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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The following are the readings for the Third Sunday
in Lent, March 27, according to the Revised Common (RCL), Episcopal (ECUSA),
Roman Catholic, Canadian BAS, and the Church of England (Common Worship)
lectionaries. All readings are taken from the New Revised Standard Version
(NRSV) of the Bible. Unless noted otherwise, the ECUSA, C of E and Canadian
lectionaries are identical to the RCL for this day.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>OLD TESTAMENT: Exodus 17: 1 - 7 (RCL)
<BR>
Exodus 17: 3 - 7 (Roman Catholic) </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Exod 17:1 (NRSV) From the wilderness of Sin the
whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the LORD commanded.
They camped at Reph'idim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 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?" 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?" 4 So Moses cried out to the LORD, "What shall I do with this people?
They are almost ready to stone me." 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. 6 I will be standing there in
front of you on the rock at Ho'reb. 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. 7 He called the place Mas'sah and Mer'ibah, because the Israelites
quarreled and tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>
<DIV><BR>PSALM 95 (all but Roman Catholic) <BR>Psalm 95: 1 - 2, 6 - 9 (Roman
Catholic) </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Psal 95:1 (NRSV) O come, let us sing to the LORD; <BR>let us make a joyful
noise to the rock of our salvation! <BR>2 Let us come into his presence with
thanksgiving; <BR>let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! <BR>3
For the LORD is a great God, <BR>and a great King above all gods. <BR>4 In his
hand are the depths of the earth; <BR>the heights of the mountains are his also.
<BR>5 The sea is his, for he made it, <BR>and the dry land, which his hands have
formed. <BR>6 O come, let us worship and bow down, <BR>let us kneel before the
LORD, our Maker! <BR>7 For he is our God, <BR>and we are the people of his
pasture, <BR>and the sheep of his hand. <BR>O that today you would listen to his
voice! <BR>8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Mer'ibah, <BR>as on the day at
Mas'sah in the wilderness, <BR>9 when your ancestors tested me, <BR>and put me
to the proof, though they had seen my work. <BR>10 For forty years I loathed
that generation <BR>and said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray, <BR>and
they do not regard my ways." <BR>11 Therefore in my anger I swore, <BR>"They
shall not enter my rest." </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR> </DIV>
<DIV>NEW TESTAMENT: Romans 5: 1 - 11 (all but Roman Catholic)
<BR>
Romans 5: 1 - 2, 5 - 8 (Roman Catholic) </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Roma 5:1 (NRSV) Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access
to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory
of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that
suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character
produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been
poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. <BR>6
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7
Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good
person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in
that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9 Much more surely then,
now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from
the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we
be saved by his life. 11 But more than that, we even boast in God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>GOSPEL: John 4: 5 - 42 (RCL)
<BR>
John 4: 5 - 15 (16 - 19a) 19b - 26 (27 - 38) 39a (39b) 40 - 42
(Roman Catholic) </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>John 4:5 (NRSV) So he came to a Samaritan city called Sy'char, 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.
<BR>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." <BR>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." <BR>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. <BR>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." <BR>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." </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Chad Wohlers<BR>Woodbury, Vermont USA<BR><A
href="mailto:chadwohl@satucket.com">chadwohl@satucket.com</A><BR><A
href="mailto:cwohlers@bridgew.edu">cwohlers@bridgew.edu</A><BR><BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>