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Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
The Water is Life
Julie Welcome! We are so happy to have you join us today as we celebrate our liturgy together.
Opening Prayer: Let us pray. Holy One, you give us the water that is our life’s blood. Let us drink deeply. AMEN.
Opening Song: Peace Like a River, Dionne Warwick and Dolly Parton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlWWmCKrTu4
First Reading
A Reading from the Book of Numbers 20:1-13
In the first month of the year, which was for the Hebrews the first month of Spring, the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin. They stayed at Kadesh, which means “Holy Place.” There, Miriam died and was buried. Miriam was a leader among the Israelites along with Aaron and Moses, her brothers.
Now, there was no water for the community in Kadesh. The people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron, for they thirsted for water. They quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” The people complained, “If only we’d died when were in captivity in Egypt! Did you bring us, God's people, into this desert, so that we and our children and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, no grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”
Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell prostrate, face down. The glory of God appeared to them. God said to Moses, “Take the staff and call the people together. Speak to the rock around which they will gather, and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community, so that all and their livestock can drink.”
So, Moses took the staff, which had remained in the Tent, just as God had commanded. Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together around the rock. Moses said to them: “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the entire community and their livestock drank. And so, from beneath the holy land where Miriam had been buried, waters flowed in a running stream for the people.
These are the inspired words of ancient Priestly Writers and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Second Reading A Reading from Paul's Letter to the Church in Rome 5:1-8
We now know that it’s faith, not outward signs of religious affiliation, that makes us “right” with God. We have peace with God through Jesus the Christ. Jesus revealed this grace to us, grace in which we all stand. We exult in hope of the glory of God! Not only that, we also rejoice in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. And this hope does not disappoint because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.
God’s Love was revealed in this: Jesus the Christ died for all those we perceive as unworthy of this death. Scarcely will one die for a good and righteous person! Even fewer would die for someone who has committed many evils. But God showed what Love is when Jesus died on the cross. God extends forgiveness to all because of Jesus’ love for all.
These are the inspired words of the Apostle Paul and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Spirit of the Living God by Michael Crawford sung by Dennis McDonald - 1 verse
https://youtu.be/nkATdLfKufE
Gospel A Reading from the Gospel attributed to John 4:5-30, 39-40
Jesus came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob and Rachel had given to their son, Joseph. Rachel and Jacob's well was there. It was the well where Rachel had been drawing water for her sheep when she first met Jacob who was a sojourner in that land.
Jesus, weary from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink”. (The disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Judean. I am a Samaritan and a woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (Judeans were told not to share vessels, or even associate, with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’, you would have asked me for a drink. I would then have given you living water.” The woman said to Jesus, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water from? Are you greater than our ancestors Rachel and Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank from it themselves along with their children and their flocks?” Jesus responded, “Whoever drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give will become in them a spring of water welling up to life everlasting.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’. You've had five husbands, and the one whom you care for now is not your husband. What you've said is true!” The woman replied, “Sir, I see that you are a seer, a prophet. You should know, then, that our ancestors worshipped on this mountain; but you Judeans say that the place people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, dear woman, the hour is coming when you will worship God neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem... The time is coming, and is now here, when true worshippers will worship our Loving God in spirit and truth. Indeed, God seeks worshippers such as these. God is Spirit, and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Jesus, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ. The Messiah will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I am the Messiah, the one speaking to you.”
Just then Jesus’ disciples returned. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said to her, “What do you want?” or to Jesus, “Why are you speaking with her?”
The woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ”Come and see someone who told me everything I have ever done! Could this be the Messiah?” They left the city and went to Jesus.
Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” When the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he did. He stayed there two days.
These are the inspired words of the anonymous storyteller we call John, and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
Shared Homily
Statement of Faith
We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery beyond all definition and rational understanding, the heart of all that has ever existed, that exists now, or that ever will exist. We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word, bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion, bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's prophets, mystics, and saints. We believe that We are called to follow Jesus as a vehicle of divine love, a source of wisdom and truth, and an instrument of peace in the world. We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One, the life that is our innermost life, the breath moving in our being, the depth living in each of us. We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now, stretched out all around us for those with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it, and hands to make it happen.
Liturgy of the Eucharist
(Written by Jay Murnane)
Julie: As we prepare for this sacred meal, we are aware of our call to serve, and just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our prayers for the community. Please share your blessings, cares, and concerns starting with the words, “I bring to the table…”
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together.
Blessed are you, Holy One, source of all creation. Through your goodness you made this world and called us to be Your co-creators. We give thanks for the diversity and beauty of life around us and within us.
We open our awareness to the goodness of all of creation and we remember our responsibility to serve. You invite us to build the earth into a community of love rooted in justice. You placed confidence in us, for you made us and you know that we are good.
In joy and in thanksgiving we join with all the faithful servants who have gone before us and we sing:
Holy Holy Holy by Karen Drucker
https://youtu.be/nTewBnxBy30
We thank you for Jesus, simple servant, lifting up the lowly, revealing you as God-With-Us, and revealing us as one with you and all of creation.
He lived among us to show us who we are and challenged us to know you. He taught us the strength of compassionate love.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
We are grateful for your Spirit at our Eucharistic Table and for this bread and wine which reminds us of our call to be the body of Christ in the world.
On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for supper with the people closest to him. Like the least of household servants, he washed their feet, so that they would remember him.
(All lift their plates and pray the following:)
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat, this is my very self.
(pause)
(All lift their cups and pray the following:)
Then he took the cup of the covenant, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:
Take and drink.
Whenever you remember me like this,
I am among you.
(pause)
What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives. As we share communion, we become Communion both love’s nourishment and love’s challenge.
You are called, consecrated, and chosen to serve. Please receive Communion with the words: I embrace my call to love.
Communion Song: Sing The Water Song by Irene Wawatie Jerome
https://youtu.be/KC2FHciQ0sU
Prayer after communion:
Julie: Holy One, we are willing to do everything Jesus did, to re-create the living presence of a love that does justice, of a compassion that heals and liberates, of a joy that generates hope, of a light that illumines people and confronts the darkness of every injustice and inequity.
We trust you to continue to share with us your own spirit, the spirit that animated Jesus, for it is through his life and teaching, all honor and glory is yours, O Holy One, forever and ever. Amen.
All: AMEN.
Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
Holy One, you are within, around and among us. We celebrate your many names. Your wisdom come; your will be done, unfolding from the depths within us. Each day you give us all that we need. You remind us of our limits and we let go. You support us in our power, and we act with courage. For you are the dwelling place within us, the empowerment around us, and the celebration among us, now and forever, Amen.
Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter
Blessing
Julie: Let us raise our hands in blessing and pray together:
May we continue to be the face of God to each other. May we love compassionately and live fully. May we call each other to extravagant generosity! May we walk with an awareness of our Call as companions on the journey, knowing we are not alone. May we, like Jesus, be a shining light and a blessing in our time! AMEN.
Closing Song: Water is Life Video by Denise Hackert-Stoner
https://youtu.be/5rkDa7-vQvQ
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