Worship for March 8, 2026

Thank you for joining us for this live stream (or recording, as the case may be) of Sunday worship. May it bless you! You may need to click “Play” to launch the stream, which will be live around 9:50 AM.

Welcome to the live stream of worship from Church of the Holy Cross for Sunday, February 15, 2026. You will find the service outline below, and you may download and print the PDF to follow more easily. 

Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

Lighting of the Candles

Ringing of the Bell

Welcome:                                       Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Call to Worship (based on Psalm 95)      Ming Peng

Leader:   O come, let us sing to the LORD!
People:  Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

Leader:   The LORD is our God,
People:  We are the sheep of God’s pasture.

Leader:   Let us listen for the sound of God’s voice!
People:  Though some have turned their heads aside, we will listen for the LORD.

All:           Let us worship God!

* Hymn #326: Crashing Waters at Creation (v. 1-4)

* Invocation (based on Romans 5:1-11)    Ming Peng

God, you have made peace with us through Jesus. You have given us the consolation of faith and the promise of grace. May we hold to you in the midst of afflictions, even to accept them when they rise from our faithfulness to you and your ways. May our endurance produce character, and may our character reinforce our hope, and may your love pour into us and your Holy Spirit through us in the time of worship. Amen.

Please be seated

WE SHARE THE WORD OF GOD

Anthem: Rock of Ages               Kayleen Yuda

Time with the Children          Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Scripture:                                       Ming Peng

Exodus 17:1-7

From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 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?” 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?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do for this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 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. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. 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. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

John 4:5-42

So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 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.) 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.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 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.” 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.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but yousay that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when youwill worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. Youworship what youdo not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 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.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

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?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him.

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 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. The reaper is already receivingwages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. 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.”

Sermon: Refreshment               Rev. Eric S. Anderson

WE RESPOND IN WORD AND DEED

Pastoral Prayer                          Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer         
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

* Hymn #485: O Love That Will Not Let Me Go (v. 1-4)

Call to Offering                            Ming Peng

We rejoice in water’s beauty. We revel in water’s refreshment. Water sustains our lives, and like water, refreshment of mind and spirit sustain us as well. Let us share that sustenance and refreshment with others near and far. Whether you share your gift here in the church today, through a gift online, or via an envelope in the mail, let the offering now be received.

Offertory: Offertory in A Flat  Kayleen Yuda

* Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Amen

* Offertory Prayer                     Ming Peng

Thank you for the waters of the world, O God, and thank you for the spiritual waters that flow from your Spirit to nurture our souls. May these gifts flow unfettered so that the thirsty may always find refreshment. Amen.

* Hymn #18: Guide Me, O My Great Redeemer (v. 1 -3)

Please be seated

Announcements                         Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Benediction                                  Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Postlude: Praise Him                 Kayleen Yuda                  

* Please stand if you are able.

PERMISSIONS

Rock of Ages
based on GETHSEMANE by Thomas Hastings
Arr. by Hugh S. Livingston, Jr.
Lorenz Publishing Company (Admin. by Music Services)
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go
Text by George Matheson, 1862
Tune ST. MARGARET by Albert L. Peace, 1885
Public Domain

Offertory in A Flat
Arr. by Lani Smith
© 2003 Lorenz Publishing Company (Admin. by Music Services)
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Guide Me, O My Great Redeemer
Text by William Williams, 1745
Trans. Peter Williams, 1771, William Williams, 1772
Tune CWM RHONDDA by John Hughes, 1907
Public Domain

Praise Him
by Johann Sebastian Bach
Arr. by Stanley E. Saxton
© 1978 Lorenz Publishing Company (Admin. by Music Services)
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

IMPORTANT DATES

Help is needed with the altar decorations for Easter Sunday service. The pick-up of the lilies and placing them on the altar is generally done on the day before the Sunday morning service. If you are able to help out please contact Cindy Debus at 808-895-4011. Easter Lilies are $13.50. Sign-up sheet is on the bulletin board next to J’s cafe. Last day to sign-up is Sunday March 15; you may take your lily home after the Easter Service. Checks, cash or VENMO (@Cynthia-Debus) to Cynthia Debus.

Sundays, 8:30 AM – Holy Cross Singers Rehearsal in the Lounge

Mondays, 11:30 AM — Pickleball lessons; contact Connie 808-936-7534 or
Ruth at rnduponte07@gmail.com to sign up.

Fridays, 10 AM – Hand Bell Choir Rehearsal in Building of Faith’s meeting room

We welcome you to worship this day. Church of the Holy Cross seeks to help its members, friends, and visitors follow the guidance of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, encouraging all people to love one another according to the teachings of Jesus. We live and teach the faith, speak good news, minister to people near and far, and work with other households of faith and helping agencies to improve our community and our world. To support our ministries, please visit our Donate Page.