God's Promise of Restoration

March 19, 2023 John 9:1-41 Fourth Sunday of Lent – Good Shepherd Sunday Year A Prelude Welcome Introit Invocation (based on Psalm 23) Restorative Shepherd, You bring comfort to those experiencing disaster. You lead us beside still water. As we gather in the house of the Lord, Prepare the table for us. Anoint us to share your good news of mercy and goodness with all those we encounter. We gather with thanksgiving this UMCOR Sunday and all the days of our lives. Amen. Call to Worship (based on Psalm 23) One: The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. One: The Lord makes me lie down in green pastures All: God, remind us today to pause and see your mercy and goodness. One: The Lord leads me beside the still waters All: In the midst of storms, offer us moments of calm. One: The Lord prepares a table before me All: There is more than enough to share with our neighbors. One: The Lord anoints my head with oil All: God, restore our souls so that we can be agents of your mercy and goodness Song Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us UMH 381 Children’s Sermon Supplies: Marbles and a bucket filled with water Hand out marbles or stones. Say: Repeat after me: “We are ambassadors for Christ” An ambassador is someone who works to bring people together in agreement. They are peace builders. Paul wrote a letter to the early church and explained that “we are ambassadors for Christ.” When we act more like Jesus, we can help other people experience God’s love. We become ambassadors for Christ. One of the ways that we as United Methodists are ambassadors for Jesus is through UMCOR. When a neighborhood or community has been affected by a disaster, people serve through UMCOR to help share God’s love by fixing up houses, making sure there is clean water and by listening and responding to what the people need. But one person or one church can’t do as much as a lot of churches working together. See how the marble creates a ripple when I toss it into the water? (Throw a marble into the bucket.) Every time we do something kind for someone, we create a ripple of kindness. Our actions act as an ambassador for Christ. But what happens when we each put a marble in the water at the same time? Let’s do it together. Wow! That’s a lot of ripples. PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION AND NEW LIFE God of surprises, we know that we do not often perceive the world as you do. We look to the flashy fame, the grand gestures, optimal achievements, and unreachable standards. Yet, in spite of our misguided reach towards perfection, you give us glimpses of your grandeur and grace. Surprise us yet again this day, O God, that in our complacency which allows us to drift towards the same old ways of faith that we may be transformed anew. Provide us with a new cup of oil that we may be anointed by your love so that we may set out into your world to bless and anoint others. In the name of the One whose love and peace make all things new we pray. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Chad Abbott) WORDS OF GRACE/ASSURANCE OF GOD’S LOVE Liturgist: Friends, receive the anointing of God’s tender love and forgiveness this day. For God’s care and compassion for you abides in your heart today and always. All: We rise and set out restored and renewed. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Chad Abbott) Responsive Reading Psalm 23 UM 754 Scripture John 9:1-41 Sermon – God’s Promise of Restoration Last week I saw this cute post of a young child, about 2 or three. The post caught my attention because you couldn’t really tell if it was a boy or a girl, and I couldn’t quite tell the ethnicity of the child- not that it mattered. The child was playing with a ball, when someone put a pair of glasses on the child. The child immediately looked up, and recognized the voice speaking as mother – the child lit up and pointed in recognition. Then you could tell that they were overwhelmed by the other people speaking to them. We may never know what the cause of the child’s blindness was. And I would imagine at the young of an age, that they had been born blind from birth. And yet we can be grateful that the doctors were able to find a cure – our sight is so much a part of how we experience life, and how we experience God. I would imagine that if you were blind, you would experience your faith differently. For instance, psalm 23 speaks of God leading you through valleys and still waters. I would imagine if you cannot see, then you would think of being led by God in a different way. When God prepares a table – you would have a different journey to come to that table. And yet – in the midst of our differences God still prepares a table intended for all of us to have a seat. Scriptures says that God prepares this table before our enemies. And yet even those who we may consider an enemy – are welcome to come to God’s table. When we come together in church – we are preparing to take a seat at God’s table for all. Not only are we called to come to the table, but we are also called to prepare the meal and to bring others to the table. We work together to share in God’s bounty for all. Our Job as the church is to keeping building that table- making it bigger in order to fit more people. We are called to make disciples of all nations. We are also called to feed, clothe and free others. Every church organizes itself for mission. In the Methodist Church, we give to support our church, but we also give to support the larger church and its missions. When we pay our apportionments it goes to support mission locally and internationally. Since helping others in need is a part of our mission – we are able to create missions like UMCOR. Our apportionments go to support the overhead cost, so that the money raised can go directly to mission. UMCOR is in places all over the world – but they are also still in the Ukraine. Since helping people is our mission, UMCOR stays in certain places long after the conflict has been resolved. They have been working since last year, to support the churches in that area help their neighbors. This mother and her daughter (left) who hid in their basement while Russian soldiers occupied the Ukrainian settlement of Glibivka, near Bucha, sit beside the food package they received from Hungarian Interchurch Aid, an UMCOR ACT Alliance partner. PHOTO: HIA Our denominational connection through UMCOR allows workers and volunteers to be among the earliest to arrive and the last to leave when people are in need. Our connection strengthens communities through both disaster preparedness and long-term recovery. Our connection is a ministry of presence that stills the waters of chaos and crisis, restoring hope and offering healing around the world. Through UMCOR, we set the table of our faith with nourishing food, the finest linens, the best parts of who we are and share it with one another through acts of mercy and goodness. Today we are invited into that partnership with God who is our strength. When we are helping whose in need we are making a bigger table to accommodate our different experiences across nations, problems and opinions. When we work together we see the presence of God in one another. We are able to see in ways that we never imagined. Are We Blind Also? What a question to ask ourselves. The answer might surprise us. How much of God do we see? He is all about us. A great scientist went home to lunch after spending the morning in his laboratory peering through a powerful microscope at the petals of a rose. When his wife asked him how he had been spending his time he replied, "I have spent the morning with God." It was Oliver St. John Gogarty who wrote: What can we say but, "Glory be," When God bursts out in an apple tree? Do we see God in nature, in humanity? Or are we blind also? Jon L. Joyce, His Hands When we work for a world to help others, we help ourselves. The light of Christ shines in us all to see. Amen. (Inspiration for this sermon came from Rev. Paul Winkelman and the General Board of Global Ministries) God prepares a table before us—often through the goodness and merciful acts of others. There is something sacred that happens when we gather around the table together. It is no coincidence that when Jesus instituted the sacrament of Communion it was around a dinner table. This unthinkable pain that was about to happen was given meaning in the breaking of bread, the outpouring of love. God “prepare[s] a table before me in the presence of my enemies,” is the full verse. Does the psalmist mean it’s a table for me to eat and enjoy while my enemies look on jealously? Or is it a table for us to eat together and find reconciliation? Remember, God doesn’t see other people as your enemy. God sees the person you are calling an enemy the same way that God sees you—with goodness and mercy! Too often, we feel rushed and we dilute our sources of nourishment. We turn to fast food instead of food prepared slowly and with care. Time with loved ones sitting face to face in conversation becomes harder and harder to manage. How many cell phones have crept onto the dinner table? How many dinner tables are set in front of a television screen? And for too many people, the table is empty. I wonder if we treat spiritual nourishment the same way we approach mealtimes. Signs of disconnection are everywhere. But it’s not stronger than God’s love for humanity. We are invited into building deeper relationships, entering into spiritual commitment and discipleship. And we each can take responsibility for the work of restoring community with acts of goodness and mercy. Today we have an opportunity to set places at the table for others through UMCOR. REMEMBER, GOD DOESN’T SEE OTHER PEOPLE AS YOUR ENEMY. GOD SEES THE PERSON YOU ARE CALLING AN ENEMY THE SAME WAY THAT GOD SEES YOU— WITH GOODNESS AND MERCY! UMCOR SUNDAY SERMON STARTER Song O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing UMH 57 PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE (CAN BE DONE AS AN INSERT ON THE BACK OF ANNOUNCEMENTS) Gracious God, we pray for our neighbors down the street and around the world who need food, water, clothing, and shelter. Our Shepherd, you supply our need; most holy is your name. Gracious God, we pray for our neighbors who are in distress, whose bodies and minds need your peaceful and loving presence. Our Shepherd, you supply our need; most holy is your name. Gracious God, we pray for our neighbors whose lives have been upended by disaster and who are in desperate need of provision and care. Our Shepherd, you supply our need; most holy is your name. Gracious God, we pray for our siblings who make up the Christian family across the world, that we would be your witnesses and workers for the flourishing of all creation. Our Shepherd, you supply our need; most holy is your name. Gracious God, we pray that goodness and mercy would follow us all of our days that we might be sharers of goodness and mercy everywhere we go. Our Shepherd, you supply our need; most holy is your name. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Director of Worship Arts, August 2022; Litany response adapted from the opening line of “My Shepherd, You Supply My Need” by Isaac Watts as found in Chalice Hymnal, edited by Daniel B. Merrick and David P. Polk (Chalice Press, 1995), #80. Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment (just print the offering prayer) T he psalmist reminds us that goodness and mercy follow us. Today we have an opportunity to be agents of God’s goodness and mercy. On UMCOR Sunday, we join with other UMC congregations in a special offering to support The United Methodist Committee on Relief, an organization that acts on our behalf when there is a crisis. This allows for 100% of gifts given in response to disasters to assist with the disaster. UMCOR can do this because the funds we give today join with those of millions of other United Methodists to help cover the costs of doing business. From training volunteers to keeping the office lights on, the UMCOR Sunday special offering equips the organization to respond quickly when disaster strikes. Since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia, UMCOR has provided support to those who’ve remained in Ukraine and those who’ve fled to surrounding countries, working with United Methodist churches in the region as well as local and governmental partners. Because UMCOR Sunday covers the overhead costs, 100% of the gifts made to the International Disaster Response and Recovery Advance can support direct relief efforts, quickly and effectively. UMCOR works through Methodist churches in Ukraine’s neighboring nations—Poland, Hungary, UMCOR SUNDAY OFFERING TALK This offering talk is part of the UMCOR Sunday pastor and leader kit and connects with the theme “God’s Promise of Restoration.” It can be adapted for your context and integrated into your worship service with the other materials in the kit. Consider inviting someone who has served on a mission trip with UMCOR to share their testimony instead of using the example below. Romania, Slovakia, Estonia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. It is awarding grants to trusted partners like ACT Alliance, International Orthodox Christian Charities and Human Rights League. Grants provide transportation assistance, humanitarian supplies such as food, water, clothing, shelter and medication and legal services and safe spaces for families, women, children and those with disabilities. In addition, UMCOR has funded the transport of more than $2 million in medical supplies to hospitals in Kyiv, with more supplies scheduled to be delivered in the coming months. UMCOR is in continual dialogue with our UMC bishops and other partners throughout Europe to identify needs as the war drags on. The situation in Eastern and Central Europe is constantly evolving and recovery efforts will take years. UMCOR will be there continuing to assist. Please give generously. Write a check addressed to this church and write, “UMCOR Sunday offering” in the memo line. To give online or set up monthly giving, go to UMC.org/SSGive. Offering Prayer OFFERING PRAYER Merciful God, thank you for UMCOR, which shepherds communities through storms and other disasters. Thank you for preparing a table to nourish the hungry. Thank you for offering green pastures with resting spaces to restore souls and lives. Our cup overflows with abundance. Receive our gifts and transform them into acts of goodness and mercy that alleviate suffering and offer hope and healing to your people. Amen Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook As you depart from this place, May your soul be restored To see God at work as lives are transformed. May your soul be restored To share your witness of Christ’s love in the midst of life’s storms. May your soul be restored To be moved by the Holy Spirit such that you serve as an agent of mercy and goodness. You are anointed. Go in peace. Joys and Concerns Benediction As you leave this time of worship, may God’s presence follow you, heal you, and empower you to witness and to witness to the goodness and love of God everywhere you go. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Director of Worship Arts, August 2022.

Blood from a Turnip? Water from a Rock

March 12, 2023 Lent 3 Exodus 17:1-7 Year A Prelude Welcome 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. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Joanne Brown) 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. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Joanne Brown) Song Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah UMH 127 Children’s Sermon How many of you have ever played the game Rock, Paper, Scissors? Here’s how to play Rock, Paper, Scissors. Follow along. Demonstrate the motions as you explain. Players all hold one hand out as a platform and hit it with their other fist while saying, “Rock, Paper, Scissors…go!” On the fourth hit and the word “go,” players form either a rock, paper, or scissors. Demonstrate each item as you say the words. This is how you know who wins: rock smashes scissors, paper covers a rock, and scissors cut paper. Let's play! You can all play against me and you can keep track of how many times you win. Ready? One, two, three, go. For the first round, choose a rock. I made a rock. If you made paper, you win. If you made scissors, I win. If you made a rock, we tied. Play several rounds. The great thing about Rock, Paper, Scissors is that you can be a winner no matter what you choose from game to game. Today, I have a real rock, paper, and scissors with me. These items are all useful in their own way. Hold up each item as you talk about it. If you wanted to write a letter, a rock or scissors wouldn't be much help, but a piece of paper would be, wouldn't it? If you wanted to cut a piece of paper, a rock or paper wouldn't help, but a pair of scissors would. If you were really thirsty and needed a drink of water, a piece of paper or a pair of scissors wouldn't be much help, but a rock might be exactly what you need. Wait—what? Some of you are looking at me like I'm crazy! Don't you think a rock would be helpful if you needed a drink of water? Let’s vote. Have kids raise their hand if they think a rock would help or not if a person needed water. Well, in our Bible lesson today, that’s exactly what happened: A rock helped when people were thirsty. What’s it like when you feel very, very thirsty? Let a few kids respond. Being thirsty is uncomfortable. It can give you a headache and make you dizzy. In fact, the human body has to have water every day, multiple times a day to stay alive. Moses had led the Israelites out of slavery into the desert. The Israelites were more and more thirsty, the situation was getting very serious, and they complained to Moses. So Moses went to his tent and fell on his knees before God. God answered and Moses did exactly what God told him to do. After he struck the rock, water began rushing from it—enough to quench the thirst of all the people and all their animals! We can learn a lot from Moses. When you and I face an impossible situation, we can go to God and ask for His help. God can do impossible things. Dear God, when we face impossible situations, help us remember Moses and know that we serve a God who can get water from a rock. In Jesus’ name, amen. 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. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Joanne Brown) 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. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Joanne Brown) 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. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Joanne Brown) Responsive Reading Psalm 95 UMH 814 Scripture Exodus 17:1-7 Sermon Blood from a Turnip? Water from a Rock? So, it looks like the journey is continuing for me. Now that the pandemic is ending, there are more and more conference meetings. So I have had to be creative in finding easy ways to get around. Yesterday it was just easier to catch the train to Chicago and to use public transportation. The Lenten season is also our journey of finding our faith. We have to think about our lives, but also to think about where we can see God clearly in our faith. This season we have stayed focused on the Hebrew Bible. We have heard the stories of Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses, and the wandering Isrealites as they search for the Promisedland. Each of these stories remind us of what it means to be human, what does it mean to deal with human problems, to make t human mistakes. We are challenged to think about those moments in our life when our human behavior crosses the line to being sinful. These stories are not about the big sins, killing, stealing and disrupting society. But of subtle sins, sins of faith and doubting God. This story of Meribah and Massah takes place in the wilderness of sin. It is a perfect story for lent – Life in the Wilderness of Sin. The only thing is – Sin was the name of the place, not what the people did. They were in the valley of Sin, which is near Mount Sinai. When you are in the wilderness, you are in an unfamiliar place- you don’t know where to find anything and you are unprepared for what might happen. It is sort of like driving through the forest preserve and realizing there is no place to stop ad get anything in case of an emergency. On trips like that, of course you get nervous and uncomfortable. For the Isrealites, they looked around and realized there was no place to get water and they were thirsty. The start to cry, complain, blame. They forgot their own history of how God had provided for every need on the journey. When you are panicking, you are not thinking clearly. Moses sees God presence traveling with them and telling him where the water is. He strikes a rock and the water flows. I just preached on this story last year- but that was a different context – it wasn’t told during lent. But honestly, every time I think about this story – I always take pause at its lesson. The people grumbled, and God heard them, cared for them and gave them what they demanded. – and yet, if you read further in Exodus, we also learn that this is the one moment in the bible, when God never forgave them. They did not believe God would take care of them. So God says that because they grumbled, that generation would never see the promisedland. They were upset because they needed water and couldn’t find it. The good news for us is that God changed God’s mind – God did not stay upset forever. We can be grateful that God send Jesus to show us grace and show us forgiveness for our sins. Or we would all be in trouble. But the sin of the ISrealites was not complaining, as much as refusing to acknowledge the presence of God. We have all heard of the story of the man in boat in the midst of a flood – praying for God to rescue him. They through his a ladder, someone comes along on a boat, a helicopter comes – and he refuses saying he is waiting for God to rescue him. When the boat is sinking, he asks God why God did not show up – and God says but I did, and you just didn’t see it. Sometimes in life we have to stop and think – what am I missing in this situation. When we are panicking, there is no time for reflection. God is there in some way. We all have our Meribah and MAssah – that point in our lives when we wonder if God really cares. We all have those times in our lives when we are looking for water and all we see is rocks. How frequently do we face the impossible. Sometimes things are really possible, we just can’t see it. A Vermont Methodist church declined in the 1960s and '70s. It boasted 800 members on the rolls in 1963, but by 1982 the number at Sunday worship was 28-30. Attached to the back of the church was a two-story structure with a basement. It had overflowed with children and youth in the 1960s, but in 1982 sat empty, no Sunday school at all. The thermostat was set low to keep expenses down. Except for worship, that church had no signs of life. The attached building was termed "our albatross." Parishioners spoke of it as a liability, something that cost them money. A new pastor arrived in 1983 and remarked, "An empty building. Great. How shall we use this ... asset?" A couple of weeks went by and a used hospital bed was advertised in the newspaper, free for the taking. The pastor arranged to pick it up and stored it in the basement of the albatross building. The church bulletin noted the bed was available on free loan to anyone needing it. In no time, a woman recovering from hip surgery called. But a week later someone else needed it. When the pastor mentioned the dilemma during worship, a woman stood and said she had another hospital bed in her attic and she'd donate it. Soon word got out about what came to be known as the Hospital Equipment Loan Program. Canes, crutches, walkers, shower seats, and wheelchairs were donated. The cellar of the albatross building -- canes and crutches hanging everywhere -- looked like the Healing Shrine at Lourdes. A volunteer church secretary came to work in the church office 3 mornings a week -- not to type the church bulletin, but to keep the in/out log for hospital equipment! The program was so successful the church started a Second Hand Clothing Shop on the main floor. A special-needs pre-school program moved in. An ecumenical Soup Kitchen project took hold. The vision changed -- from seeing the old Educational Building as an albatross, a liability, to seeing it as an Outreach Ministries Building, an asset. The church stopped seeing the rock and trusted God to let the water flow. Today they average close to 150 at worship and are brimming with exciting programs. Seeing the water applies to churches, but also to our personal lives. From What to Do when the Bush is Burning – Steve Burtt When we are suffering from spiritual depletion – it is so hard to see what is right in front of us. Yet when we give in faith- we get a blessing. When you give to God, you may not get back what you give dollar per dollar – but giving to God opens up the door to seeing how God works and blesses us for being a blessing. We start to see God in unexpected places. In the Wilderness of Sin – Moses was not worried, because he stayed focus on the presence of God with them. He could see God’s presence clearly. When the others were thirsty - he was the only one to see God’s spirit clearly leading him. Everyone else only saw God’s presence in the water. Our them for the season is the journey of life. But our theme for today – is journeying near the water. All of the scriptrues for today talk about living water – running water. Fresh water that cleanses and restores our soul and brings us peace and well being. That is the definition of shalom – peace, justice and wellbeing. When we all are at peace, there is peace for all. Yesterday I learned a new definition of shalom - being connected to God and one another – being able to share with one another without being depleted. It is the depletion that causes the problem. The fear that God will not provide. Life is an anxiety producing ride – where we encounter doubt everyday. But if we have faith – it is a journey that stretches us and helps us to grow stronger and more patient in life. When we are thirsty – we can trust that God will quench that thirst. When we are uneasy we can trust that God will give us peace. When we watch the church decline, we can trust that God will use us to provide the increase. When we are in doubt – we can look for the water in the rock. They say that the wombats in Australia have a special talent – they have a special gift for finding water hidden under the ground. Who are the wombats among us – who can recognize God’s presence in the midst of tough times? God's Waters Never Run Dry DL Moody teels the following story: I remember being in a city where I noticed that the people resorted to a favorite well in one of the parks. I said to a man one day: “Does the well never run dry?” The man was drinking of the water out of the well; and as he stopped drinking, he smacked his lips, and said: “They have never been able to pump it dry yet. They tried it a few years ago. They put the fire-engines to work, and tried all they could to pump the well dry; but they found there was a river flowing right under the city.” Thank God, the well of salvation can never run dry either! D.L. Moody, Moody's Stories My prayer for you this Lenten season – is that you find the living waters of God and may you be restored. Amen. Song Rock of Ages U MH 361 Prayer for Healing Waters (let me know if this is too long once reformatted – you don’t have to print the first paragraph) Some waters need healing. Call to mind the places on this Earth where the waters are polluted, troubled, or in drought. (Pause) Let us name them and pray, “May all waters be healed.” Leader: In the Two-Thirds World hauling water is one of women’s main daily occupations. Response: May all waters be healed. Leader: Many people in large cities worldwide do not drink water out of the faucets because the water is polluted. Response: May all waters be healed. Leader: The Bagmati River in Kathmandu is characteristically dirty brown and full of particles that carry waterborne diseases. Response: May all waters be healed. Leader: Many urban areas in the United States are working to clean up their rivers, while others fear that their rivers are drying up. Response: May all waters be healed. Leader: In many parts of rural India women walk many miles in search of water because the rivers are dammed to irrigate commodity crops like sugarcane. Response: May all waters be healed. Leader: Across the world, rains fail and drought prevails followed by rains that arrive in torrents and flood communities with disastrous consequences. Response: May all waters be healed. Leader: May all waters be healed by the One who said, “The water I will give will become in them spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” Response: God our Creator, heal us that we may heal the waters of our world. Amen. Adapted from Diann L. Neu, “Healing the Waters,” in Return Blessings: Ecofeminist Liturgies Renewing the Earth (Pilgrim Press, 2002), 65-67. Offertory Prayer God, our provider, in Christ you give us a spring of pure water that overflows to eternal life. Your love and hope fill our hearts, so we want to worship you in Spirit and truth. Open our eyes to see the places in this neighborhood where our church’s ministries could reach new people. Direct our gifts and offerings for your purposes, so that our community will become like a field ripe for harvest. We ask this through Christ, our risen Lord. Amen. (John 4:5-42) (United Methodist Board of Discipleship) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook (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. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Joanne Brown) Community Time Benediction As you depart this space, remember that the God who caused water to flow from a rock is the same God who walks with you. Go forth with the assurance that in the midst of a chaotic world something good can happen and something good will happen. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Tena Nock) Additional Illustrations That First Longing Carl Jung, the great psychoanalyst, tried to explain why so many people were fascinated by UFO phenomena. He wrote: "We are all born to believe. The eyes may be wrong, but the psyche is right. We are all looking for a perfect model of ourselves." C. S. Lewis made the same point when he observed: “Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning can really satisfy. I am not now speaking of what would ordinarily be called unsuccessful marriages, or holidays, or learned careers. I am speaking of the best possible ones. There was something we grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in reality. I think everyone knows what I mean. The wife may be a good wife, and the hotels and scenery may have been excellent, and chemistry may be a very interesting job, but something has evaded us.” (quoted in The Joyful Christian) Robert Bachelder, Between Dying and Birth, CSS Publishing Company ___________________________ A Drink of Water to a Thirsty Soul For those conducting Communion this Sunday this illustration offers some strong tie-ins for a conclusion: Have you heard the legend of the Fisher King? When the Fisher King was a boy, he was sent out to spend the night alone in the forest, as a test of his courage to be king. During the night, he had a vision of the Holy Grail—the cup used by our Lord at the last supper. He saw it surrounded by great flames of fire, and he immediately became excited by the prospect of the wealth and glory that would be his by possessing such a great prize. Greedily, he reached into the flames to grab it, but the flames were too hot, and he was severely wounded. As the years went by, the Fisher King became more despondent and alone, and his wound grew deeper. One day, feeling sad and depressed and in pain, he went for a walk in the forest and came upon a court jester. "Are you all right?" the jester asked. "Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all?" "Well, I am very thirsty," the Fisher King replied. The jester took an old dilapidated cup from his bag, filled it with water from a nearby stream, and gave it to the Fisher King. As he drank, he suddenly felt his wound healing for the first time. And incredibly, the old cup he was drinking from had turned into the Holy Grail. "What wonderful magic do you possess?" the Fisher King asked the jester. The jester just shrugged and said, "I know no magic. I only gave a drink of water to a thirsty soul." James W. Moore, Some Things Are Too Good Not to Be True, Dimensions, p.105-106 ______________________ Searching for Happiness St. Thomas Aquinas told of a man who heard about a very special ox and determined to have it for his own. He traveled all over the world. He spent his entire fortune. He gave his whole life to the search for this ox. At last, just moments before he died, he realized he had been riding on that very special ox all the time. You are searching for happiness, perhaps? Look no farther. Look no farther than you own heart. Open your heart to God through His Son, Jesus Christ. He will give you living water. You need never thirst again. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com We Are the Sinners Rev. Randall D. Bell tells a powerful story about a pastor who stood in court beside a member of his congregation--an individual who had been “out with the boys,” and had too much to drink. As he was driving home on the rain soaked streets and through the dense fog, he turned a corner and heard a sickening clash of metal and breaking glass. Two young people lay dead. They had been thrown from their motorcycle. He was charged with manslaughter and driving under the influence. He sat in court trembling after days of testimony. The judge was about to speak. It could mean years of prison, loss of job, and poverty for his family. The judge spoke: The test for drunkenness had not been properly done; the motorcycle had no proper lights; the jury was ordered to render a not guilty verdict. All that was ominous and foreboding was now gone. He was a free man. The court declared him “not guilty.” His family kissed him--they could go on with their life, all because he had been declared innocent. Then Rev. Bell adds these words, “Now maybe this story and the way it ended angers you, because you hurt over those young people who were killed. But know this--you and I are that man. His story is our story. We are the sinner who finds himself in the presence of God the Eternal Judge. . . .” You see, not only are we blinded by our prejudices toward people like the Samaritan woman with her unseemly lifestyle, we are also blinded to the fact that we are the Samaritan woman. We, too, have fallen short of the grace of God, but the hand of grace is reached out to us as well. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com ________________________________