challenge the accounts of Scripture. How do people of faith respond when something found at a dig site seems to challenge what they believe? Can archaeology ever really prove or disprove anything about the Bible?
William Dever, a professor at the University of Arizona, has been academically engaged with the archaeology of the ancient Near East for more than 30 years. He stated in an interview on PBS’s Nova, “The fact is that archeology can never prove any of the theological suppositions of the Bible. Archeologists can often tell you what happened and when and where and how and even why. No archeologists can tell anyone what it means, and most of us don’t try.” The purpose, then, of biblical archaeology, according to Dever, is “reconstructing a real-life context for the world out of which the Bible came, and that does bring understanding.”
Be sure to check out FaithLink, a weekly downloadable discussion guide for classes and small groups.-------

This Sunday, March 19, 2017
Third Sunday in Lent: Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42

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Lectionary Readings:
Sunday, 19 March 2017
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42
Scripture Text: Exodus 17:1 (vii) The whole community of the people of Isra’el left the Seen Desert, traveling in stages, as Adonai had ordered, and camped at Refidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 The people quarreled with Moshe, demanding, “Give us water to drink!” But Moshe replied, “Why pick a fight with me? Why are you testing Adonai?” 3 However, the people were thirsty for water there and grumbled against Moshe, “For what did you bring us up from Egypt? To kill us, our children and our livestock with thirst?”

4 Moshe cried out to Adonai, “What am I to do with these people? They’re ready to stone me!” 5 Adonai answered Moshe, “Go on ahead of the people, and bring with you the leaders of Isra’el. Take your staff in your hand, the one you used to strike the river; and go. 6 I will stand in front of you there on the rock in Horev. You are to strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so the people can drink.” Moshe did this in the sight of the leaders of Isra’el. 7 The place was named Massah [testing] and M’rivah [quarreling] because of the quarreling of the people of Isra’el and because they tested Adonai by asking, “Is Adonai with us or not?”

Psalm 95:1 Come, let’s sing to Adonai!

Let’s shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation!

2 Let’s come into his presence with thanksgiving;

let’s shout for joy to him with songs of praise.

3 For Adonai is a great God,

a great king greater than all gods.

4 He holds the depths of the earth in his hands;

the mountain peaks too belong to him.

5 The sea is his — he made it —

and his hands shaped the dry land.

6 Come, let’s bow down and worship;

let’s kneel before Adonai who made us.

7 For he is our God, and we are the people

in his pasture, the sheep in his care.

If only today you would listen to his voice:

8 “Don’t harden your hearts, as you did at M’rivah,

as you did on that day at Massah in the desert,

9 when your fathers put me to the test;

they challenged me, even though they saw my work.

10 For forty years I loathed that generation;

I said, ‘This is a people whose hearts go astray,

they don’t understand how I do things.’

11 Therefore I swore in my anger

that they would not enter my rest.”

Romans 5:1 So, since we have come to be considered righteous by God because of our trust, let us continue to have shalom with God through our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. 2 Also through him and on the ground of our trust, we have gained access to this grace in which we stand; so let us boast about the hope of experiencing God’s glory. 3 But not only that, let us also boast in our troubles; because we know that trouble produces endurance, 4 endurance produces character, and character produces hope; 5 and this hope does not let us down, because God’s love for us has already been poured out in our hearts through the Ruach HaKodesh who has been given to us.

6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, the Messiah died on behalf of ungodly people. 7 Now it is a rare event when someone gives up his life even for the sake of somebody righteous, although possibly for a truly good person one might have the courage to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in that the Messiah died on our behalf while we were still sinners. 9 Therefore, since we have now come to be considered righteous by means of his bloody sacrificial death, how much more will we be delivered through him from the anger of God’s judgment! 10 For if we were reconciled with God through his Son’s death when we were enemies, how much more will we be delivered by his life, now that we are reconciled! 11 And not only will we be delivered in the future, but we are boasting about God right now, because he has acted through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, through whom we have already received that reconciliation.

John 4:5 He came to a town in Shomron called Sh’khem, near the field Ya‘akov had given to his son Yosef. 6 Ya‘akov’s Well was there; so Yeshua, exhausted from his travel, sat down by the well; it was about noon. 7 A woman from Shomron came to draw some water; and Yeshua said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” 8 (His talmidim had gone into town to buy food.) 9 The woman from Shomron said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for water from me, a woman of Shomron?” (For Jews don’t associate with people from Shomron.) 10 Yeshua answered her, “If you knew God’s gift, that is, who it is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink of water,’ then you would have asked him; and he would have given you living water.”

11 She said to him, “Sir, you don’t have a bucket, and the well is deep; so where do you get this ‘living water’? 12 You aren’t greater than our father Ya‘akov, are you? He gave us this well and drank from it, and so did his sons and his cattle.” 13 Yeshua answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again! On the contrary, the water I give him will become a spring of water inside him, welling up into eternal life!”

15 “Sir, give me this water,” the woman said to him, “so that I won’t have to be thirsty and keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17 She answered, “I don’t have a husband.” Yeshua said to her, “You’re right, you don’t have a husband! 18 You’ve had five husbands in the past, and you’re not married to the man you’re living with now! You’ve spoken the truth!”

19 “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet,” the woman replied. 20 “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you people say that the place where one has to worship is in Yerushalayim.” 21 Yeshua said, “Lady, believe me, the time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Yerushalayim. 22 You people don’t know what you are worshipping; we worship what we do know, because salvation comes from the Jews. 23 But the time is coming — indeed, it’s here now — when the true worshippers will worship the Father spiritually and truly, for these are the kind of people the Father wants worshipping him. 24 God is spirit; and worshippers must worship him spiritually and truly.”

25 The woman replied, “I know that Mashiach is coming” (that is, “the one who has been anointed”). “When he comes, he will tell us everything.” 26 Yeshua said to her, “I, the person speaking to you, am he.”

27 Just then, his talmidim arrived. They were amazed that he was talking with a woman; but none of them said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water-jar, went back to the town and said to the people there, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could it be that this is the Messiah?” 30 They left the town and began coming toward him.

31 Meanwhile, the talmidim were urging Yeshua, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he answered, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.” 33 At this, the talmidim asked one another, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 Yeshua said to them, “My food is to do what the one who sent me wants and to bring his work to completion. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘Four more months and then the harvest’? Well, what I say to you is: open your eyes and look at the fields! They’re already ripe for harvest! 36 The one who reaps receives his wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the reaper and the sower may be glad together — 37 for in this matter, the proverb, ‘One sows and another reaps,’ holds true. 38 I sent you to reap what you haven’t worked for. Others have done the hard labor, and you have benefited from their work.”

39 Many people from that town in Shomron put their trust in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all the things I did.” 40 So when these people from Shomron came to him, they asked him to stay with them. He stayed two days, 41 and many more came to trust because of what he said. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer trust because of what you said, because we have heard for ourselves. We know indeed that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

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John Wesley's Notes-Commentary: Exodus 17:1-7

Verse 1

[1] And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.

They journeyed according to the commandment of the Lord, led by the pillar of cloud and fire, and yet they came to a place where there was no water for them to drink - We may be in the way of our duty, and yet meet with troubles, which Providence brings us into for the trial of our faith.

Verse 5

[5] And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.

Go on before the people — Though they spake of stoning him. He must take his rod with him, not to summon some plague to chastise them, but to fetch water for their supply. O the wonderful patience and forbearance of God towards provoking sinners! He maintains those that are at war with him, and reaches out the hand of his bounty to those that lift up the heel against him. If God had only shewed Moses a fountain of water in the wilderness, as he did to Hagar, not far from hence, Genesis 21:19, that had been a great favour; but that he might shew his power as well as his pity, and make it a miracle of mercy, he gave them water out of a rock. He directed Moses whither to go, appointed him to take of the elders of Israel with him, to be witnesses of what was done, ordered him to smite the rock, which he did, and immediately water came out of it in great abundance, which ran throughout the camp in streams and rivers, Psalms 78:15,16, and followed them wherever they went in that wilderness: God shewed his care of his people in giving them water when they wanted it; his own power in fetching it out of a rock, and put an honour upon Moses in appointing the water to flow out upon his smiting of the rock. This fair water that came out of the rock is called honey and oil, Deuteronomy 32:13, because the people's thirst made it doubly pleasant; coming when they were in extreme want. It is probable that the people digged canals for the conveyance of it, and pools for the reception of it. Let this direct us to live in a dependance, 1. Upon God's providence even in the greatest straits and difficulties; 2. And upon Christ's grace; that rock was Christ, 1 Corinthians 10:4. The graces and comforts of the Spirit are compared to rivers of living waters, John 7:38,39; 4:14. These flow from Christ. And nothing will supply the needs and satisfy the desires of a soul but water out of this rock. A new name was upon this occasion given to the place, preserving the remembrance of their murmuring, Massah - Temptation, because they tempted God, Meribah - Strife, because they chide with Moses.

Psalm 95

Read all of Psalm 95)

Verse 3

[3] For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

God's — Above all that are called God's angels, earthly potentates, and especially the false gods of the Heathen.

Verse 4

[4] In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.

Hand — Under his government.

Strength — The strongest or highest mountains.

Verse 7

[7] For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,

Pasture — Whom he feeds and keeps in his own pasture, or in the land which he hath appropriated to himself.

The sheep — Which are under his special care.

Today — Forthwith or presently.

Verse 8

[8] Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

Harden not — By obstinate unbelief.

Provocation — In that bold and wicked contest with God in the wilderness.

Temptation — In the day in which you tempted me.

Verse 9

[9] When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

Works — Both of mercy, and of justice.

Verse 10

[10] Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

Do err — Their hearts are insincere and bent to backsliding.

Not known — After all my teaching and discoveries of myself to them; they did not know, nor consider, those great things which I had wrought for them.

Verse 11

[11] Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

My rest — Into the promised land, which is called the rest, Deuteronomy 12:9.

Romans 5:1-11

(Read all of Romans 5)

Verse 1

[1] Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Being justified by faith — This is the sum of the preceding chapters.

We have peace with God — Being enemies to God no longer, Romans 5:10; neither fearing his wrath, Romans 5:9. We have peace, hope, love, and power over sin, the sum of the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters. These are the fruits of justifying faith: where these are not, that faith is not.

Verse 2

[2] By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Into this grace — This state of favour.

Verse 3

[3] And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

We glory in tribulations also — Which we are so far from esteeming a mark of God's displeasure, that we receive them as tokens of his fatherly love, whereby we are prepared for a more exalted happiness. The Jews objected to the persecuted state of the Christians as inconsistent with the people of the Messiah. It is therefore with great propriety that the apostle so often mentions the blessings arising from this very thing.

Verse 4

[4] And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

And patience works more experience of the sincerity of our grace, and of God's power and faithfulness.

Verse 5

[5] And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Hope shameth us not — That is, gives us the highest glorying. We glory in this our hope, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts - The divine conviction of God's love to us, and that love to God which is both the earnest and the beginning of heaven.

By the Holy Ghost — The efficient cause of all these present blessings, and the earnest of those to come.

Verse 6

[6] For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

How can we now doubt of God's love? For when we were without strength - Either to think, will, or do anything good.

In due time — Neither too soon nor too late; but in that very point of time which the wisdom of God knew to be more proper than any other.

Christ died for the ungodly — Not only to set them a pattern, or to procure them power to follow it. It does not appear that this expression, of dying for any one, has any other signification than that of rescuing the life of another by laying down our own.

Verse 7

[7] For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

A just man — One who gives to all what is strictly their due The good man - One who is eminently holy; full of love, of compassion, kindness, mildness, of every heavenly and amiable temper.

Perhaps-one-would-even-dare to die — Every word increases the strangeness of the thing, and declares even this to be something great and unusual.

Verse 8

[8] But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

But God recommendeth — A most elegant expression. Those are wont to be recommended to us, who were before either unknown to, or alienated from, us.

While we were sinners — So far from being good, that we were not even just.

Verse 9

[9] Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

By his blood — By his bloodshedding.

We shall be saved from wrath through him — That is, from all the effects of the wrath of God. But is there then wrath in God? Is not wrath a human passion? And how can this human passion be in God? We may answer this by another question: Is not love a human passion? And how can this human passion be in God? But to answer directly: wrath in man, and so love in man, is a human passion. But wrath in God is not a human passion; nor is love, as it is in God. Therefore the inspired writers ascribe both the one and the other to God only in an analogical sense.

Verse 10

[10] For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

If — As sure as; so the word frequently signifies; particularly in this and the eighth chapter.

We shalt be saved — Sanctified and glorified.

Through his life — Who "ever liveth to make intercession for us."

Verse 11

[11] And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

And not only so, but we also glory — The whole sentence, from the third to the eleventh verse, may be taken together thus: We not only "rejoice in hope of the glory of God," but also in the midst of tribulations we glory in God himself through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation.

John 4:5-42

Verse 5

[5] Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

Sychar — Formerly called Sichem or Shechem.

Jacob gave — On his death bed, Genesis 48:22.

Verse 6

[6] Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

Jesus sat down — Weary as he was.

It was the sixth hour — Noon; the heat of the day.

Verse 7

[7] There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

Give me to drink — In this one conversation he brought her to that knowledge which the apostles were so long in attaining.

Verse 8

[8] (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

For his disciples were gone — Else he needed not have asked her.

Verse 9

[9] Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

How dost thou — Her open simplicity appears from her very first words.

The Jews have no dealings — None by way of friendship. They would receive no kind of favour from them.

Verse 10

[10] Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

If thou hadst known the gift — The living water; and who it is - He who alone is able to give it: thou wouldst have asked of him - On those words the stress lies.

Water — In like manner he draws the allegory from bread, John 6:27, and from light, 8:12; the first, the most simple, necessary, common, and salutary things in nature.

Living water — The Spirit and its fruits. But she might the more easily mistake his meaning, because living water was a common phrase among the Jews for spring water.

Verse 12

[12] Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

Our father Jacob — So they fancied he was; whereas they were, in truth, a mixture of many nations, placed there by the king of Assyria, in the room of the Israelites whom he had carried away captive, 2 Kings 17:24.

Who gave us the well — In Joseph their supposed forefather: and drank thereof - So even he had no better water than this.

Verse 14

[14] But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Will never thirst — Will never (provided he continue to drink thereof) be miserable, dissatisfied, without refreshment. If ever that thirst returns, it will be the fault of the man, not the water.

But the water that I shall give him — The spirit of faith working by love, shall become in him - An inward living principle, a fountain - Not barely a well, which is soon exhausted, springing up into everlasting life - Which is a confluence, or rather an ocean of streams arising from this fountain.

Verse 15

[15] The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

That I thirst not — She takes him still in a gross sense.

Verse 16

[16] Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

Jesus saith to her — He now clears the way that he might give her a better kind of water than she asked for.

Go, call thy husband — He strikes directly at her bosom sin.

Verse 17

[17] The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:

Thou hast well said — We may observe in all our Lord's discourses the utmost weightiness, and yet the utmost courtesy.

Verse 18

[18] For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

Thou hast had five husbands — Whether they were all dead or not, her own conscience now awakened would tell her.

Verse 19

[19] The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

Sir, I perceive — So soon was her heart touched.

Verse 20

[20] Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

The instant she perceived this, she proposes what she thought the most important of all questions.

This mountain — Pointing to Mount Gerizim. Sanballat, by the permission of Alexander the Great, had built a temple upon Mount Gerizim, for Manasseh, who for marrying Sanballat's daughter had been expelled from the priesthood and from Jerusalem, Nehemiah 13:28. This was the place where the Samaritans used to worship in opposition to Jerusalem. And it was so near Sychar, that a man's voice might be heard from the one to the other.

Our fathers worshipped — This plainly refers to Abraham and Jacob (from whom the Samaritans pretended to deduce their genealogy) who erected altars in this place: Genesis 12:6,7, and Genesis 33:18,20. And possibly to the whole congregation, who were directed when they came into the land of Canaan to put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, Deuteronomy 11:29.

Ye Jews say, In Jerusalem is the place — Namely, the temple.

Verse 21

[21] Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

Believe me — Our Lord uses this expression in this manner but once; and that to a Samaritan. To his own people, the Jews, his usual language is, I say unto you.

The hour cometh when ye — Both Samaritans and Jews, shall worship neither in this mountain, nor at Jerusalem - As preferable to any other place. True worship shall be no longer confined to any one place or nation.

Verse 22

[22] Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

Ye worship ye know not what — Ye Samaritans are ignorant, not only of the place, but of the very object of worship. Indeed, they feared the Lord after a fashion; but at the same time served their own gods, 2 Kings 17:33.

Salvation is from the Jews — So spake all the prophets, that the Saviour should arise out of the Jewish nation: and that from thence the knowledge of him should spread to all nations under heaven.

Verse 23

[23] But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

The true worshippers shall worship the Father — Not here or there only, but at all times and in all places.

Verse 24

[24] God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

God is a Spirit — Not only remote from the body, and all the properties of it, but likewise full of all spiritual perfections, power, wisdom, love, holiness. And our worship should be suitable to his nature. We should worship him with the truly spiritual worship of faith, love, and holiness, animating all our tempers, thoughts, words, and actions.

Verse 25

[25] The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

The woman saith — With joy for what she had already learned, and desire of fuller instruction.

Verse 26

[26] Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

Jesus saith — Hasting to satisfy her desire before his disciples came.

l am He — Our Lord did not speak this so plainly to the Jews who were so full of the Messiah's temporal kingdom. If he had, many would doubtless have taken up arms in his favour, and others have accused him to the Roman governor. Yet he did in effect declare the thing, though he denied the particular title. For in a multitude of places he represented himself, both as the Son of man, and as the Son of God: both which expressions were generally understood by the Jews as peculiarly applicable to the Messiah.

Verse 27

[27] And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?

His disciples marvelled that he talked with a woman — Which the Jewish rabbis reckoned scandalous for a man of distinction to do. They marvelled likewise at his talking with a woman of that nation, which was so peculiarly hateful to the Jews.

Yet none said — To the woman, What seekest thou? - Or to Christ, Why talkest thou with her?

Verse 28

[28] The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,

The woman left her water pot — Forgetting smaller things.

Verse 29

[29] Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

A man who told me all things that ever I did — Our Lord had told her but a few things. But his words awakened her conscience, which soon told her all the rest.

Is not this the Christ? — She does not doubt of it herself, but incites them to make the inquiry.

Verse 31

[31] In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.

In the meantime — Before the people came.

Verse 34

[34] Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

My meat — That which satisfies the strongest appetite of my soul.

Verse 35

[35] Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

The fields are white already — As if he had said, The spiritual harvest is ripe already. The Samaritans, ripe for the Gospel, covered the ground round about them.

Verse 36

[36] And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

He that reapeth — Whoever saves souls, receiveth wages - A peculiar blessing to himself, and gathereth fruit - Many souls: that he that soweth - Christ the great sower of the seed, and he that reapeth may rejoice together - In heaven.

Verse 37

[37] And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

That saying — A common proverb; One soweth - The prophets and Christ; another reapeth - The apostles and succeeding ministers.

Verse 38

[38] I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

I — he Lord of the whole harvest, have sent you - He had employed them already in baptizing, John 4:2.

Verse 42

[42] And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

We know that this is the Saviour of the world — And not of the Jews only.

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SLOW TO BELIEVE by Carl L. Schenck
John 4:5-42
The story of the woman at the well is Jesus’ longest conversation with one person in the Gospels. In this story, the woman erects barriers. She finds countless things that get between her and Jesus. Let’s look at the barriers that she erected and see if they are not ones that we also erect.
First, this woman erected a barrier of prejudice. Jews and Samaritans held deep animosity against one another. They had long standing hatreds. The woman said, “Why are you, a Jew, asking me to get you a drink?” The animosity she expressed was characteristic of the relationships between Jews and Samaritans. Expressing this animosity she created a barrier to Jesus. She couldn’t understand him. The poet Maya Angelou wrote, “Prejudice is a burden which confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible” (All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes [Boston: G.K. Hall, 1987], 155). That’s exactly what she was doing. She was distorting the past and making the present inaccessible. She couldn’t meet Jesus because she brought prejudice into the relationship.
What about the individuals or the groups toward which we harbor prejudice? It may be an individual or a group of people you reject because of the color of their skin or their religion or their way of life. God came to the Samaritan woman in the form of someone against whom she was deeply prejudiced. God may come to us in the same way. If we are to experience Jesus, we will have to look into the eyes and into the face of an individual or group against whom we harbor prejudice.
Another barrier the woman erected was social custom. In that time, Jewish men and any type of woman didn’t interact in public. A good, upstanding, righteous, Jewish male would only talk to his mother, wife, or 60 daughters—never to any other women. The Samaritan woman embraced the same cultural biases. It was a scandal for a Jewish man to talk to a strange woman. Today, we could use an ability to be so scandalized!
Social customs can separate us from people, also. How many of us know a person who is poor? Do you know a poor person as a real human being, knowing what their life has been like, knowing the names of their children? In our society, we segregate by economic status. Middle-class people only know middle-class people. Rich people only know rich people, and poor people only poor people. Social custom keeps us apart. Do you know someone who is desperately poor? Jesus came to the woman as someone social customs made a stranger. Jesus may come to us as a stranger.
A third barrier was that Jesus was an outsider for the Samaritan woman. Generally, Jews did not travel through Samaria. Most traveling Jews went out of their way to avoid Samaritans. To the woman, Jesus was an outsider to her community, an outsider to her way of life, and an outsider to her personal experience. That made it hard for her to take Jesus seriously.
Jesus is often an outsider to our lives. We’d like to make over Jesus into a middle-class American, but he’s not. He’s different from us. Jesus is deeply and profoundly different. His values and ambitions, the way he conducted his life, the things Jesus cared about, and the people for whom he cared, are all very different from us. He is an outsider to our way of life. If we choose to follow Jesus we will discover ourselves being different from our neighbors. Dare we associate with, become close to, or follow this outsider?
Finally, the woman was reluctant to be honest with Jesus. Jesus said, “Go fetch your husband” and she replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus knew the truth. She had been married five times and was not married to the man she was with. She didn’t want Jesus to know the truth. She would interact with him on the surface, but the real depth of her life experience—all the pain, all the trouble, all the mistakes, and all the heartaches of her life—she was trying to keep to herself. She was holding Jesus at arm’s length.
We do it too. We dress up and get all pretty for worship. But how do we relate to Jesus when we get home from work and we’re mad and frustrated and tired and beat up? Do we connect with Jesus then? Are we open with God and Christ about the messy parts of our lives; about the parts of our lives that aren’t pretty, that aren’t pious? We can pray when we’re feeling pious, but can we relate to Christ when life’s a mess and when we’re a mess? Can we open these parts of our lives to Jesus? The Samaritan woman found it difficult and so do we.
Despite all the barriers this is a story with a happy ending. This woman eventually connected. She went back to her village and said, “I have met this wonderful, amazing man. Come meet him!” She becomes the first evangelist. She is the first to run and tell someone about Jesus. The story says the whole community came and many believed because of her.
It can work that way for us also. We are kept from Jesus by prejudices, social customs, fear of outsiders, and reluctance to expose the messy realities of our lives. We can get past those things and allow Jesus to be here, right in front of us. We can share what we have experienced with others and it can change everything. My hope and my prayer is that we can get past the barriers that get between us and Jesus. Then there’s hope that even now we will meet Jesus too.read more 1
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THIS CAN'T BE THE CHRIST, CAN IT?By William H. Willimon

Will Willimon is a bishop in the United Methodist Church and one of the most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. He is also a prolific author, having written more than 60 books. Will has something to say. In this sermon from John 4:5-42 he has something to say about the woman at the well of Samaria, and how her encounter with Jesus changes the world.
Will Willimon is the author of Fear of the Other and Who Lynched Willie Earle? Preaching to Confront Racism, both from Abingdon Press. He also publishes Pulpit Resource, a weekly preaching resource available through Ministry Matters. read more
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WORSHIP ELEMENTS: MARCH 19, 2017 by Joanne Carlson Brown
Third Sunday in Lent
COLOR: Purple
SCRIPTURE READINGS: Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42
THEME IDEAS
Hope can be in short supply when you are wandering in the desert not knowing if or when you will arrive at your destination; when you are a woman shunned by your community; when your community is not listening to God’s voice. But hope takes many forms—water in the desert, living water at a well, encountering a person who changes your life, knowing a God who has created everything and loves all that has been created.
INVITATION AND GATHERING
Call to Worship (Psalm 95, Romans 5)
O come, let us sing to our God
and make a joyful noise
to the rock of our salvation.
We lift our hearts and voices
in joy and thanksgiving
for being here together
in the presence of our beloved God.
Come, let us worship this amazing God,
for we belong to God.
We will listen for God’s word
and live in the hope it inspires.
Opening Prayer (Exodus 17, Romans 5, John 4)
Loving and caring God,
we come this morning in hope—
hope that will sustain us in our trying times,
our lonely times, our doubting times.
Refresh us this morning with the living water
of your presence and love.
Open us to the possibilities of friendship—
the possibilities of encountering you
in unexpected ways,
the possibilities of seeing the miraculous
in everyday life. Amen.
PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
Prayer of Confession (Exodus 17)
Patient and ever-faithful God,
we come to you this morning
confessing that we can be a grumpy
and unsatisfied people.
When things are not perfect in our eyes,
we murmur and complain,
and grumble and doubt.
We lose hope in the people around us
and, even worse, we lose hope in you.
We challenge instead of accept.
We put you to the test
rather than trust your caring love.
Forgive our doubts and complaining.
Forgive our loss of hope.
Let your healing, life-giving waters pour over us.
Restore our souls. Amen.
Words of Assurance (Exodus 17, Romans 5, John 4)
Our hope and assurance
rest in God’s unfailing love and forgiveness.
Open your hearts and minds and souls
that the healing waters
of God’s never-ending love and forgiveness
may flow into and over you.
Know that in this love and forgiveness
you have encountered the living God.
Passing the Peace (Romans 5, John 4)
Let us greet one another with words of hope—words that come from the wellspring of love flowing within us because of our encounter with the living Christ.
Response to the Word (Romans 5, John 4)
For the word of hope that pours over us
like living water,
for the word of grace that leads us to encounter
the living Christ,
we offer you our thanks, O God.
THANKSGIVING AND COMMUNION
Invitation to the Offering (Romans 5, John 4)
We are called to live in hope and to share this hope with the world. Let us offer thanks to God for all God has given us by sharing generously of ourselves and of our resources. Through our gifts, may all experience the hope to be found in our life-giving God.
Offering Prayer (Exodus 17, John 4)
Life-giving God,
we offer you ourselves and our resources.
Use us and our gifts,
that we may be water bearers
to a world thirsty for love,
for meaning, for justice, and for hope.
May all your people encounter fullness of life
through the love of Christ, which lives within us.
Amen.
SENDING FORTH
Benediction (Exodus 17, Romans 5, John 4)
We have encountered the living God
through the love of the living Christ.
We have been refreshed by living water.
Go now to live in the hope this encounter inspires.
Be water bearers to a dry and parched world,
knowing that the God of love and hope
goes before you and with you always. Amen.
CONTEMPORARY OPTIONS
Gathering Words (Exodus 17, Romans 5, John 4)
Come and see . . . water gushing from a rock.
Come and see . . . someone who knows you
through and through.
Come and see . . . hope alive, right here, right now.
Come and see . . . then give God thanks and praise.
We come to worship the God of life and love.
Praise Sentences (Psalm 95)
Sing praise to God!
Our God is a great God!
Come worship and kneel before God our maker!
From The Abingdon Worship Annual edited by Mary J. Scifres and B.J. Beu, Copyright © Abingdon Press. The Abingdon Worship Annual 2017 is now available.read more
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WORSHIP CONNECTION: MARCH 19, 2017 by Nancy C. Townley
Third Sunday in Lent
COLOR: Purple
SCRIPTURE READINGS: Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42
The theme for Lent: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AT THE CROSS
Each week a script will be provided, following the Gospel lesson, concerning those whom Jesus met.
CALLS TO WORSHIP
Call to Worship #1:
L: Come, let us sing to the Lord!
P: Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
L: Let us come into God’s presence with thanksgiving!
P: Let us make a joyful noise to God with songs of praise!
L: Come, let us worship and celebrate God’s loving presence with us.
P: We sing to God with our hearts and our spirits. AMEN.
Call to Worship #2:
L: When we hunger
P: We cry to the Lord, “Help us, O Lord.”
L: When we thirst
P: We cry to the Lord, “Help us, O Lord.”
L: God who created the heavens and the earth hears our cries.
P: Lord, come and quench our thirst and heal our hunger. AMEN.
Call to Worship #3:
[Using THE FAITH WE SING, p. 2132, “You Who Are Thirsty,” offer the following call to worship as directed.] [Have a soloist sing “You Who Are Thirsty” through twice, so that the bridge “He will freely feed; all of them who are weak,” etc, may be heard.]
L: We come to the well of fear and doubt.
P: We have drawn deeply of those waters.
L: We come to the well of anger and hate.
P: These waters flourish in all the land.
L: Lord, bring us to the water of peace and hope.
P: Lord, bring us to the well of salvation. AMEN.
Soloist: singing “You Who Are Thirsty”
Call to Worship #4:
L: Jesus bids us welcome. He brings peace and forgiveness.
P: Yet we dwell in the midst of doubt and fear.
L: Jesus bids us welcome. He brings hope and healing.
P: But we persist in our ways of stubbornness and greed.
L: Jesus, come among us once more and bring us your word of Peace.
P: Open our hearts, our spirits, our souls to receive your healing Word. AMEN.
PRAYERS, READING, BENEDICTION
Opening Prayer
Wellspring of eternal life, we come to you this day having drunk deeply the waters of anxiety and despair. Bring to us your living water. Quench our thirsting souls, for we offer this prayer in Your Name. AMEN.
Prayer of Confession
God of living waters, we confess that we have often turned from you and wandered in our own wildernesses of fear and doubt. Our thirst mounts daily, seeking to be quenched by your redeeming love. Yet, when that love is offered to us, we again turn away, unable to truly believe that you would actually heal and love us. We have behaved in very unloving ways. We have chosen to ignore those in need or to deal only passively with them. Our hearts are not placed in service to others, but rather in self-serving motives. Heal us, merciful God. Wash us again in the living water. Help us be faithful servants. AMEN
Words of Assurance
The waters of mercy and healing are poured over you. God is loving and faithful to those who come to God. Come, seek the loving presence and be healed. AMEN.
Pastoral Prayer
Lord of living water, pour your mercy on us. Wash us clean and make us true disciples. Help us move from the paths of selfishness and stubbornness, to the channels of hope and peace. Enable us to place our whole trust in your love. As we have brought the names of those near and dear to us to your throne of grace in prayer, remind us again that you also hold us dearly and offer to us your healing grace. Keep us strong and give us courage to serve you in all that we do. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. AMEN.
Readers’ Theater: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AT THE CROSS: THE WOMAN AT THE WELL
[The large rough wooden cross is placed in the front of the chancel/worship area. Place burlap at the base to cover the stand. Have the same person read the part of Jesus each week. It should be someone with a good speaking voice. Each person who encounters Jesus will be wearing/carrying a length of cloth. When their encounter with Jesus is complete, they place the cloth over the arm of the cross and leave. The purple fabric, worn last week by Nicodemus, is removed from the cross and draped down the left front of the worship center, slightly overlapping the black fabric of Satan].
Narrator: 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.
Jesus: Give me a drink.
Woman: How is it that you, a Jew, are asking a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?
Jesus: 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.
Woman: Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where will you get the living water? This is the well of our ancestor Jacob. Are you greater than Jacob?
Jesus: 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.
Woman: Sir, give me this water so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.
Jesus: Go, and call your husband and come back.
Woman: I have no husband.
Jesus: You have told the truth. You have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband.
Woman: You must be a prophet! I have a question for you. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.
Jesus: Believe me, the time 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.
Woman: I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.
Jesus: I am he, the one who is speaking to you.
Narrator: Just then his disciples, who had gone into town to get some food, returned to Jesus and were astonished that he was having a conversation with the woman. The woman left her water jar and went back to the city to tell the people to come and see a man who had told her everything that she had ever done. And the people came back with her to the well. The disciples meanwhile tried to encourage Jesus to have something to eat, but he replied to their queries
Jesus: 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.
Narrator: Many of the Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony. 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.”
Benediction
Drink deeply of the waters of Salvation and quench your thirst for truth, for the Lord is with you. Go in God’s peace and bring the good news to all whom you meet. AMEN.
ARTISTIC ELEMENTS
The traditional color for today is: Purple; I am also using “character” colors in the worship setting. [The large wooden cross, suggested in the Readers’ Theater segment, is placed in the worship center. Burlap covers the base of the cross.]
SURFACE: There are no risers on the worship center.
FABRIC: Cover the worship center with purple fabric so that it drapes to the floor but does not puddle on the floor. Place the purple fabric on the worship center, slightly overlapping the black cloth from last week. These fabrics should puddle on the floor.
CANDLES: Place two candles on the worship center, on either side of an open Bible.
FLOWERS/PLANTS: No plants are suggested for this setting.
ROCKS/WOOD: No rocks and wood are suggested for this setting.
OTHER: Place an open Bible on the center of the worship table.read more 2
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WORSHIP FOR KIDS: MARCH 19, 2017 by Carolyn C. Brown
From a Child's Point of View
Old Testament: Exodus 17:1-7. Do not assume that children know the context of this story. Before reading it, explain that the people Moses led across the desert had been slaves in Egypt. God had sent ten horrible plagues to convince the king of Egypt to let them go, and then had rescued them when they seemed hopelessly trapped between the king's army and the Sea of Reeds.
Though the children will follow the action of the story, they will need help to recognize the amazing lack of trust on the part of the people whom God had cared for so well. Older children enjoy exploring the meaning of the names: Massah, which means trying (as in "You are trying my patience!) and Meribah, which means fault-finding or complaining. The significance of the names helps them to recognize the sin of the people.
Psalm 95. The praise hymn in verses 1-7a is easy for children, but before they can understand the warning in verses 7b-11, they must hear the Exodus text with enough attention paid to the names Massah and Meribah that they will recognize the reference to that story. To children, the warning is not to try God's patience with constant complaints about what they want and need, but to trust God to love and care for them. Verse 10 in The New Jerusalem Bible speaks clearly to older children. God is speaking:
For forty years that generation sickened me, and I said, "Always fickle hearts; they cannot grasp my ways."
Grumbling and otherwise trying the patience of partners can be used as an example of what it means to test someone and try their patience. But do not use this psalm as a warning against complaining in general. Focus on trusting or not trusting God.
Epistle: Romans 5:1-11. This passage states the point of the Old Testament texts in a Christian setting, and in theological language that is beyond children. Read it for the adults.
Its message in relation to the other texts is that though the travelers in the desert had ample proof of God's love and care, we have even more striking proof in Jesus. If this is pointed out in concrete terms, it can remind the children that they should not follow the example of the exslaves in the desert.
Gospel: John 4:5-42. This complicated passage includes a word play on water, a tricky conversation about an old Jewish-Samaritan dispute, the use of water as a symbol for all that is life-giving and refreshing, and a collection of harvest images. To avoid totally overwhelming children, consider reading only verses 5-26.
Even older children have trouble appreciating Jesus' word play on living or running water. They respond more quickly to the general need for water. Though symbolism is difficult for children, the symbol her is a good one for beginners. John's point is that God's Word and loving care are as important as water to our survival and to our refreshed happiness. Exploring the function of water, and then comparing it to the function of knowing God and God's Word leads children to John's message.
Watch Words
In today's texts, faith is trusting God to continue loving and caring for us as God has done in our past.
Avoid all forms of justified and reconciled in Romans 5. Instead of explaining these complex, abstract terms, move directly to Paul's insistence that we need not worry about anything because God continues to care for us.
Rather than speaking of God's providence (most recognized by children as the capital of Rhode Island), cite specific examples of that loving care.
Let the Children Sing
Praise God, who loves and cares for us in so many ways, with "Now Thank We All Our God" or "For the Beauty of the Earth." Both cite everyday examples of God's love in simple words.
For yourselves and for the slaves in the desert, sing "God Will Take Care of You." Nonreaders can join in on the much repeated title phrase.
The Liturgical Child
1. Present today's texts dramatically:
• Let the frustration of all parties show in your voice and your posture as you read the exchanges in Exodus 17. Use the tones and the inflections that thirsty, tired people would use at the end of another hot, dry day.
• Present the Gospel text as a play, with the worship leader reading John 4:5-7a from the lectern as a costumed Jesus takes his place by a well (or sits on a stool). A woman enters carrying a water jug, and she and Jesus engage in conversation with parts memorized (if possible). Ask older youths or adults to take these parts, and work with them on facial expression, posture, and voice inflections. Their presentations will be essential in bringing an intricate conversation to life. The narrator could read verses 39-42 to complete the story.
• Preserve the division in Psalm 95 by having the congregation read verses 1-7a in unison or responsively, with a worship leader reading verses 7b-11 in the role of the warning priest.
2. Go all-out to appeal to the sense of hearing. Fill the sanctuary with the sound of bubbling water; borrow or rent a champagne fountain and fill it with water. Then challenge a parishioner to create a worship center by placing greens and flowers around the fountain. The display could be on the chancel table or off to one side, perhaps near the baptismal font.
Sermon Resources
1. Imagine with the congregation that it is a hot summer day. Describe the heat of the burning sun, sticky sweat, a dry thirsty mouth. Remember together how it feels to jump into a cool swimming pool or stand in a cool late-afternoon rainstorm. Think about cold drinks you enjoy in summer and imagine drinking an icy cold glass of water. Then review what Jesus was telling the woman at the well and us. (During later winter in cold climates, worshipers of all ages are quite willing to try this, though they may claim they cannot remember ever being hot, or even warm.)
2. Create a modern-day version of the complaining travelers in Exodus 17. Describe a family on the second day of a long drive to Disney World (or some other distant place children love to go). Describe the late afternoon grumbling: "Aren't we there yet?"; "He's on my side, Daddy! He's picking on me"; "Nobody ever pays any attention to me!"; "What do you mean, there isn't a motel for the next hundred miles! I thought you had this planned!"; "How come we can't fly? The Joneses did!"; and so forth. Compare this grumpy group with the thirsty slaves freed from Egypt.
3. After exploring the lack of trust among the Hebrews at Massah and Meribah, give worshipers indidivual packets of M&Ms. Suggest that as they enjoy this treat later today, they name one way God loves and cares for them for each piece of candy eaten. Families might enjoy eating the candies together and sharing their ideas.read more
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SERMON OPTIONS: MARCH 19, 2017
TESTING GOD'S PATIENCE
EXODUS 17:1-7
Some people think that it is okay to ventilate their contentions with God. They believe that when they are exasperated with life as it is, they have a right to complain to God about the poor job God is doing. Our text challenges that line of thought. The people of Israel grumbled to Moses about his and God's failure to provide them with an adequate supply of water. To Moses, they whined, "Why did you bring us out here to die of thirst?" They questioned God's faithfulness: "Are you among us or not?" The text refers to the complaint about water as a quarrel or an aggravation to Moses, but as a testing of patience to God.
Indeed, the Lord is forbearing toward people when they complain. Despite Israel's childish whimpering, God gave them water. The point of the text is that they pushed him and in so doing tested his patience. That wasn't a smart thing to do, and Israel learned that lesson through bitter tastes of God's wrath along the way, even though they escaped on this particular occasion.
We can avoid complaining to God by adjusting our theology so that we quit blaming the Lord for our problems. No matter how we may decide to integrate the reality of suffering with our concept of God, we will not profit from blaming God. Such an exercise is detrimental to both our faith and our witness for Christ. It also destroys initiative to help ourselves.
The worst scenario would be to push God beyond the limits of his patience, as Israel did on other occasions. Then God may let us discover how much more miserable life can be than it already is.
One of the most discouraging people I've ever known was a man who became embittered toward God because his wife died young. He resisted all efforts by Christians to win him to Christ. As the root of bitterness sank deeper and deeper into his soul, he became increasingly a miserable human being, driving everyone away from him, including his family. He went to his grave blaming God for his miserable life.
On the other hand, one of the most inspiring people I've ever known was a woman whose faith was caught by her five children, resulting in her daughters becoming missionaries and her sons deacons. Her husband lost a leg in a terrible accident. After that he never regained good health and became disabled. Then he died fairly young. She lived in poverty, refusing most efforts of her children to assist her. One of her sons died in a boating accident while still a young man. She lost her sight. Yet not one person, so far as I know, ever heard her complain about her circumstances. Her love for the Lord was too large to tolerate any consideration of blaming him for her circumstances. She probably never tested God's patience. Have you? (Jerry E. Oswalt)
HOPE-FILLED PEOPLE FOR A HOPELESS AGE
ROMANS 5:1-11
Richard Halverson, chaplain of the U.S. Senate, said, "Mastered by God, I become the master of myself and of my circumstances. Mastered by anything less than God, I become the victim of myself and of my circumstances." In this passage, Paul shows that in Christ, God is offering us a new life that, once received, masters us and gives us an abiding hope that will overcome any and all circumstances.
I. Christ Offers Us a New Foundation
Paul is describing in these words the difference a life mastered by God's love in Christ will make. Life is to be lived from the foundational experience and knowledge that "God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us" (v. 8).
Our response to the circumstances of life, lived from this foundational truth, provides reason for hope, peace, and rejoicing. In Paul's way of thinking and living, this is why God's people become "more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Rom. 8:37) . The foundation of God's love in Christ provides any person a strong place to stand against whatever the circumstances may be. In a culture where circumstances seem to overcome more often than not, these are words we all need to hear, heed, and accept as true. We are now in the season of Lent. What better time than in this season of self-examination and confession to proclaim the hope, peace, and rejoicing that must be our response to the reality of God's redemptive love in our lives—even while we are still sinners!
II. Christ Offers Us a New Future
God's redemptive act in Christ leads people to become a new creation. According to Paul, this new creation is rooted and grounded in the realization that God's redeeming love is not only from something but to something. Paul wants us to realize that hope, peace, and rejoicing are the things to which redemption leads. So many persons today are concerned only with half of what the love of God has done in Christ. The church has so many times clearly proclaimed the something from which we have been saved but has failed to say our salvation is also to something. The movement of the salvation experience is from redemption to creation. To have one without the other is to fail to realize the whole story of what God has done and is doing in Christ. We are never fully mastered by God until we have experienced and been claimed by both.
The hope, peace, and rejoicing we seek to offer a hopeless age are necessary expressions of the redemption experience in our lives. If there are no hope, peace, and rejoicing in our lives, then the redemptive experience is not complete.
A United Press release in a midwestern city told of a hospital where officials discovered that the firefighting equipment had never been connected. For thirty-five years it had been relied upon for the safety of the patients in case of emergency. But it had never been attached to the city's water main. The pipe that led from the building extended four feet underground—and there it stopped! The medical staff and patients felt complete confidence in the system. They thought that if a blaze broke out, they could depend on a nearby hose to extinguish it. But theirs was a false hope. Although the costly equipment with its polished valves and well-placed outlets was adequate for the building, it lacked the most important thing: water!
Our hope must be rooted in the redemptive experience of God's love in Christ. Without redemption we cannot have the new creation. Rooted deeply in God's love as shared in Christ, may we discover the power to witness with hope, peace, and rejoicing the difference God seeks to make in a hopeless age. (Travis Franklin)
GIVE ME A DRINK
JOHN 4:5-42
"How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (v. 9). How is it that you, a resident of the suburb, ask a drink of me, a resident of the inner city? How is it that you, a northern factory worker, ask a drink of me, a southern tobacco farmer? How is it that you, who have been lumping all of us together into some invisible group, now suddenly ask something of one of us? Forces of darkness and evil are constantly working to destroy life, to diminish the good, to make us into groups and treat us as statistics and thus destroy the edges, the individual gifts, the uniqueness of all creation. And the power of God's grace is constantly working to put us individually on stage, in public, and allow us to use our special talents and abilities for the benefit of all.
I. God Already Knows Who We Are
So Jesus and the woman are at the well. She is an invisible person. She is invisible to the Jews because she is a Samaritan. They don't see her. They see labels and symbols and history, but they don't look at her. She has secrets that most people do not want to hear about. That is why she comes to the well at midday.
Many of us try to be invisible—to keep a low profile—because we think there is something about us that would make other people reject us, dislike us, oppose us, or exclude us if the secret was out. Maybe we worked in a retail store, and we used to come home with unpaid-for merchandise. Maybe we did not get the college diploma we said we did. We do not want to be put forward; we don't want to be noticed because we are afraid the attention will expose our sins and we will be condemned.
But Jesus makes this woman visible because he has a need, a thirst, and the well is deep and he has no bucket. She becomes visible when Jesus asks for help and talks with her as though she matters, talks to her as a human being, with respect and dignity, as if her being there at noon is nothing out of the ordinary.
II. God Knows Our Secrets—and God Still Wants Us
As the story unfolds, we discover the amazing thing is that Jesus already knows the secret. Jesus does not treat her with respect because he does not know. Jesus treats her as a human being even knowing the story. God already knows the secrets we are hiding. God is seeking us, calling us. God has work for us to do, and God already knows the secrets we are using as the reason for holding back.
Too many of God's people are holding back, trying to stay invisible, because we think we have secrets that will disqualify us from the work of God's kingdom. We let the secrets keep us from the challenges of being a part of the mighty work of the kingdom of God. Well, rejoice! God knows the secrets with which we live. God has forgiveness and grace available to bring those secrets to light. And in that light of his love and mercy the secrets lose power over us, and we are free to exert ourselves in the great joy and mission of God's people. The secrets are known, and yet God still has a place and a job for us. It is not that what we did does not matter; it is just that what we might do as part of God's future is so much more important that God invites us to come out to the center stage of history and join this work of being the people of God. The past can't hurt the future of God's kingdom. (Rick Brand) read more
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MARCH 19, 2017 - EVERYDAY GOD by William H. Willimon
PULPIT RESOURCE

INSPIRING-HUMOROUS-EDGY-CONFRONTING-RELEVANT
DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE NOW
Welcome to the new Pulpit Resource from Will Willimon. For over three decades Pulpit Resource helps preachers prepare to preach. Now in partnership with Abingdon Press, this homiletical weekly is available with fresh and timely accessibility to a new generation of preachers.
No sermon is a solo production. Every preacher relies on inherited models, mentors in the preacher’s past, commentaries on biblical texts by people who have given their lives to such study, comments received from members of the congregation, last week’s news headlines, and all the other things that make a sermon communal.
No Christian does anything on their own. We live through the witness of the saints; preachers of the past inspire us and judge us. Scripture itself is a product of the community of faith. A host of now-forgotten teachers taught us how to speak. Nobody is born a preacher.
Pulpit Resource is equivalent to sitting down with a trusted clergy friend over a cup of coffee and asking, “What will you preach next Sunday?” Whenever I’ve been asked by new preachers, “How can I develop as a preacher?” my usual response is, “Get in a group of preachers. Meet regularly. Learn how to give and how to receive help. Sort through the advice of others, and utilize helpful insights.”
That’s Pulpit Resource.
Ready to Subscribe?
You now have the new option of subscribing to Pulpit Resource online to allow you easy access at any time. The print version is also still available for subscription. Simply pick the option that best meets your needs to subscribe today.
ONLINE ONLY SUBSCRIPTION – $70 PRINT SUBSCRIPTION – $70 ONLINE AND PRINT SUBSCRIPTION – $80
Alert! Subscribers to Pulpit Resource who purchased through Logos Productions:
If you subscribed to Will Willimon’s Pulpit Resource through Logos Productions before December 31, 2015, we have a record of your postal address and subscription expiration date, but we do not have your account in our system. To continue receiving Pulpit Resource for the life of your paid subscription, you must call customer service at 1-800-409-5346 or email subscriptions@ministrymatters.com. Your new account will not be charged until it is time to renew your annual subscription.read more
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MARCH 19, 2017 - THIRD SUNDAY OF LENTBy Sheila Bouie-Sledge
PREACHING ANNUAL
The Abingdon Preaching Annual includes:
The Primary Theme Fleshed out with brief, pithy nuggets of thought, idea jump-starters, or questions designed to spur the preacher’s imagination.
Secondary or Parallel Themes Two or three themes or streams of thought that are related to but separate from the primary theme offered.
Worship Helps Including Gathering Prayer, Collect, Pastoral Prayer, Congregational Prayer, Responsive Reading, and a Closing Prayer or Benediction.
Topical Essays These 700 word essays cover a variety of current and critical topics for the preacher—contributed by leading homileticians.
Full Sermons The full text from six to twelve sermons will be included. Additional are available online. These sermons will highlight best practices, unique approaches, and fresh voices.
Sermon Series Ideas This section will briefly outline and describe ideas for unique sermon series based on lectionary readings.
"As a weekly preacher, I often find that preparing for preaching and crafting sermons are spiritual disciplines for me. It is a time in which I try to quiet all of the other 'to do' lists that occupy much of my ministry. This resource from Abingdon Press will now be a partner in those conversations, almost like a new personal devotional guide. I am grateful for additional voices who can help me make space for God’s Living Word." - Shannon J Kershner, Pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, IL
Ready to Subscribe?
You now have the new option of subscribing to the Preaching Annual online to allow you easy access at any time. The print version is also still available for subscription. Simply pick the option that best meets your needs to subscribe today.
ONLINE ONLY SUBSCRIPTION – $20.00 PRINT SUBSCRIPTION – $20.00PULPIT RESOURCE COMBO ONLINE SUBSCRIPTION – $86.75PULPIT RESOURCE COMBO PRINT SUBSCRIPTION – $86.75read more
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