March 15, 2020
Worship Resources for
the Center for Faith and Giving
(Would you like to receive these resources directly in your inbox? Send an email to bbarkhauer@disciples.org and put “include me” in the subject line.)
Call to Worship (from Psalm 95)
One: Come! Let us sing to the Lord,
Many: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
One: The Lord is a great God.
Many: God’s hand holds the depths of the earth
and the heights of the mountains.
One: So come! Let us worship our Maker.
Many: Yes! Let’s worship God, with thanksgiving!
Opening Prayer
(consider singing verse one CH 351, “Fill My Cup, Lord” as a choral prayer.)
OR
God, we’ve come to listen for your voice. As we pull our hearts and minds into this time of worship, help us truly focus on you. Receive our deep desire to follow your way of hope, peace, joy and love. Let us worship fully and rise refreshed to serve you in all we say and do. AMEN
Moment for Stewardship (from John 4:28-30)
Have you ever been desperately thirsty? Imagine being thirsty enough to talk to a stranger, asking for a drink!
That would be strange enough, but John tells an even stranger story of Jesus, asking a Samaritan woman, to give him a drink.
What would you do, if Jesus were to ask you to give him something?
We don’t have the physical Jesus here among us today, but we do have the conversation between Jesus and this un-named Samaritan woman. She was so intrigued that a Jewish man had addressed her, she stepped into a life-changing conversation with him.
And we’re invited to do that, as well. In this moment, the body of Christ (the church) is asking you to give a portion of your time, your talent and your treasure. What you give will be translated into connection with those seeking a relationship with Jesus and with this community of faith. What you give will be transformed into food for the hungry and living water for those who thirst.
So bring your gifts, that we might share together, and celebrate as we do the will of God.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
With delight, God, we bring our gifts. Please help multiply this cash and these checks, along with on-line offerings, so we might share Good News of your Son, the Savior of the world. AMEN
Invitation to Communion
(consider having images of a well with someone drawing water, on your screen. Or, bring a water well [like a champagne fountain] to place in front of the communion table. Is it possible to fill small cups of water from that fountain/well to use for communion instead of juice?)
If you didn’t use it earlier, sing CH 351, Fill My Cup, Lord, as your communion hymn.
When the story of the woman at the well is told, we hear “the water I give will become in (you) a spring of water gushing up to eternal life”.
She jumps at this offer! Anyone who has walked to a well for water could barely imagine what it would mean to have a gushing spring. Anyone who has been bullied, teased or reprimanded so much that she only comes to the well when it was vacated by others would celebrate the news that she need not ever return to the well.
And you? What would it mean for you to truly have living water?
As you take this cup this morning, may this liquid become for you the living water of Jesus Christ, leading you (and all of us) to eternal life!