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Bethel Congregational Church

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March 1 SECOND Sunday of Lent

10am - Live In-Person Worship THIS WEEK

 

Sunday, March 8, 2026
Third Sunday in Lent | Year A


Focus Theme:
“Ripe for Harvesting”


Focus Prayer:
Divine Gardener, help us to discern our role in harvesting what has been prepared and planted. Amen.


Focus Scripture:
John 4:5-42
5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 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.), 10 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.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 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.” 15 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.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will  worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will  worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as  these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 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.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
27 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?” 28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30 They left the city and were on their way to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 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. 36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 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 Savior of the world.”


All readings for this Sunday:
Exodus 17:1-7 • Psalm 95 • Romans 5:1-11 • John 4:5-42
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?z=l&d=27&y=17134


Focus Questions:
What is a harvest…materially and spiritually?
What steps have to take place prior to harvesting?
What happens after harvesting?
What are you preparing or hoping to harvest?
What is ripe for harvesting?

SCRIPTURES FOR This Sunday

Exodus 17:1-7 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Exodus 17:1-7 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Exodus 17:1-7 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Exodus 17:1-7

 

17:1 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.

17:2 The people quarreled 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?"

17:3 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?"

17:4 So Moses cried out to the LORD, "What shall I do for this people? They are almost ready to stone me."

17:5 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.

17:6 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.

17:7 He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites  quarreled and tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"

Psalm 95 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Exodus 17:1-7 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Exodus 17:1-7 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Psalm 95


95:1 O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

95:2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

95:3 For the LORD is a great God and a great King above all gods.

95:4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.

95:5 The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

95:6 O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

95:7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice!

95:8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

95:9 when your ancestors tested me and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

95:10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways."

95:11 Therefore in my anger I swore, "They shall not enter my rest."

John 4:5-42 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Exodus 17:1-7 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

John 4:5-42 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

John 4:5-42


5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 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.), 10 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.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 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.” 15 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.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will  worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will  worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as  these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 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.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
27 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?” 28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30 They left the city and were on their way to him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 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. 36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 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 Savior of the world.”

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Bethel Congregational Church

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