THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT
March 8, 2026
St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church
40291 NE 40th Avenue
Preston Kansas 67583
(620) 672-5354
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod - LCMS
Rev. Michael Schotte, Pastor
stpaulpreston.org
“I was glad when they said unto me,
Let us go into the house of the LORD.” (Psalm 122:1)
A PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Graciously my faith renew;
Help me bear my crosses,
Learning humbleness from You,
Peace mid pain and losses.
May I give You love for love!
Hear me, O my Savior,
That I may in heav’n above
Sing Your praise forever.
(LSB, #440, st. 6)
IN OUR PRAYERS THIS WEEK:
“O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.”
(Psalm 95:6—KJV)
• Thanks be to God our Father Who made us, still takes care of us, and provides
for us.
• For courage and protection upon those who serve our country in the armed
forces, for peace for their families, and especially the peace of the Lord Jesus
Christ upon the families of those who have lost their lives in military duty.
• That in times of war, we will not fear nor fall into despair, but always trust that
Jesus is the Savior and Lord of our lives.
• For our college students, that the Lord’s protection will be upon them, that they
will remain faithful in His Word, and that they will grow in the wisdom and
skills that they will use in the work they are given to do in days ahead.
• For our homes and families, that the Lord Jesus will be at their head, that His
peace, patience, and forgiveness will be at work in them, and that they will be a
refuge from the struggles and strife of this world; that mothers with babies will
be protected from harm and danger.
A MEMORY VERSE for this week: 1 John 2:2 – “He is the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
ORDER OF WORSHIP TODAY: LSB, page 184
(As a solemn reminder of repentance during Lent, we refrain from singing the
Gloria in excelsis. Also, we omit the Alleluia verses prior to the Gospel Reading.)
HYMNS FOR WORSHIP: 435, 823, 761
Introit Psalm 84:1–4; antiphon: v. 5
Blessèd are those whose strength is | in you,*
in whose heart are the highways to | Zion.
How lovely is your | dwelling place,*
O | LORD of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts | of the LORD;*
my heart and flesh sing for joy to the | living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may | lay
her young,*
at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King | and my God.
Blessèd are those who dwell | in your house,*
ever sing- | ing your praise!
Glory be to the Father and | to the Son*
and to the Holy | Spirit;
as it was in the be- | ginning,*
is now, and will be forever. | Amen.
Blessèd are those whose strength is | in you,*
in whose heart are the highways to | Zion.
Collect of the Day
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy, be gracious to all who have gone astray
from Your ways and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to
embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of Your Word; through Jesus Christ, Your
Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
forever.
Old Testament Reading Exodus 17:1–7
1All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by
stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there
was no water for the people to drink. 2Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and
said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me?
Why do you test the LORD?” 3But the people thirsted there for water, and the people
grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and
our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4So Moses cried to the LORD, “What shall I do
with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5And the LORD said to Moses, “Pass
on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand
the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6Behold, I will stand before you there on
the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the
people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7And he called
the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of
Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
Gradual Hebrews 12:2
[O come, let us fix our eyes on] | Jesus,*
the founder and perfecter | of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despis- | ing the shame,*
and is seated at the right hand of the | throne of God.
Epistle Romans 5:1–8
1Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. 2Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which
we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3More than that, we rejoice in our
sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character,
and character produces hope, 5and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has
been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will
scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even
to die— 8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Holy Gospel John 4:5–26
5[Jesus] came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to
his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was
sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8(For
his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have
no dealings with Samaritans.) 10Jesus 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.” 11The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with,
and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12Are you greater than our father
Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”
13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever
drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will
give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15The woman said
to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw
water.”
16Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17The woman answered him,
“I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18for
you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have
said is true.” 19The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers
worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought
to worship.” 21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on
this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22You worship what you do not
know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming,
and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for
the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming
(he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26Jesus said to her, “I
who speak to you am he.”