Saturday March 12, 2022

St. Thomas Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/St.Thomas.the.Apostle.Cambridgehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/969531309814142 (this is St. Luke’s page)  Saturday, March 12, 2022 CollectHoly Lord, everything we need is found in you.  For those of us who come here feeling broken, bring restoration.  For those of us who come here feeling weak, bring strength.  For those who come here weeping, bring joy.  For those of us who come here with doubts, bring faith. For those who come here feeling shame, bring freedom.  For those of us who come here feeling burdened, bring rest.  For those of us who come here feeling anxious, bring peace.  Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.Come, let us worship.   The Proclamation of the Word-1st Reading:  Deuteronomy 11:18 – 28 (NRSV)You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.If you will diligently observe this entire commandment that I am commanding you, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and mightier than yourselves.   Every place on which you set foot shall be yours; your territory shall extend from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the Western Sea.  No one will be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will put the fear and dread of you on all the land on which you set foot, as he promised you.See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn from the way that I am commanding you today, to follow other gods that you have not known. Psalm 55 (Book of Alternative Services page 774):1               Hear my prayer, O God; * do not hide yourself from my petition. 2               Listen to me and answer me; * I have no peace, because of my cares. 3               I am shaken by the noise of the enemy * and by the pressure of the wicked;   4               For they have cast an evil spell upon me * and are set against me in fury. 5               My heart quakes within me, * and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. 6               Fear and trembling have come over me, * and horror overwhelms me. 7               And I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! * I would fly away and be at rest. 8               I would flee to a far-off place * and make my lodging in the wilderness. 9               I would hasten to escape * from the stormy wind and tempest.” 10             Swallow them up, O Lord; confound their speech; * for I have seen violence and strife in the city. 11             Day and night the watchmen make their rounds upon her walls, * but trouble and misery are in the midst of her. 12             There is corruption at her heart; * her streets are never free of oppression and deceit. 13             For had it been an adversary who taunted me, then I could have borne it; * or had it been an enemy who vaunted himself against me, then I could have hidden from him. 14             But it was you, a man after my own heart, * my companion, my own familiar friend. 15             We took sweet counsel together, * and walked with the throng in the house of God. 16             Let death come upon them suddenly; let them go down alive into the grave; * for wickedness is in their dwellings, in their very midst. 17             But I will call upon God, * and the Lord will deliver me. 18             In the evening, in the morning, and at noonday, I will complain and lament, * and he will hear my voice. 19             He will bring me safely back from the battle waged against me; * for there are many who fight me. 20             God, who is enthroned of old, will hear me and bring them down; * they never change; they do not fear God. 21             My companion stretched forth his hand against his comrade; * he has broken his covenant. 22             His speech is softer than butter, * but war is in his heart. 23             His words are smoother than oil, * but they are drawn swords. 24             Cast your burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain you; * he will never let the righteous stumble. 25             For you will bring the bloodthirsty and deceitful * down to the pit of destruction, O God. 26             They shall not live out half their days, * but I will put my trust in you.  God of grace, when we are frightened and alone, help us to trust you and cast our burdens upon you, that we may be upheld by your saving strength. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The Proclamation of the Word-2nd Reading:  Hebrews 5:1-10 (NRSV)Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people.  And one does not presume to take this honour, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was.So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’; as he says also in another place, ‘You are a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchizedek.’In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Gospel Reading:  John 4:1 – 26 (NRSV)

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, ‘Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John’— although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— he left Judea and started back to Galilee.  But he had to go through Samaria.  So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well.  It was about noon.A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’.  (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)  The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’  (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)  Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’  The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep.  Where do you get that living water?  Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’  Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.  The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’  The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’  The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’  Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.  What you have said is true!’  The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet.  Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’  Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’  The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ).  ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’  Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’ The Lord’s Prayer Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.  For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever.  Amen. Closing PrayerGracious God, your love unites heaven and earth in a new festival of gladness.  Lift our spirits to learn the way of joy that leads us to your banquet hall, where all is golden with praise.  We ask this through Jesus Christ the Lord. May the grace of God uphold you, the peace of God surround you, the love of God flow from you and the strength of God protect and bring you safely through this day.  Amen. God bless and keep us through this season of our lives -