Saturday Mid-Day Prayer for the Season of Lent
from Daily Prayer for All Seasons
Renew and strengthen us, eternal God,
as we prepare for resurrection.
Prayer
Merciful God, your strength and courage pour forth to sustain the witness of your faithful people: Awaken in us the humility to serve wherever creation is broken and needy, that we may follow in the way of our brother, Jesus, die as he did to all that separates us from you, and be raised, as he was, to new life. Amen.
Praise
A Song of the Wilderness (Isaiah 35:1-4)
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, *
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
It shall blossom abundantly, *
and rejoice with joy and singing.
They shall see the glory of the Lord, *
the majesty of our God.
Strengthen the weary hands, *
and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to the anxious, “Be strong, do not fear! *
Here is your God, coming with judgment to save you.”
Scripture
John 4:1-26
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.’
Meditation
Prayers
God of hope, help us who struggle in our daily work.
When we lose our purpose,
renew our hope in you.
When we bow to hatred,
renew our trust in you.
When we despair of bliss,
renew our joy in you.
When we take offense at others,
renew our life in you.
When we compromise our values,
renew our faith in you.
When we cherish regrets,
renew our freedom in you.
When we surrender to despair,
renew our hope in you.
As we accept your renewing love,
we offer our prayers to you:
Intercessions
Almighty God, we entrust all who have been affected by the outbreak of COVID-19, all who will be affected, all who care for them, and all who are dear to us to your never-failing care and love, for this life and for the life to come, knowing that you are already doing for all of us more than we could ever imagine or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hold us, and all people, in your loving care,
and may we be hope for others.
Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial,
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for ever. Amen.
Prayer
God of hope, from you come every blessing and all peace:
Show us that, in the midst of our struggles, you are with us.
Give us the abundance of your grace
that we may do the work you give us to do
and that we may be for the world a sign of your presence;
through Christ, the Way and the Truth. Amen.
Going Out
Renew and strengthen us, eternal God,
as we prepare for resurrection.
We hold the prayers of the world in our hearts this Lenten season:
Virtual Chapel of St. Phoebe 