Prayers of the People: Spirit and Truth ~ 16th Sunday after Pentecost WLWC* ‘25 Yr C

For Sunday, September 28, 2025; Readings: Isaiah 51:1-6, Psalm 92:1-5, 12-15; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, John 4:7-26

…the God Who Saves has comforted Zion and she shall make her wilderness like Eden…Listen to me, my people and my nation, and give me heed ; for a teaching from me shall go forth, and my justice for a light  to the peoples…my salvation will be forever and my deliverance will never be broken. 

[Isaiah 51:3a, 4, 6c]

   It is good to give thanks to the Ageless God, to sing praises to your name…to declare your faithful love…For you have made me glad, Wellspring of Life…at the work of your hands I sing for joy. How great are your works, Womb of Creation! Your designs are so very profound. 

[Psalm 92:1-2a, 4-5]

I planted, Apollos watered, but God produces growth…For we are God’s coworkers, working together; you are God’s cultivation, God’s construction. [1 Corinthians 3:7, 9]

  Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is the one telling to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water”…But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Sovereign God in spirit and truth…God is spirit, and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth. [John 4:10, 23a, 24]

   The theme for this gathering of lessons is that salvation is flourishing. The prose in this piece of Isaiah sings the song of the restoration of people long bound in fear and grief ~ the relief in, the joy for, and the eternal embrace of God is upon them, and on all of us if we but Listen and give heed to God’s call.

   The psalmist follows on with uplifting phrases that bring a freshness to our breathing in the designs that are so very profound of the Creation that surrounds us. Whether in these and all prior times of anxiety and mass upheaval in the fluidity of everyday living, our living planet continues with us in a kind of marriage as it moves around us and we with it in our mutuality, in sickness and in health.  

   We experience stress as our routines are interrupted by a variety of issues in good times and not so, such as news cycles, severe weather, economic fears, illness, moving house, changes in workloads, family life, and more. Even if at any given moment we are not directly affected by all the noise around us, it is difficult to remember to look for the beauty in Creation when life seems to be screaming in our ears. Yet if we take a pause to breathe in slowly and deeply, to calm the noise around us, the words given to us in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians can help us to be restored to the magic of those profound designs in Creation. Paul tells us that as we each plant and water, literally and figuratively, we are God’s co-workers. God is working with us as together we put one metaphorical foot forward in each moment of living in this temporal life.

   Jesus and “The Samaritan Woman at the Well” is one of those stories known even by those who have never darkened the door of any Christian church, nor cracked open a single page of any New Testament. The details may be a bit sketchy but many many people know that Jesus stopped at a well in Samaria and asked a woman at a well for a drink of water and that was a significant breach of epic proportions on several levels. First, Jews and Samaritans would not have had any social interaction. But, remember the parable of the Good Samaritan that Jesus told the lawyer in Luke 10:25-37? In this story, Jesus is not just speaking with a Samaritan, but a WOMAN!  She was impressed with how he divined [cheap shot but I had to take it] the realities of her personal matrimonial history. She speaks for herself in saying that her ancestors have worshipped on that mountain since her ancestor Jacob gave the well and yet you say in Jerusalem is the place where people must worship. Jesus replies, But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Sovereign God in spirit and truth…God is spirit, and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth.

   You know the story but, do you know the part of the story that few ever notice? Well, stayed tuned as next week there will be a bit more of spirit and truth to consider about this in our last offering of Dr. Gafney’s* Lectionary.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ Ageless and Mighty God, you give life to all living things, known and unknown to us. Deliver us from the traps of harmful and senseless desires in this brief temporal life and guide us away from the wilderness of despair. Help us seek to find joy and hope in your profound designs, and to drink deeply of the Living Water flowing from your salvation, that we may flourish in your courts forever.

                                     O Wellspring of Life

RESPONSE:           Comfort and deliver us

~ Ageless and Mighty God, command the hearts of all with political and financial power across this Earth to govern with justice, mercy, and peace, sustaining the needy and frustrating the ways of the wicked. We pray especially for: the President, the Vice-President, our Members of Congress, our Governor, our County Executive, our City Council, and our Mayor.

O Wellspring of Life

Comfort and deliver us

~ Ageless and Mighty God, grant hope to the hopeless, love to the loveless, and lighten the burden of pain and anguish for all who suffer in any way. We now join our hearts to pray for those in need… add your own petitions

O Wellspring of Life

Comfort and deliver us

~ Ageless and Mighty God, shelter and ease the hearts that grieve, as our loved ones now live again in the true life of Your loving and eternal comfort. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O Wellspring of Life

Comfort and deliver us

~ Ageless and Mighty God, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials, aloud or silently… add your own petitions

O Wellspring of Life

Comfort and deliver us           

~ Ageless and Mighty God, may all who are anointed and ordained as the prophets in our time, exemplify your purpose for us in this world, and find continuing strength in the grace of your ever-constant Presence. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

O Wellspring of Life

Comfort and deliver us

The Celebrant adds: Womb of Creation, we give you thanks and praise for the works of your hands as we awaken in the beauty of a new season. We are your vessels, your co-workers, called to plant, cultivate, and water your spirit and truth, as you produce the growth within and among us. Fill us with your light and hope, our righteous rock, and may the fruit of your faithful love carry us to eternity with you. We ask through Jesus, our Messiah Christ; and the Holy Spirit, Sanctifier of our souls; who together with you reign as our One God of All Existence, for everyone and everywhere, forever and ever. Amen.

 

*Readings for our Parish in this Year C are from The Rev. Dr. Wilda [Wil] Gafney, Womanist biblical scholar, and the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. She is the author of A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church Yr C, and others in her series, and translator of its biblical selections. I definitely commend her book for the complete readings, to Clergy and Laity, for her Text Notes, and “Preaching Prompts” whether or not you will use them in your Liturgies/Services/Preaching. There is much to learn from her work to inform every facet of our lives in Christ.  To learn more about her and her work, see her website: https://www.wilgafney.com/

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