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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23RD —
LENTEN WORSHIP SERVICE IN
CASEY U.M.C. @ 7 P.M.
From second chapter of James. Try to read thesecond chapter to increase your own
understanding and appreciation.
Service Order is on page 878 in our hymnal.
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THURSDAY, MARCH 24TH —
MORNING BIBLE STUDY IN CASEY U.M.C. -
9:30 TO 10:30 A.M.
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Naomi will be out of the office today.
Office Closed.
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SUNDAY, MARCH 27, 2011
THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT
COLOR: PURPLE
SCRIPTURE READINGS:
EXODUS 17:1–7
(The Message)
Thirst is a consistent theme today.
We hear of the thirst of the Israelites whowonder whether they have been led into the
desert to die. They grumble about their thirst.
God leads Moses to strike the rock at Horeb
with his staff to supply all they need and more.
1 Directed by God, the whole company of Israel
moved on by stages from the Wilderness of Sin.
They set camp at Rephidim. And there wasn't a
drop of water for the people to drink.
2 The people took Moses to task: "Give us water
to drink." But Moses said, "Why pester me? Why
are you testing God?"
3 But the people were thirsty for water there. They
complained to Moses, "Why did you take us from
Egypt and drag us out here with our children and
animals to die of thirst?"
4 Moses cried out in prayer to God, "What can I
do with these people? Any minute now they'll kill
me!"
5 God said to Moses, "Go on out ahead of the
people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel.
Take the staff you used to strike the Nile. And go.
6 I'm going to be present before you there on therock at Horeb. You are to strike the rock. Water will
gush out of it and the people will drink."
7 He named the place Massah (Testing-Place)and Meribah (Quarreling) because of the
quarreling of the Israelites and because of their
testing of God when they said, "Is God here with
us, or not?"
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PSALM 95 (UMH 814) (The Message)
1 Come, let's shout praises to God, raise the roof
for the Rock who saved us!
2 Let's march into his presence singing praises,
lifting the rafters with our hymns!
3 And why? Because God is the best, High King
over all the gods.
4 In one hand he holds deep caves and caverns,
in the other hand grasps the high mountains.
5 He made Ocean - he owns it! His hands
sculpted Earth!
6 So come, let us worship: bow before him, on
your knees before God, who made us!
7 Oh yes, he's our God, and we're the people he
pastures, the flock he feeds. Drop everything and
listen, listen as he speaks:
8 "Don't turn a deaf ear as in the Bitter Uprising,
As on the day of the Wilderness Test,
9 when your ancestors turned and put me to the
test.
10 For forty years they watched me at work among
them, as over and over they tried my patience.
And I was provoked - oh, was I provoked! 'Can't
they keep their minds on God for five minutes? Do
they simply refuse to walk down my road?'
11 Exasperated, I exploded, 'They'll never get
where they're headed, never be able to sit down
and rest.'"
So come, let us worship: bow before him,on your knees before God, who made us!
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ROMANS 5:1–11 (The Message)
Justified by faith, through God's grace in
Jesus Christ, we have peace with God and
assurance of moving on to entire salvation.
Romans reminds us that in Jesus Christ, the
love of God has been poured into our hearts,
like ever flowing streams of water, through
the Holy Spirit.
1 By entering through faith into what God has
always wanted to do for us - set us right with him,
make us fit for him - we have it all together with
God because of our Master Jesus.
2 And that's not all: We throw open our doors to
God and discover at the same moment that he
has already thrown open his door to us. We find
ourselves standing where we always hoped we
might stand - out in the wide open spaces of
God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting
our praise.
3 There's more to come: We continue to shout
our praise even when we're hemmed in with
troubles, because we know how troubles can
develop passionate patience in us,
4 and how that patience in turn forges the
tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for
whatever God will do next.
5 In alert expectancy such as this, we're never
left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary -
we can't round up enough containers to hold
everything God generously pours into our lives
through the Holy Spirit!
6 Christ arrives right on time to make this
happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get
ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial
death when we were far too weak and rebellious
to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even
if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have
known what to do anyway.
7 We can understand someone dying for a
person worth dying for, and we can understand
how someone good and noble could inspire us
to selfless sacrifice.
8 But God put his love on the line for us by
offering his Son in sacrificial death while we
were of no use whatever to him.
9 Now that we are set right with God by means
of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood
sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being
at odds with God in any way.
10 If, when we were at our worst, we were put
on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial
eath of his Son, now that we're at our best, just
think of how our lives will expand and deepen
by means of his resurrection life!
11 Now that we have actually received this
amazing friendship with God, we are no longer
content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing
and shout our praises to God through Jesus,
the Messiah!
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JOHN 4:5–42 (The Message)
We continue a series of close encounters of
Jesus with the woman at the well, the man born
blind, and Lazarus (and his two sisters). Jesus
contends for the soul of a Samaritan woman
and wins her. Jesus asks the Samaritan woman
for water and invites her to drink living water
that could slake her thirst forever. We try all
sorts of things to satisfy a spiritual thirst, yet
come away empty, like the woman at the well
in John? We, like she, come with all sorts of
personal and cultural baggage in our own
lives, some of which may prevent us from
experiencing the saving power of God in
Jesus Christ. We hear this woman continually
bringing out her baggage and see Jesus
continually helping her place it aside.
5 He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that
bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph.
6 Jacob's well was still there. Jesus, worn out by
the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.
7 A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water.
Jesus said, "Would you give me a drink of water?"
8 (His disciples had gone to the village to buy
food for lunch.)
9 The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked,"How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a
Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (Jews in those
days would not be caught dead talking to
Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered, "If you knew the generosity
of God and who I am, you would be asking me
for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living
water."11 The woman said, "Sir, you don't even have a
bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So
how are you going to get this 'living water'?
12 Are you a better man than our ancestor
Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he
and his sons and livestock, and passed it down
to us?"
13 Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water
will get thirsty again and again.
14 Anyone who drinks the water I give will neverthirst - not ever. The water I give will be an
artesian spring within, gushing fountains of
endless life."
15 The woman said, "Sir, give me this water
so I won't ever get thirsty, won't ever have to
come back to this well again!"
16 He said, "Go call your husband and then
come back."
17 "I have no husband," she said.
18 You've had five husbands, and the man
you're living with now isn't even your husband.
You spoke the truth there, sure enough."
19 "Oh, so you're a prophet!
20 Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped
God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that
Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?"
21 "Believe me, woman, the time is coming when
you Samaritans will worship the Father neither
here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem.
22 You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews
worship in the clear light of day. God's way of
salvation is made available through the Jews.
23 But the time is coming - it has, in fact, come -
when what you're called will not matter and
where you go to worship will not matter.
24 God is sheer being itself - Spirit. Those who
worship him must do it out of their very being,
their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."
25 The woman said, "I don't know about that.
I do know that the Messiah is coming. When
he arrives, we'll get the whole story."
26 "I am he," said Jesus. "You don't have to
wait any longer or look any further."
27 Just then his disciples came back. They
were shocked. They couldn't believe he was
talking with that kind of a woman. No one said
what they were all thinking, but their faces
showed it.
28 The woman took the hint and left. In her
confusion she left her water pot. Back in the
village she told the people,
29 "Come see a man who knew all about the
things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do
you think this could be the Messiah?"
30 And they went out to see for themselves.
31 In the meantime, the disciples pressed him,
"Rabbi, eat. Aren't you going to eat?"
32 He told them, "I have food to eat you know
nothing about."
33 The disciples were puzzled. "Who could
have brought him food?"
34 Jesus said, "The food that keeps me going
is that I do the will of the One who sent me,
finishing the work he started.
35 As you look around right now, wouldn't you
say that in about four months it will be time to
harvest? Well, I'm telling you to open your eyes
and take a good look at what's right in front of
you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It's
harvest time!
36 "The Harvester isn't waiting. He's taking his
pay, gathering in this grain that's ripe for eternal
life. Now the Sower is arm in arm with the
Harvester, triumphant.
37 That's the truth of the saying, 'This one sows,
that one harvests.'
38 I sent you to harvest a field you never worked.
Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a
field worked long and hard by others."
39 Many of the Samaritans from that village
committed themselves to him because of the
woman's witness: "He knew all about the things
I did. He knows me inside and out!"
40 They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed
two days.
41 A lot more people entrusted their lives to him
when they heard what he had to say.
42 They said to the woman, "We're no longer
taking this on your say-so. We've heard it for
ourselves and know it for sure. He's the Savior
of the world!"
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MONDAY, MARCH 28TH —
Pastor Lynn's and Naomi's day off.
Office is closed today.
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TUESDAY, MARCH 29TH —
Morning Bible Study - Adair U.M.C. - 9 to 11 A.M.
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Lenten Combined Worship Service in
Adair U.M.C. at 7 P.M.
WE WILL CONCENTRATE ON THEBOOK OF JAMES
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THURSDAY, MARCH 31ST —
Thursday afternoon we will be tying graduation quilts
for Casey UMC high school graduates.
Anyone who would like to come and help tiethe quilts is welcome.
We will meet at the church at 1 PM.
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FRIDAY, APRIL 1ST —
Time to play tricks on your friends —
Nothing serious — Just a little foolish.
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Birthday Party at Casey U.M.C. to celebrate
Evelyn Lewellen's 80th birthday. 2 P.M. TO 4 P.M.
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Baptized and joined the Casey UMC on
Saturday, March 19, 2011.
Jeff and Clayton Larson are Joshua's sponsors.
Joshua about to be deployed and needs to be
listed on our active service list.
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Our hopes and prayers are with all of our
service men and women in far away places.
Did you know our soldiers are our very best
diplomats?
A picture is worth a thousand words!
Our hearts and thoughts are with these soldiers invery dangerous situations, but they are selling
America like nobody else can.
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An enormous THANK YOU to all who helped
make our Spring Chicken Dinner a resounding
success.
Thank you all for the food contributed to make
this a dinner to remember. Thanks to Staley
Catering for their wonderful fried chicken.
Thank you all for the great job you did keeping
everything organized and running smoothly.
I know, it was crowded and we very much
appreciate the patience and understanding of
all who came to eat with us.
Thank you all again.
God Bless and Keep You,
Pastor Lynn
