Third Sunday in Lent - Wisdom

Lectionary Year C

Candle Lighting: Light a white candle for Christ and three purple candles.

Question: Why do we light this candle?

Response: We light this candle to remind us of our true thirst.

Scripture: Isaiah 55

Prayer:

You,
Jesus,
are wisdom incarnate,
calling to us,
freely feeding us
with Your body and blood.
You,
Jesus,
are the higher thought and Way,
the Word,
sent to us,
accomplishing Your purpose,
that we might go out in joy,
and be led back in peace.
All of Creation seeks You,
and rejoices when You are found.
Come again to us,
it is for You we thirst. Amen.

Singing: Choose an appropriate hymn to sing together, such as:

Seek Ye First the Kingdom, Karen Lafferty, 1972
I Heard the Voice of Jesus, Horatius Bonar, 1846

Proclamation:

God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land
where there is no water. ~ Psalm 63: 1

~

Meditation:

Where in the life of the church, the life of your family, your own life is there parched ground? where is there thirst? These are the places, the cracks, where Christ can enter for it is in these places we are powerless and in great need. God’s wisdom has the chance then to show us how needy we are in the whole of our existence and how God’s steadfast love already embraces each of us, and our neighbour too.