Worship on the Third Sunday in Lent
10:00 am March 23, 2025
Minister: The Rev. Brad Childs Music Director: Binu Kapadia
Vocalist: Fionna McCrostie Welcoming Elder: Sam Malayang
Children’s time: Heather Tansem Reader: Noah Hehr
We gather to worship God
Music Prelude
Greeting
L: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you
P: and also with you
Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Preparation for worship
Call to worship:
L: We gather –
P: We gather together around a mystery.
L: We listen –
P: We listen for a voice we may not recognize.
L: We open –
P: We open our very souls to the Creator of All.
L: Then let us worship God.
Opening praise: Lord I need you
Prayers of approach and confession
God, our Creator and Sustainer,
In you, we live and breathe and find our purpose.
In your depths, we discover meaning; in your heights, we experience joy and light.
You are the source of peace and hope for everyone who turns to you.
You’ve supported and guided us, giving us strength and courage in tough times.
In you, we find rest and welcome along our journeys.
We praise you, O God, for your unchanging love.
Draw near to us again in this time of worship.
Show us your purpose for our lives and get us ready for what’s ahead,
So that our lives can reflect your mercy and grace as we follow Jesus.
Gracious God,
We admit that our thoughts don’t always align with yours;
Our actions often stray from your ways.
We let our tempers flare and neglect to show kindness.
We lose confidence and fail to treat others with respect.
Sometimes, our faith wavers, and we lose sight of you.
Forgive us for the many ways we fall short,
And inspire us to follow you more faithfully.
Sung Response: We come to ask your forgiveness
Assurance of God’s pardon
Hear the good news! Who can condemn us? Only Christ—
And Christ died for us, rose for us, reigns in power for us, and prays for us.
In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. By His mercy, we have the chance for a fresh start as we follow him.
Musical Offering (Binu, Brad, and Fionna): I shall not want
We listen for the voice of God
Song: Open our eyes Lord (445)
Children’s time
Children’s Story
Good morning…how is everyone today?
Pretty beautiful sunny day out there… I actually want to talk about the what’s going on outside.
Two days ago it was March 21st, do you know why that date is special?
It’s the first day of what? it’s officially the end of winter, so what is the next season?
Spring!
Now what’s so great about spring?
(winter is over, snow disappears, warmer weather)
What will you do now that it’s spring?
(play outside more, go to the playground, in a little while you might help your parents plant your garden)
What are some signs that it’s spring?
(grass starts growing, flowers will soon come up, trees will start to get leaves)
How does everything regrow? What does it need to
- water
- warmth or heat
- sunshine
- nutrients in the soil
Where do the flowers and trees and grass get all of the things they need to regrow?
God provides the water (through snow & rain), there’s more warmth
More hours of sunshine to help everything grow
In God’s whole creation, the earth… he has helped everything grow and
That’s one thing I want you to remember today… God helps everything grow on earth and what a big job that is!
Everyone stand up. Show me how tall you are? How did were you last year at this time?
The second thing I want you to think about today is what helps YOU grow?
(Water, food, place to live)
God supplies everything to help us grow. Our vegetables and fruits all grow because God supplies the good soil and the sun and warmth for the seeds to grow.
But how does this food get on your table? Who does that for you?
Your parents help you to grow… your grandparents, or any adults in your life keep you fed & watered and help you to grow.
Today I’d like you to be thankful for spring…for new things growing and for how you grow.
When your parent or grandparent feed you lunch today… make sure and say thanks for helping you grow.
Prayer: Let’s say a repeat after me prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for spring.
We’re excited to play outside
Thank you for helping everything grow
The flowers, the grass and the trees and the vegetables.
Thank you for helping us grow
Thanks for our parents and other adults
That give us what we need
to grow strong and healthy.
The Lord’s Prayer (535 )
Song: I hunger and I thirst (198)
Scripture reading: Isaiah 55:1-9
Response: Jesus, remember me
Message: Thirsty
Father Anthony DeMello was a Jesuit priest from India. He wrote a book about his time in Brazil titled Awareness. Spoiler Alert: I will ruin it for you on one particularly cheerful afternoon in Brazil. Among friends, Marta and Enrico set out for a glorious day in the sun, floating down the Amazon river near Macapa just north of its outlet into the Atlantic.
Somewhere among the splashing and laughter, short naps, under a hat, and the crowded nature of the local-built raft called a Tucanare, the paddle decided to embark on a solo adventure. Apparently, this had included a swim. What was once a carefree float on the river morphed into a haunting struggle for survival. While portions of the river needed little attention, other portions needed expert care. Without a paddle, they could no longer control the raft’s direction. Dangers build. As time passed, the river became faster and more expansive and finally carried them out into the ocean, unprepared for a new set of hazards.
With no food or water aboard, the current pulled them farther and farther into the Atlantic. In the sweltering heat of the sun, they suffered from dehydration, surrounded by water that they dared not drink. The one thing they knew for sure was that drinking the ocean’s salt water would only make them thirstier. In one of the terrible occurrences of life’s irony, Marta and Enrico, though surrounded by water, were dying of thirst.
But here’s the rub: they didn’t know that the force of the Amazon River estuary’s water colliding with the ocean water comes at such mass and with such a powerful force that the freshwater pushes back the saltwater. Typically, there is what’s called brackish water, and that’s a mix of the two, but here, it takes miles and miles before it begins to mix, let alone become salt water. The rush of Amazon River water that carried them out into the ocean still surrounded them. The first 160 kilometres of their uncontrolled craft rested on perfectly drinkable water. But they never drank it.
All too often, we are like Marta and Enrico. We know what we know, and we refuse to be disabused of our knowledge by the risk of being open to new alternatives. “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!” Ah, yes, but we can also be brainwashed by the blinders that this platitude imposes. More importantly, David Foster Wallace encapsulated this best when he once noted, “The most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.” Sometimes just as with the lifesaving water that surrounded Marta and Enrico, the spiritual truths we seek are right in front of us all along but masked by our fears and misconceptions.
God speaks, “Attention, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without price”.
The invitation to “come to the waters” and “buy wine and milk without money” is odd. Buying things “without money” seems wrong. But that’s the point. It’s something of value. It’s not junk. It matters. It has worth. But no, it’s not your money God wants in exchange. There might be a proper response… but that’s very different. There is no cost.
And if this sounds familiar, in John 6:35, Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” In John 7:37-38, we find that “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said loudly, ‘Let anyone thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’” We don’t want to ignore good clean drinking water while we’re dying. We want to come to God and receive what is good and is without price. Moreover, he says, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and you labour for that which does not satisfy?” In other words, did that bracelet or a new toy or whatever satisfy a deep or spiritual hunger? I doubt it. I think maybe Matthew 6:33 has it right. It says “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
The idea here is that if you satisfy the spiritual hunger, everything else falls into place. As famous Canadian comedian Jim Carrey once remarked, “I wish everyone could get rich and famous and have everything they ever dreamed of, so they would know that it’s not the answer.” There is absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying your life, mind you. Henry David Thoreau wisely said, “Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.” I agree. I’d love a ride in your million-dollar car anytime if you have one!
Our passage next says, “Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good and delight yourself in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me, listen so that you may [truly] live.”
The call to “delight” in God’s provisions is significant. It suggests that our relationship with God is about sustenance, joy, and fulfillment, challenging the idea that faith is merely about obligation.
In Augustine of Hippo’s words, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
The scripture continues with, “See, I will make with you an everlasting covenant, according to my love for David whom I have made to be a witness to the peoples and a leader and commander for the peoples.” In other words, Look, God was faithful to your ancestor David, or you wouldn’t be here. But for me, what’s most intriguing here is that God is saying King David, King of the Jews, was actually meant to be a sign of a goodly King to all the world. He was meant to be so good that all the peoples, or “nations,” would be drawn to him and thus to his God. He was meant to be a beacon of light.
What does a witness do again, and who is he a witness to? Thus, who are the thirsty also supposed to be a witness to? Witnesses report what they see. In this case, to the people. People in the plural are not just his own people from his own land.
The use of “peoples” in the plural highlights the comprehensive scope of God’s plan. It is a prophetic foreshadowing of how blessings and salvation would extend to Gentiles and other nations through the coming Messiah, who, as understood in Christian theology, is Jesus Christ. This reflects the universal invitation to come to God, as stated in Isaiah 55, where all who are thirsty are invited to partake.
In Isaiah 55:1-5 God invites all people—regardless of backgrounds or status—to experience God’s grace and renewal, to listen to His word and to know that heavenly wisdom has value though it has no cost.
The text suggests that Israel—and, by extension, all believers—will serve as a witness to the nations. It highlights the idea of God’s people being examples and leaders for others because of their relationship with Him. In this way, God the Father in Isaiah and Jesus the Son sound precisely the same. Remember, Jesus gives us the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Moreover, Acts 1:8 reminds us, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Like a lighthouse standing firm at the edge of a rocky shore, its light cutting through the darkest storms. Ships in troubled waters navigate safely by its beam. Just as the lighthouse guides lost ships, so does the believer’s life, rooted in faith, shine light into the world, guiding others toward hope and safety in God, thus fulfilling our mission to be witnesses among all nations. But to be a witness, we have to go to the water to see first.
Implicit in these verses is the acknowledgment of God’s glory and power. When we respond to His invitation, we participate in His greater purpose and bear witness to His majesty and grace. Ephesians 3:20-21 reminds us: “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.”
Our passage culminates with a revelation that could surprise many. In verse 5: “Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation that does not know you will run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you.” I particularly appreciate this part, as it speaks more about us than for us. Looking around this room, you see proof that this prophecy has come true. Those who serve the God of Abraham are not solely those born in the ancient Near East. We, who come to the water, represent nations that Isaiah and his people could never have imagined.
Just as Marta and Enrico missed the freshwater surrounding them, we, too, can miss out on the abundant life available to us and right before our eyes, as the scriptures teach.
May we become vessels of His love and grace, sharing that living water with others who thirst for hope and fulfillment? And as we do, may we shine as beacons of light in a world that desperately needs it—a world longing for love, justice, and peace that flows as freely as the waters of the mighty Amazon.
Song: As water to the thirsty (688)
We respond to serve God
Our time of giving
God has given us life and breath, creating a world full of beauty.
In Christ, we experience God’s generosity.
Our gifts are tokens of gratitude for everything we’ve received.
May our offerings speak of our thankful hearts today.
Loving God, accept these gifts we bring.
Bless them and use them to spread peace in places of unrest,
Love in places of resentment, joy in places of fear, and hope in places of loss,
All for the sake of Jesus Christ, our friend and Savior. Amen.
Prayer of gratitude, and for others and ourselves
When the world feels confusing and overwhelming,
You bring light and hope.
We give you thanks for lessons learned, for changes of heart,
For discoveries and the paths we courageously follow.
We pray for those who are confused or afraid,
For those struggling with anger or despair.
O God, give us hope in our time.
Turn our hearts to you.
There is so much conflict and hostility around us and within us.
Relationships can be tense, and communities are often divided.
We pray for understanding to foster harmony
At home, in the workplace, our community, and throughout our country.
We ask for diplomacy to resolve conflict among nations,
Especially remembering (add specific conflict zones).
O God, give us peace in these times.
Turn our hearts to you.
We thank you for the moments of joy and celebration in our lives,
For the small pleasures we’ve received, even during isolation.
We remember those who feel left out or bitter,
Those who are anxious or in distress.
We lift those facing loss and hardship in these uncertain times,
And all who are experiencing sorrow and suffering,
Naming those who are on our hearts today.
O God, give us joy in our time.
Turn our hearts to you.
We thank you for your constant presence
Amid all that brings uncertainty and worry these days.
Bless our congregation;
Inspire us to explore new ministry and mission opportunities.
Reignite our love for one another
And our desire to worship and serve together in Jesus’ name.
Support leaders who are feeling exhausted by the challenges they face,
And renew our stewardship with gratitude for your love.
O God, give us strength in our service.
Turn our hearts to you. Amen.
Song: All the way my Saviour leads me ( 699)
Sending out with God’s blessing
May you carry with you the invitation from our God, the one who calls to all who are thirsty, urging you to come and drink deeply from the wells of His love and grace.
May your hearts be open to His abundant provisions, and may you find nourishment and fulfillment in the fresh waters of His Spirit.
May you walk through the days ahead and be a vessel of His light, leading others to the living waters that bring hope and healing.
May you go forth confidently, knowing that you are part of God’s everlasting covenant, a witness to His faithfulness, and a light to the nations.
May the Holy One of Israel guide your steps and fill your thirsting soul. Amen.
Response: Benediction (As you go)
Music postlude
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Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).
The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2025) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.