Sunday Service 8th March 2026
for Sunday 8th March
Today’s service is led by The Revd Lisa Moore Wilson
Welcome and Introduction
Hello, and a warm welcome to you wherever you are listening to this service. We come before God in prayer with our call to worship, let’s pray.
Call to Worship
O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. Amen
Hymn All My Hope on God is Founded
Joachim Neander (1650-1680) paraphrased Robert Bridges (1844-1930)
Public Domain sung by Gareth Moore at the Isle of Man Methodist Church and used with his kind permission.
All my hope on God is founded;
he doth still my trust renew.
Me through change
and chance he guideth,
only good and only true.
God unknown, he alone
calls my heart to be his own.
2 Human pride and earthly glory,
sword and crown betray his trust;
what with care and toil we fashion,
tower and temple, fall to dust.
But God’s power, hour by hour,
is my temple and my tower.
3 God’s great goodness
aye endureth,
deep his wisdom passing thought;
splendour, light, and life attend him,
beauty springeth out of nought.
Evermore from his store
new-born worlds rise and adore.
4 Daily doth the almighty giver
bounteous gifts on us bestow;
his desire our soul delighteth,
pleasure leads us where we go.
Love doth stand at his hand;
joy doth wait on his command.
high above all praises praising for the gift of Christ his Son.
Christ doth call one and all ye who follow shall not fall.
Prayers Of Thanksgiving, Confession & Assurance
Gracious God, we give thanks that through the ages
you have given us your prophets to guide us into your way of living.
We give thanks that you still call people
to us that can teach us your word.
Most of all, we give thanks that you sent your Son among us
to be a living example of how to build our relationship with you
so that we can live life in its fullest sense.
Forgive us then, when we doubt,
when we want things to happen in the way we want
and to the time frame we want not yours.
Forgive us when we think our own ways are better than yours.
Forgive us when we fail to be honest with you and with ourselves.
Give us time to examine our thoughts and change our ways.
The Lord says: “See, I am making all things new.” And “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.” And “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.” Through him your sins are forgiven. The Lord also says: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Readings Exodus 17 1-7
From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarrelled with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’ So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’ Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’
Reading St John 4 5-42
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.’ Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’ They left the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ So the disciples said to one another, ‘Surely no one has brought him something to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘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 labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.’ Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days. 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 Saviour of the world.’
Hymn The King of Love My Shepherd Is
Henry Williams Baker (1821-1877) Public Domain sung by the Sunday 7pm Choir of St. Francis de Sales Church in Ajax, Ontario, Canada and used with their kind permission.
The King of love my shepherd is,
whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his
and he is mine for ever.
2 Where streams of living water flow
with gentle care he leads me,
and where the verdant pastures grow
with heavenly food He feeds me.
3 Perverse and foolish I have strayed,
but yet in love he sought me,
and on his shoulder gently laid,
and home rejoicing brought me
4 In death’s dark vale I fear no ill
with you, dear Lord, beside me;
your rod and staff my comfort still,
your Cross before to guide me.
5 You spread a table in my sight;
Your saving grace bestowing;
and O joy and true delight
from your pure chalice flowing!
6 And so through all the length of days
thy goodness fails me never:
good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise
within your house for ever.
Sermon
In the sermon below I have linked the passages below along the themes of understanding others and building our relationship with God based on honesty and vulnerability. However you could take one or more of the ideas mentioned and build on those for your sermon:
The theme of today’s readings is centred around our expectations of others – particularly our expectations of God and God’s expectations of us.
As they journey through the wilderness, the Israelites become increasingly disillusioned as in their perception, that longed for freedom turns out to be just as hard as their lives in captivity. Perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to judge, travelling through desert terrain year after year can not have been easy. And after all ,they have obeyed God, journeying in stages according to his instructions, they are doing the right thing so why is it all going wrong?
Moses, as God’s mouthpiece and the instigator of this journey bears the brunt of their anger. Moses goes to God and honestly lays out his situation and despair and is guided to find water for the people.
It points to getting the measure of each other, the people of God and God of the people. A dictionary definition of this is “To form an opinion about somebody’s character or abilities, especially so that you know how to deal with them.”
It sets the scene that to deal with people, God is going to have to give them a lot of support but he will accept them just as they are. The people are going to have to learn to trust and accept God even if they find it difficult to understand why things are as they are.
As we then take a journey through scripture we see these themes being repeated. People just still not quite fully grasping the nature of God and God trying to work through ordinary people and situations to try to reach them. Of course ultimately, God sends his Son amongst the people to try to hammer the message home.
Our New Testament story is one very familiar to us. It’s been taught in many ways often to the detriment of the woman who tradition names as Photina. We’ll give her this name as we talk about her today hopefully with less judgement.
Because despite finding herself in an awkward situation, alone with a man of another faith, she doesn’t seem to be ashamed or shy away from Jesus, she is quite prepared to ask him why he is speaking to her and how he’s going to draw water with no vessel to draw it with.
I’m beginning to think Jesus quite liked a bit of feistiness, a bit of spirit – excuse the pun! Think of the other women who met with him; the Syro-Phoenician woman was certainly capable of standing up for herself and her family when Jesus made disparaging remarks, the woman accused of adultery and the woman who touched the hem of his cloak also showed great courage and all of them and I hope, us too, learn from their encounters. Like them Photina, appears to be a woman who is open to learning and to taking on a new challenge.
Commentaries can suggest Photina was at the well at midday because she had been shunned by society for having had five husbands and was even now in an ‘irregular’ relationship. Of course, we’re not told anything about the circumstances which led to this – perhaps that’s something to consider another time! But whatever the circumstances, she finds herself at the well and this is no ordinary well, this is Jacob’s well. Wells are places where people meet and talk – Jacob met Rachel at a well and Moses met his wife Zipporah at a well. As Sarah Moore pointed out in her sermon on this passage the setting of this story underlines for us that this is a formation of a new relationship, not a marriage in this case, but a woman coming into a relationship with Jesus, the Messiah.
Drawing water was an everyday activity so we see that Jesus comes alongside people, simply as they go about their lives. As he begins to explain to the woman about the living water, she begins to understand that her expectations of who God is are going to have to change. In the Exodus passage, the appearance of physical water marks a need for people to change and trust God. In this story – it’s the spiritual water that marks the transformation of this woman’s thinking.
Jesus tells her God is spirit not some far away being. The question of where God should be worshipped was one that divided the Jews and the Samaritans. On the Temple Mount in Jerusalem for the Jews and on Mount Gerizim for the Samaritans. Jesus is making a more radical claim still, that God is not distant but actually standing right in front of this woman and that God is Spirit. Given these events take place before the coming of the Holy Spirit, these must have been astonishing claims.
It carried deep significance for John’s readers, early Christians who were being driven out of the synagogues. And John was writing after the destruction of the temple, reassuring them that the days of temple worship were over and God was indeed among them.
Just as Photina was having to change her expectations about who and where God was so were the early Christians. God had not changed but how they saw God would need to.
So there are a lot of characteristics of what makes good reciprocal relationships in both of our stories – there is acceptance and honesty and vulnerability.
Moses is honest with God about the situation he finds himself in when leading the people in the desert, Photina is honest about her living circumstances. It makes her vulnerable, but Jesus also makes himself vulnerable in asking a stranger for help. Jesus accepts her and she accepts him. Both Moses and Photina are blessed by their relationship with God and both go on to play their part in the harvest that Jesus outlines.
“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 labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.” Jesus has sowed the seeds and Photina it seems continues to work of the harvest.
Cast your mind back to a time when you first fell in love with someone or when you made friends with someone that you just clicked with. Somehow we become more energised and we often want to tell people about our new friendship and what it’s done for us.
It seems this is exactly what Plotina does. Despite being a woman from a people despised by Jewish society she becomes an evangelist. Once again, we see God working through the most unexpected people. She returns home to tell people about this man who despite her status treated her with respect and made her realise that life perhaps held different possibilities, he certainly made enough of an impression that she wanted to speak to others. Tradition has it Photina went onto to spread the gospel and actually became a martyr.
At the moment it feels like we are living in an uncertain world, ruled by fear and filled with binary opinions with people quickly falling in and out of favour. Perhaps some of the incidents in these readings remind you of these things?
And perhaps we can learn from the people in these stories. We can remember that God calls ordinary and unexpected people to help and that everyone is valued.
In the week ahead, you may like to think about your own expectations of God?
Where do you sense God’s presence, do you blame God or turn to God when things don’t go to plan? Are you always honest with God? Are you prepared to be surprised? Are you prepared to be changed? Are you prepared to engage with people who aren’t like you? Water changes things simply by being itself. Are you prepared to let yourself be that living, flowing water to change things for God? Amen
Hymn I Heard The Voice of Jesus Say
Horatius Bonar (1808-1889) Public Domain sung by the Sunday 7pm Choir at St Francis De Sales Catholic Church, Ontario, Canada and used with their kind permission.
I heard the voice of Jesus say:
‘Come unto me and rest;
lay down, thou weary one, lay down
thy head upon my breast.’
I came to Jesus as I was,
weary and worn and sad,
I found in him
a resting-place,
and he has made me glad.
2 I heard the voice of Jesus say:
‘Behold, I freely give
the living water; thirsty one,
stoop down and drink and live.’
I came to Jesus, and I drank
of that life-giving stream;
my thirst was quenched,
my soul revived,
and now I live in him.
You are invited to join in the following response: God of transformation, pour out your living water.
God we come before you today to pray for our imperfect world,
a world often convinced its ways are better than yours.
We pray for all those still affected by war and conflict. We pray that our leaders and politicians may employ wisdom and discernment rather than self-aggrandisement and territorial gains.
We pray that aid is able to reach those who need it and that settlements are negotiated to allow justice and dignity for all. God of transformation, pour out your living water.
We pray for your Church, your body on earth; give us the energy and discipline to let us still teach your Word to those who need to hear it, give us the strength to continue when attitudes harden and when prayers seem unanswered, give us the encouragement not to become disillusioned when change is happening more slowly that we would like.
God of transformation, pour out your living water
We pray for our families and community, for those who are ill in mind, body or spirit, for those who are lonely, anxious or worried, for those who are grieving.
In a moment of silence we name these people before you Silence
God of Transformation, pour out your living water
We join all our prayers together as Jesus, source of our living water, taught us saying…Our Father…
Offertory
In today’s service we have been thinking about both physical water and spiritual water so let us give thanks for both.
God, we bring our offering to you today knowing that you accept us just as we are, providing for our physical and spiritual welfare. May these offerings be used to help those who need of fresh water and those who have still not tasted your Living Water. In Jesus’ name we ask this. Amen.
Hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Robert Robinson (1735-1790) Public Domain Acapeldridge used with their kind permission
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy never ceasing
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me ever to adore thee,
May I still thy goodness prove.
While the hope of endless glory
Fills my heart with joy and love.
2 Here I raise my Ebenezer;
‘Hither by the help I’ve come’,
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus taught me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.
3 O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee.
Never let me wander from thee never leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above!
Blessing
Go knowing you have drunk living water
and go out to pour that living water for those who are still thirsty
in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.