This week’s belief: The church is Christ’s body, sent into the world

“Naaman’s servants came up to him and spoke to him: “Our father, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? All he said to you was, ‘Wash and become clean.’”” – 2 Kings 5:13 (CEB)

The second group of people without names saves the story, and they do it by naming the actual problem.

If he had asked you to do something difficult, you would have done it. That is the whole diagnosis. The instruction was not too hard. It was too small. Naaman came prepared to pay, to travel, to endure something demanding, because that is how a great man addresses a problem. He was not prepared to simply do a modest thing he had been told to do.

Many of us are the same. We will accept a costly answer more easily than a simple one, because a costly answer leaves us something to be proud of.

God, when your answer is small and I want it to be grand, give me the humility to just do it. Ready me for worship tomorrow. Amen.

On October 4, McPherson First celebrated 93 people who worshiped with us on at least three of every four Sundays this summer. Their names ran at the bottom of that week’s email. It was the longest list this year. In the spring it was 67, and in the winter 68.

It’s easy to spend a summer noticing the empty pews. This list is one way we notice the people in them instead. We started it to celebrate worship attendance and to encourage people to check in and worship with us regularly. Here’s how it works, in case it’s useful where you serve.

Make checking in part of worship. Every Sunday, right after the invitation to give, we pause so people can mark their presence: in the blue notebook in their row, in the Church Center app, or at mcphersonfirst.org/next. At our later service the notebook is passed down the row. People worshiping online check in the same way, and their check-ins count.

Set the bar at three of every four. Once a quarter we run a Planning Center report of everyone who checked in on at least 75 percent of Sundays. The email says it plainly: “This isn’t about perfect attendance. It’s about recognizing the gift of your presence.” Missing a few Sundays doesn’t take anyone off the list.

Publish the names where people already look. The list runs at the bottom of the weekly email the first week of January, April, July, and October. The top of the email points readers down to it, and the section ends with a button to download the Church Center app.

Tie it to a promise. The section is headed “Practicing the membership promise of presence.” When people join a United Methodist church, they promise to support it with their prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. The list gives one of those promises a name and a date.

Leave the door open. Each list ends, “Think you should be on this list? We might have missed your check-in.”

The count has limits. It only sees the people who check in. So a longer list could mean more people in worship, or more people telling us they were there. We don’t know which yet, and we haven’t heard much back about the list itself.

If you try this, start with the check-in moment. The list only works when people have a simple way to say they were there. And if your congregation has a good way of noticing faithfulness, I’d be glad to hear about it. If you were one of the 93, thank you for showing up.

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“But Naaman went away in anger. He said, “I thought for sure that he’d come out, stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the bad spot, and cure the skin disease. Aren’t the rivers in Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all Israel’s waters?”” – 2 Kings 5:11-12 (CEB)

Naaman says out loud what he had pictured, and it is remarkably detailed. The prophet comes out. He stands. He calls on the name of his God. He waves his hand over the spot. Then the cure.

He had written the scene before he arrived. And notice where he put himself in it: at the center, receiving something performed for his benefit by a man who came to the door.

Then he insults the river, and he is not wrong. The Abana and the Pharpar run clear out of the mountains. The Jordan at that point is a modest brown stream. Everything he says is accurate. It is also the sound of a man walking away from the thing he came for, because it arrived in the wrong container. Where have you already decided how God has to show up?

God, I have scripted how I want you to answer. Forgive the times I walked past your answer because it came in the wrong form. Amen.

“Elisha sent out a messenger who said, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored and become clean.”” – 2 Kings 5:10 (CEB)

Naaman arrives with horses, chariots, and a fortune, and stops at the prophet’s door. Elisha does not come out.

He sends a messenger with seven words of instruction. No ceremony, no audience, no acknowledgment of who is standing in the road. For a man used to being received, the insult is not the river. The insult is that the prophet did not think the occasion required him.

There is something deliberate in that. Elisha refuses to let the healing look like a transaction between important men. He will not be the impressive half of it. Whatever is about to happen in that water, it will not be something Naaman can credit to the standing of the person who arranged it. Where are you waiting for an impressive answer when a plain one is already at your door?

God who does not perform for me, take away my need for the answer to arrive impressively. Let me receive what is offered plainly. Amen.

I invite you to connect with the voices of the Bible. Today we follow a foreign general to a muddy river, and we pay attention to the people nobody in the story bothers to name.

The text is 2 Kings 5. Naaman commands the army of Aram, which is Syria, and Aram is Israel’s enemy. The opening verse stacks up his titles: a great man, highly regarded by his king, a mighty warrior. Then it adds one more clause that undoes the rest. He had a skin disease.

Scholars note that the Hebrew term covers a range of conditions, and translations have historically rendered it leprosy. Whatever the medical reality, the social reality is what drives the story. Naaman has everything a man in his world could want, and he carries something none of it can fix.

Now watch who moves the plot. Verse 2 introduces a young girl, captured from Israel in a raid, now a slave to Naaman’s wife. She has no name in this story. She has every reason to want her captor to suffer. And she is the one who speaks up: I wish my master could see the prophet in Samaria. He would cure him.

That sentence starts everything. A trafficked child offers help to the household that took her.

The machinery of power takes over from there. Naaman tells his king. His king writes to Israel’s king. Naaman loads up ten kikkars of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing, which is an enormous sum, and heads south with horses and chariots. Note that the girl said “the prophet.” By the time the message travels up through two royal courts, it has become a diplomatic matter between kings.

Israel’s king reads the letter and panics. He tears his clothes. Am I God, to deal out death and life? He reads a request for healing as a pretext for war, which tells us something about how these two nations regard each other.

Elisha hears about the torn clothes and sends word: let him come to me.

Naaman arrives with his whole convoy and stops at the prophet’s door. And Elisha does not come out. He sends a messenger with seven words of instruction: go wash seven times in the Jordan.

Naaman is furious, and his anger is specific. He says out loud what he had pictured. I thought he would come out, stand there, call on the name of his God, wave his hand over the spot, and cure the disease. He had scripted the healing. He had imagined a ceremony worthy of his rank, performed by the prophet personally, with himself at the center of it.

Then he insults the river. Aren’t Damascus rivers better than all the waters of Israel? This is a fair point, geographically. The Abana and the Pharpar run clear out of the mountains. The Jordan, at the point he would enter it, is a modest brown stream. He is being asked to wash in an inferior river, in an enemy country, on the word of a man who would not come to the door.

And he leaves. The story would end there, except for the second group of people without names.

His servants come to him and make the argument that works. Father, if the prophet had asked you to do something difficult, you would have done it. All he said was wash and be clean.

They have identified the actual obstacle. The instruction was not too hard. It was too small. Naaman came prepared to pay, to travel, to endure something demanding, because that is how a great man addresses a problem. He was not prepared to simply do a modest thing he had been told to do.

He goes down and washes seven times, and his skin comes back like a young boy’s.

Two things are worth carrying out of this.

First, the story is carried entirely by people with no names and no standing. A captive girl, a household of servants. They are the ones who see clearly and speak up. The named and titled characters, two kings and a general, spend the story misreading the situation.

Second, Naaman’s real problem was never the Jordan. It was that the cure did not match his sense of himself. Something offered freely, requiring nothing but obedience, felt like an insult. That is a recognizable form of pride, and it is not the loud kind. It is the quiet assumption that whatever heals us ought to be worthy of us.

He comes back to Elisha and says something remarkable for a general of an enemy army: now I know there is no God anywhere on earth except in Israel. He went down into the water to be cured. He came up knowing who God is.

This is part of the Voices of the Bible series from Andrew Conard. Each week we explore the scripture passage for the upcoming sermon, helping you encounter the text before Sunday morning.

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“So Naaman left. He took along ten kikkars of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. He brought the letter to Israel’s king. It read, “Along with this letter I’m sending you my servant Naaman so you can cure him of his skin disease.”” – 2 Kings 5:5-6 (CEB)

The girl said the prophet. By the time the message has traveled up through two royal courts, it has become a letter from one king to another, and the prophet is not mentioned in it.

Watch what got added along the way. An enormous sum of money. Ten changes of clothing. Horses and chariots. Naaman is going to a healing the way a general goes anywhere, with enough freight to make the visit impressive and enough payment to keep it a transaction.

This is what institutions do to a simple word. Not out of malice. Each step up the chain was reasonable, and the message still arrived at the wrong address carrying things nobody asked for. The girl’s sentence was better before the kings improved it. Where have you made following Jesus more complicated than it needs to be?

God, keep me from dressing up what you made simple. Help me hear the plain word underneath everything we have built on top of it. Amen.

These worship elements are an early draft being shared as a preview for the upcoming service. The final version used in worship may be adapted or revised. Pastors and worship leaders are welcome to use and adapt these for your own context.

Welcome

Welcome to worship at McPherson First United Methodist Church. Whether you have been here a long time or you are brand new this morning, in person or online, you belong here.

Today we meet a foreign general named Naaman, a man with everything except the one thing he needed, who was healed in a river he thought was beneath him. The promise we lean on is presence, simply showing up and being counted among this body.

If you’re looking for your next step, visit mcphersonfirst.org/next or open the Church Center app.

(8:30 only, transition to the Call to Worship) I invite you to join in our responsive call to worship as you see the words on display.

Call to Worship (8:30 only)

Leader: God’s mercy reaches past every border we draw.

People: Wash us, and make us whole.

Leader: An enemy general found healing in Israel’s river.

People: No one is outside the reach of God’s grace.

Leader: The door is wider than we expected.

People: We come to be washed and welcomed.

Leader: Come and worship the God who heals and receives.

People: We gather with everyone God has gathered.

Welcome Your Neighbor

Naaman heard about God from a captured girl who had every reason to stay quiet. That is witness at its smallest and strongest, one person telling another what they know.

Somebody needs to hear what you heard this morning. Who is it?

Online this morning? Greet the people in your house, or send the greeting to someone who needs one. Please stand, welcome your neighbor, and then remain standing as we join together in song.

Opening Prayer

We’ve sung our welcome to God and to each other. Now settle your heart and pray with me, using the words on screen.

All: God who heals from the outside in, you welcome people we would have turned away. Wash off our certainty about who belongs. Open our hands, our doors, and our hearts, and surprise us with your mercy today. Amen.

Third Grade Bible Recognition (10:15 only)

(The third graders who received Bibles earlier this fall come forward with their families and their Sunday school teacher.)

Third graders, come on up, and bring your Bibles if you have them. Families, come with them.

(pause while they gather)

On October 4 these four got Bibles of their own, right here. Since then they’ve spent Sunday mornings with their teacher and a parent or another adult they trust, learning to find their way around that book. Thank you to their teacher, and thank you, families.

Third graders, now that you can find your way around, here’s what to read next: the Gospel of Mark. It’s the second book of the New Testament and the shortest of the four stories of Jesus, just 16 chapters. Many scholars think it was the first one written down.

Mark tells the story in a hurry. There’s no Christmas story. It starts with Jesus as a grown man, and from there he never stops moving: he heals people, calms a storm, feeds a hungry crowd, and the book ends with women finding his tomb empty. Read a chapter a day and you’ll finish in a little over two weeks.

When you finish, come tell me, and I’ll have a king size candy bar waiting for you.

That goes for everyone here, too. If you’d like to read Mark, at any age, the same deal stands. Finish it, come find me, and there’s a candy bar with your name on it.

Will you pray with me for them?

God who speaks, thank you for these four, for their curiosity, and for every page they’ve turned this fall. Thank you for their teacher, for these families, and for a church that keeps the promises it made at their baptism. Bless these children as they keep reading. Open the story of Jesus to them, and to everyone here who opens Mark alongside them. Your Spirit is already at work in them, so help them notice it, and grow them into people who live what they read. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Third graders, head to Sunday School now with the other elementary students. Church, send them off with a round of applause.

Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 5:1-15a (CEB)

(Read by a lay reader. The reader introduces themselves and offers one brief sentence of personal connection to the congregation before reading.)

Today we hear from Second Kings, which follows the prophet Elisha through a divided kingdom surrounded by stronger neighbors. Aram, to the north, is one of those neighbors and one of Israel’s enemies. Our reading follows the commander of Aram’s army.

Notice who speaks up first, and how little standing that person has in the room.

Hear now Second Kings, chapter 5, verses 1 through 15.

Naaman, a general for the king of Aram, was a great man and highly regarded by his master, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. This man was a mighty warrior, but he had a skin disease. Now Aramean raiding parties had gone out and captured a young girl from the land of Israel. She served Naaman’s wife.

She said to her mistress, “I wish that my master could come before the prophet who lives in Samaria. He would cure him of his skin disease.” So Naaman went and told his master what the young girl from the land of Israel had said.

Then Aram’s king said, “Go ahead. I will send a letter to Israel’s king.”

So Naaman left. He took along ten kikkars of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. He brought the letter to Israel’s king. It read, “Along with this letter I’m sending you my servant Naaman so you can cure him of his skin disease.”

When the king of Israel read the letter, he ripped his clothes. He said, “What? Am I God to hand out death and life? But this king writes me, asking me to cure someone of his skin disease! You must realize that he wants to start a fight with me.”

When Elisha the man of God heard that Israel’s king had ripped his clothes, he sent word to the king: “Why did you rip your clothes? Let the man come to me. Then he’ll know that there’s a prophet in Israel.”

Naaman arrived with his horses and chariots. He stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent out a messenger who said, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored and become clean.”

But Naaman went away in anger. He said, “I thought for sure that he’d come out, stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the bad spot, and cure the skin disease. Aren’t the rivers in Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all Israel’s waters? Couldn’t I wash in them and get clean?” So he turned away and proceeded to leave in anger.

Naaman’s servants came up to him and spoke to him: “Our father, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? All he said to you was, ‘Wash and become clean.’” So Naaman went down and bathed in the Jordan seven times, just as the man of God had said. His skin was restored like that of a young boy, and he became clean.

He returned to the man of God with all his attendants. He came and stood before Elisha, saying, “Now I know for certain that there’s no God anywhere on earth except in Israel.”

Leader: This is the Word of God for the people of God.

People: Thanks be to God!

Pastoral and Lord’s Prayer

We’re about to pray together. Whether you’re here or joining online, God hears every prayer, spoken aloud or held quietly in your heart. I’ll leave a couple of moments of silence along the way, so use them however you need, to listen, to pray, or simply to rest in God’s presence.

Prayers is one of the promises we make here. To share a prayer request, use the Church Center app anytime, or fill out a prayer request card from the pew back and drop it in the offering plate.

Will you pray with me?

God who sends healing through unlikely people, we come this morning grateful to be included.

(pause)

We praise you for a mercy that does not check credentials. You healed a foreign soldier because a captive girl spoke up. You have never asked us to earn our way to you.

We confess that we draw lines you have already erased. We decide quietly who belongs here and who does not. We want grace to be wide for us and narrow for people we do not understand. Like Naaman, we would rather do something difficult than something simple you have actually asked of us.

Hear the names we hold before you now in silence, the people we have quietly written off. Wash our eyes until we see them as you do.

(pause)

We pray for everyone who is new to this congregation, that they would find real friendship here and not only a seat. We pray for anyone who walked into this room feeling like an outsider. We pray for the sick, especially those waiting on results or facing a long recovery. We pray for our community, for those newly elected and all who serve in public office, and for a world that keeps building walls you keep walking through.

We give you thanks for everyone who spoke up for us when saying nothing would have been easier.

We pray in Jesus’ name, joining our voices in the prayer he taught us:

All: 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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Invitation to Give and Check-In

Naaman arrived with silver, gold, and ten changes of clothing, ready to buy what could only be received. What we have was given before it was earned, and our gifts answer that.

Thank you to those who give month after month without being asked. You make it possible to say yes when someone walks in needing something. If this is your first time giving, thank you.

You can give through the offering plate, online at mcphersonfirst.org/give, or through the Church Center app, the easiest way to give from your phone.

As the offering is received, check in through the Church Center app or by signing the attendance pad next to the center aisle and passing it down the row. Checking in is how we practice presence, showing up and being counted among the body of Christ.

Ushers, please come forward to receive this morning’s offering.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

We’ve given our gifts. Now we’re sent to practice service, carrying the welcome outward to people still standing at the door. Will you pray with me?

Generous God, thank you for these gifts and for everyone who found their way here. Use us to widen the door. Amen.

Will you please stand as we sing together?

Benediction

Go now, washed and welcomed. Love boldly, serve joyfully, lead courageously.

God receives you, Christ heals you, the Spirit sends you out. And all God’s people said, Amen.

“Now Aramean raiding parties had gone out and captured a young girl from the land of Israel. She served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “I wish that my master could come before the prophet who lives in Samaria. He would cure him of his skin disease.”” – 2 Kings 5:2-3 (CEB)

The whole story turns on a sentence spoken by someone the story never names.

She was taken in a raid. She is a slave in the household of the man whose army took her. If anyone in this text has earned the right to stay quiet and let a man suffer, it is this girl. Nobody would have known. Nobody would have blamed her.

She speaks up anyway. I wish my master could see the prophet in Samaria. One sentence, offered to the people who own her, about a God they do not worship.

Everything after this verse happens because she said it. Two kings, an army, a fortune in silver and gold, a prophet, a river. All of it traces back to a captive child who told what she knew. Who needs to hear one true thing you know, even if staying quiet would be easier?

God, give me that girl’s nerve. When I could reasonably stay quiet, help me say the one true thing I know to someone who needs it. Amen.

“Naaman, a general for the king of Aram, was a great man and highly regarded by his master, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. This man was a mighty warrior, but he had a skin disease.” – 2 Kings 5:1 (CEB)

Read that verse again and watch the last clause undo the rest of it. Great man. Highly regarded. Mighty warrior. But he had a skin disease.

Everything before the “but” is what Naaman could arrange for himself. Rank, reputation, a king’s favor, a record of victories. The clause after it is the one thing none of that touches. The verse is built to land in exactly that order.

Notice too who the text says was behind his victories. Through him the Lord had given victory to Aram, and Aram is Israel’s enemy. God has been at work in the career of a man who does not worship God, on behalf of a nation that fights God’s people. That is the first strange thing in this story, and it is only verse one. What is the one thing in your life that all your effort can’t touch?

God, I have arranged a great deal and cannot arrange the thing that matters most. Meet me at the place where my competence runs out and my need begins. Amen.

“The truth didn’t come from investigation. It came from knowing what love does under pressure.”

This is As For Me and My House, week three of six, on 1 Kings 3:4-15, preached on All Saints Sunday, two days before Election Day. God offers a young king a blank check, and Solomon asks for something the kings of his world were not expected to want. The sermon asks what we would write in his place, and who it would be for.

In the manuscript below:

• A courtroom with two mothers, one living baby, and no evidence at all.

• What Solomon names first, before he asks God for anything.

• What Methodists have long held about the mind God gave us.

• John Wesley’s advice to voters in 1774, and a small practice for the week ahead.

Read more

A Methodist Way of Making Disciples

Grace Groups recover one of the oldest Methodist practices. Almost three hundred years ago, John Wesley gathered Methodists into small weekly groups that asked one another, “How is it with your soul?” and watched over one another in love. A Grace Group is that same way of making disciples, brought back for today.

Your Hour Together

The times are a guide, not a rule.

Getting to Know One Another (:00)

Share your name, then pick one of these to answer.

• What is something you have changed your mind about?

• What is a game you love to play?

We Begin (:05)

Take a breath and set the week down for a moment. Then we’ll pray.

. . . a few moments of silence . . .

God of grace, nothing we say here will surprise you. Free us from managing our answers, and make this hour real. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our Covenant (:08)

We read these four out loud and say yes to them together.

• Show up. Be there for each other the way God is there for us.

• Be honest. Say the honest thing, with love. That’s how we grow.

• Keep it private. Protect this space. Grace grows where trust is kept.

• Give everyone space. Give space generously, the way God gives it to us.

The Three Questions

We go in order and everyone gets a turn. You can always pass, and the smaller questions are just to help.

We’ll open close to home, with your own faith.

Soul Tending: How is your faith journey going? (:10)

• Where has God made you more free than you used to be?

• This week’s practice (Gifts): Share somebody you helped this month, not for credit but to keep your own heart honest before God. Notice whether you almost talked yourself out of it.

Now we’ll look for God in an ordinary week.

God Sightings: Where do you see God at work in your life? (:25)

• Where has God been generous with you lately?

• What did you see this week that pointed you to God?

Last, what you are ready to release.

Growing in Grace: What challenge are you giving to God? (:40)

• What are you white-knuckling that God could hold?

• What honest prayer do you need to pray?

Connect Back (:50)

Say one thing another person shared that you are taking seriously. This is connection, not counsel.

We Close (:55)

We’ll end in quiet, holding what we heard before we carry it out the door.

. . . a few moments of silence . . .

Loving God, thank you for honesty and for the safety that made it possible. Guard both, and go with us. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

McPherson First United Methodist Church · mcphersonfirst.org/gracegroups

“Look, I hereby give you a wise and understanding mind. There has been no one like you before now, nor will there be anyone like you afterward. I now also give you what you didn’t ask for: wealth and fame.” – 1 Kings 3:12-13 (CEB)

God gives Solomon what he asked for, and then keeps going.

Today we name the saints who asked well before us, and we come to a table where the whole meal is something nobody earned. Both are the same lesson. What we receive is almost always larger than what we knew to request.

God who gives past my asking, thank you for the people whose faith brought me here. Meet me at your table this morning with more than I came for. Amen.

“God said to him, “Because you have asked for this instead of requesting long life, wealth, or victory over your enemies—asking for discernment so as to acquire good judgment—” – 1 Kings 3:11 (CEB)

God names what Solomon did not ask for, which tells us the omissions were the point. Not long life. Not wealth. Not victory over enemies.

Those are the three things kings in that world routinely asked their gods for, and they are roughly the three things anyone asks for. Stay alive. Be comfortable. Beat the people who are against me. Solomon skips all three, and God notices out loud.

It is worth running your own list before tomorrow. Not the noble version you would say in a group. The actual one, the requests you have been making quietly for months, the ones you would not read aloud.

God, you see what I have been asking for. Sort it while I sleep, and bring me to worship tomorrow wanting what you want. Amen.

Earlier this month at Leadership Institute at Church of the Resurrection, a pastor from another conference told me they read what I write here every morning.

Today’s devotional is the 229th. The first one went out on March 16, and there has been one every day since.

They are not written at dawn. Each week of devotionals comes out of sermon preparation, usually written well ahead and scheduled. The mornings leading into a Sunday work from the same scripture as the sermon, so by the time we get to worship, some of you have already been living with the passage for days.

Recently someone in our congregation told me the daily devotionals have been meaningful for their spiritual growth.

That is what I hope for with every one of these: a few minutes with scripture before the day gets going.

Almost everything here is free, and it will stay that way: the devotionals, the Friday reflections, the Grace Group guides, the worship resources. You never have to pay anything to read along or to belong here.

If these mornings have meant something to you, and you have both the means and the desire, you can support this writing with a paid subscription. It adds the full Sunday sermon manuscripts and a monthly personal note. Nothing else changes, and you are just as much a part of this either way.

Tomorrow morning there will be another one.

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“Please give your servant a discerning mind in order to govern your people and to distinguish good from evil, because no one is able to govern this important people of yours without your help.” – 1 Kings 3:9 (CEB)

Here is the ask, and it is smaller than the offer. God said anything. Solomon asks for the ability to tell one thing from another.

The Hebrew behind a discerning mind is closer to a listening heart. Scholars note the word is the ordinary verb for hearing. Solomon is not asking to be clever, or right, or respected. He is asking to be able to listen well enough to tell the difference between two things that look alike.

And notice who the request is for. To govern your people. He asks for capacity, not outcome, and the capacity is aimed at somebody other than himself. That is the whole shape of it. He does not ask God to make the decisions or remove the hard cases. He asks for what he needs to do the work in front of him. Who in front of you this week most needs you to listen well?

God, give me a listening heart. Not certainty, not the last word, just the ability to hear what is actually in front of me. Amen.

“And now, Lord my God, you have made me, your servant, king in my father David’s place. But I’m young and inexperienced. I know next to nothing.” – 1 Kings 3:7 (CEB)

I know next to nothing. That is the king of Israel talking, in the middle of asking God for something.

Notice that he is not being modest for effect. Nobody is in the room. This is a dream, and the admission is load-bearing: it is the reason for the request that follows. He asks for discernment because he does not have it, and he says so plainly first.

Most of us have learned to lead with competence. We say what we know and go quiet about the rest, especially when we are new and especially when people are watching for us to fail. Solomon does the opposite, and it turns out to be the most useful thing he says all night. You cannot ask for what you will not admit you lack. What do you need this week that you haven’t admitted you need?

God, I am tired of pretending to know more than I do. Show me where I am out of my depth, and give me what I need there. Amen.

I invite you to connect with the voices of the Bible. Today we listen to a young king alone at a shrine, given an offer most of us would fumble.

The setting is 1 Kings 3. David is dead. Solomon has the throne, and he did not get it cleanly. The first two chapters of 1 Kings are a palace fight, with an older brother’s rival claim, a general and a priest on the wrong side, and a series of executions that secure the new king’s position. By the time Solomon goes up to Gibeon to worship, the blood is barely dry.

Gibeon is worth pausing on. The temple does not exist yet. Solomon will build it, but on this night Israel still worships at open-air high places, and Gibeon is the largest of them. The text says Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. That is not a typical act of devotion. That is a king making a very large public statement about whose favor he wants.

Then God appears in a dream and says, “Ask whatever you wish, and I’ll give it to you.”

It is worth sitting with how dangerous that sentence is. There is no fine print. No category limit. Solomon is roughly twenty years old, newly installed over a kingdom he has not earned, surrounded by people who remember his father and are measuring him against a legend.

His answer starts somewhere unexpected. Before he asks for anything, he talks about David. God showed kindness to his father, kept faith with him, and has now put a son on his throne. Solomon begins by recounting what God has already done. The request comes second, and it comes with an admission: “I’m young and inexperienced. I know next to nothing.”

Then the ask. Give your servant a discerning mind, to govern your people and to tell good from evil, because nobody can govern a people this size without your help.

Notice what he did not request. God names the omissions explicitly in the next verse, which tells us the omissions are the point: not long life, not wealth, not victory over enemies. Those are the three things kings in the ancient world routinely asked their gods for. They are, roughly, the three things anyone asks for. Stay alive, be comfortable, beat the people who are against you. Solomon skips all three.

The phrase the Common English Bible renders “a discerning mind” is, in Hebrew, closer to a listening heart. Scholars note that the word is the ordinary verb for hearing. Solomon is not asking to be clever. He is asking for the capacity to listen well enough to tell the difference between two things that look alike.

And that is exactly the test the chapter gives him next. Two women, one living baby, one dead one, and no witnesses. Our reading stops before that story, but it sits immediately after, and it is there to show what the gift looks like in use. Solomon does not solve the case with information. He has none. He solves it by understanding what a mother will do, and building a test around it.

God’s response is warm, and it reframes the whole exchange. Because you asked for this instead of the other things, I am giving you what you asked for, and I am also giving you what you did not ask for. Wealth and fame arrive as a consequence rather than a goal.

There is a real danger in how this text gets used, and it is worth naming. It is not a formula. Ask God for the correct spiritual item and receive the material items as a bonus. That reading turns humility into a strategy, which would make it something other than humility. Solomon does not appear to be playing an angle. He appears to be a frightened young man telling the truth about his own limits.

Two things are worth carrying out of this.

First, what a person asks for reveals what they think they are for. Solomon understood his life as a job with people attached to it. His request follows from that. A different self-understanding produces a different request, and it would not have been a worse prayer so much as a smaller one.

Second, the prayer is about capacity, not outcome. Solomon does not ask God to make his decisions for him, or to remove the hard cases from his schedule. He asks to be given the equipment to do the work he already has. That is a specific kind of prayer, and it is available to anyone, in any job, at any age.

The story ends with Solomon waking up. He realizes it was a dream, goes to Jerusalem, stands before the ark, and throws a party for everyone who works for him. He does not keep the news to himself. Whatever he received that night, he understood it as something meant for the people he served.

This is part of the Voices of the Bible series from Andrew Conard. Each week we explore the scripture passage for the upcoming sermon, helping you encounter the text before Sunday morning.

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“Solomon responded, “You showed so much kindness to your servant my father David when he walked before you in truth, righteousness, and with a heart true to you. You’ve kept this great loyalty and kindness for him and have now given him a son to sit on his throne.”” – 1 Kings 3:6 (CEB)

Given an open offer, Solomon does not start with the ask. He starts with his father.

You showed kindness to David. You kept faith with him. You have now given him a son on his throne. Before Solomon says a word about what he needs, he spends his opening on what God has already done for somebody else.

That order matters more than it looks. Solomon is not buttering God up. He is locating himself. He is a link in something that started before him, and he says so out loud before he asks for anything. A request made from that position is a different request than one made from the assumption that the story starts with you. Solomon knew he was inheriting something. Who handed you a faith you’ve never thanked them for?

God of my parents and grandparents, remind me whose faithfulness I am standing on. Before I ask for anything, let me name what I was handed. Amen.

These worship elements are an early draft being shared as a preview for the upcoming service. The final version used in worship may be adapted or revised. Pastors and worship leaders are welcome to use and adapt these for your own context.

Welcome

Welcome to worship at McPherson First United Methodist Church. Whether you have been part of this church for decades or you are here for the first time, in person or online, you belong here.

Today is All Saints Sunday, when we name the people whose faith carried us and who now rest in God. We come to the Lord’s table together. All are welcome, and if you’re worshiping online, you may want bread and juice ready. And we sit with a young king who was offered anything and asked for a discerning mind. The promise we lean on is gifts.

If you’re looking for your next step, visit mcphersonfirst.org/next or open the Church Center app.

(8:30 only, transition to the Call to Worship) I invite you to join in our responsive call to worship as you see the words on display.

Call to Worship (8:30 only)

Leader: God asks what we want, and waits for an honest answer.

People: Give your servants a discerning mind.

Leader: We could ask for comfort, for safety, for the upper hand.

People: Teach us to want what you want.

Leader: The saints before us asked, and God answered.

People: We join our voices with theirs this morning.

Leader: Come and worship the God who gives wisdom freely.

People: We come ready to listen.

Welcome Your Neighbor

Solomon asked for a discerning mind, and a nation felt it. That is witness, a private prayer that changes how someone treats people.

Someone taught you the faith you carry. Say their name out loud this week to someone who never met them.

Online with us from a hospital room, a care home, or a hard week, you are held in this greeting. Please stand and welcome your neighbor, then remain standing as we sing.

Opening Prayer

We’ve sung with the saints who came before us. Now settle your heart and pray with me, using the words on screen.

All: God of every generation, you have given more than we knew to ask for. Quiet the noise in us. Give us listening hearts, and the courage to want what you want. We thank you for those who showed us the way. Amen.

Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 3:4-15 (CEB)

(Read by a lay reader. The reader introduces themselves and offers one brief sentence of personal connection to the congregation before reading.)

Today we hear from First Kings, which opens on a palace fight. David has died, and Solomon has taken the throne after a struggle with his older brother. The temple does not exist yet, so Israel still worships at open-air sites like the one in our reading.

Listen for the three things Solomon could have asked for, and pay attention to what he asks for instead.

Hear now First Kings, chapter 3, verses 4 through 15.

The king went to the great shrine at Gibeon in order to sacrifice there. He used to offer a thousand entirely burned offerings on that altar. The Lord appeared to Solomon at Gibeon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask whatever you wish, and I’ll give it to you.”

Solomon responded, “You showed so much kindness to your servant my father David when he walked before you in truth, righteousness, and with a heart true to you. You’ve kept this great loyalty and kindness for him and have now given him a son to sit on his throne. And now, Lord my God, you have made me, your servant, king in my father David’s place. But I’m young and inexperienced. I know next to nothing. But I’m here, your servant, in the middle of the people you have chosen, a large population that can’t be numbered or counted due to its vast size. Please give your servant a discerning mind in order to govern your people and to distinguish good from evil, because no one is able to govern this important people of yours without your help.”

It pleased the Lord that Solomon had made this request. God said to him, “Because you have asked for this instead of requesting long life, wealth, or victory over your enemies—asking for discernment so as to acquire good judgment— I will now do just what you said. Look, I hereby give you a wise and understanding mind. There has been no one like you before now, nor will there be anyone like you afterward. I now also give you what you didn’t ask for: wealth and fame. There won’t be a king like you as long as you live. And if you walk in my ways and obey my laws and commands, just as your father David did, then I will give you a very long life.”

Solomon awoke and realized it was a dream. He went to Jerusalem and stood before the chest containing the Lord’s covenant. Then he offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices, and held a celebration for all his servants.

Leader: This is the Word of God for the people of God.

People: Thanks be to God!

Pastoral Prayer

We’re about to pray together. Whether you’re here or joining online, God hears every prayer, spoken aloud or held quietly in your heart. I’ll leave a couple of moments of silence along the way, so use them however you need, to listen, to pray, or simply to rest in God’s presence.

Prayers is one of the promises we make here. To share a prayer request, use the Church Center app anytime, or fill out a prayer request card from the pew back and drop it in the offering plate.

Will you pray with me?

God of Solomon and of every generation since, we come this morning asking for the right things.

(pause)

We praise you for giving more than we know to request. You have carried this church through generations of decisions, some wise and some not, and you have never let go of us.

We confess that we often ask you for the wrong things. We want outcomes more than we want discernment. We want to be proven right more than we want to see clearly. We ask you to bless plans we have already finished making.

Bring to God now the thing you have been asking for, and ask whether it is what you most need.

(pause)

We pray for this congregation as we choose leaders and make plans, that we would ask for listening hearts before we ask for results. We pray for those who grieve today, especially anyone naming a loss that is still fresh. We pray for the sick, the anxious, and anyone facing a decision they cannot see around. We pray for our community, and for people in authority everywhere, that they would govern as servants.

We give you thanks for the saints who asked well, and who now rest in you.

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, wisdom of God and host of this table. Amen.

(On a Communion Sunday the Lord’s Prayer is prayed within the Great Thanksgiving below, per the UMC communion order, and is not repeated here.)

Invitation to Give and Check-In

Solomon could have asked for wealth, and received it anyway after asking for something better. All that we have flows from God’s open hand, and our gifts are how we keep our own hands open.

Thank you to those who give month after month, steady and unannounced. That steadiness is what lets this church plan past next Sunday. If today is your first time giving, thank you.

You can give through the offering plate, online at mcphersonfirst.org/give, or through the Church Center app, the easiest way to give from your phone.

As the offering is received, check in through the Church Center app or by signing the attendance pad next to the center aisle and passing it down the row. Checking in is how we live out presence, telling the church, in person or online, that you were here.

Ushers, please come forward to receive this morning’s offering.

Holy Communion

(On a Communion Sunday this replaces the Prayer of Thanksgiving.)

Invitation, Confession, and Pardon

We come now to the Lord’s table, in person and online. If you’re worshiping at home, please have bread and juice ready. Together we’ll share Christ’s invitation, confess our sins, and receive God’s grace.

Solomon asked for wisdom, and God gave him what he asked for and more besides. At this table God does the same thing, giving more than we know to ask. You do not need to have anything figured out to come. Christ makes room. Join in the words on screen.

This is God’s table, and all are invited. Whether you come certain or full of questions, whether your faith is steady or worn thin this morning, you belong here. Prepare your heart to receive by confessing with me.

Pray with me the words before you:

All: Merciful God, we have asked you for the wrong things. We have wanted to be right more than we have wanted to be wise. We have made our plans and then asked you to approve them. We have not listened to you, and we have not listened to each other. Forgive us. Give us listening hearts, and free us to follow where you lead, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Take a moment for your own silent prayer.

(All pray in silence)

Hear the good news: Christ died for us while we were yet sinners; that proves God’s love toward us. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

All: In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven! Glory to God. Amen.

The Great Thanksgiving for All Saints

Forgiven and made new, we come to the table with the saints of every generation.

Leader: The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Leader: Lift up your hearts.

People: We lift them up to the Lord.

Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

People: It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere, to thank you, almighty God, creator of heaven and earth.

God of Abraham and Sarah, Miriam and Moses, Joshua and Deborah, Ruth and David, the priests and prophets, Mary and Joseph, the apostles and martyrs, our mothers and fathers, and our children to all generations.

And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

People: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. Through his suffering, death, and resurrection you gave birth to your Church, set us free from sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

When the supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said: “Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

And so, remembering all you have done for us in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves to you, our praise, our thanks, our lives. United with Christ, we proclaim the mystery of faith:

People: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and juice. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ redeemed by his blood.

Renew our communion with all your saints, especially those whom we name before you, from our congregation and in our hearts.

(Here the pastors read aloud the names of the saints of our congregation who died this past year. After each name a chime sounds and a candle is lit.)

Since such a great cloud of witnesses surrounds us, strengthen us to run with perseverance in the race set before us, looking to Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith.

By your Spirit, make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty God, now and forever.

People: Amen.

With the confidence of children of God, we pray together:

All: 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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Receiving Holy Communion

Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, for we all share in the one loaf. The cup over which we give thanks is a sharing in the blood of Christ. These are the gifts of God for the people of God.

Communion servers, please come forward to receive first, then serve our congregation.

Friends, God welcomes you to this table of grace. You don’t have to be a member of this church or even a United Methodist. Come with an open heart to receive God’s love.

I invite you to come forward by the center aisle. There are serving stations on each side of the sanctuary, one for each section of pews. When you arrive, you’ll receive a piece of bread. Hold it carefully and reverently; it represents the body of Christ. Then dip just the bottom third of the bread into the cup of grape juice, and eat. If you would like to kneel and pray at the rail, you are welcome to. When you’re ready, return to your seat by the outside aisle.

Gluten-free bread is on a plate at both stations. If you would rather not dip, or if you need a cup of your own, ask the server and they’ll hand you one, and leave the empty cup at the altar rail. If you need communion brought to you, raise your hand or let an usher know, and we’ll bring it to you.

If you’re worshiping online, receive the bread and cup now, knowing you are part of this body.

This table is open to all. Come forward now to receive, and the ushers will guide you.

Prayer After Holy Communion

Will you pray with me?

Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery in which you have given yourself to us. Grant that we may go into the world in the strength of your Spirit, to give ourselves for others, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Will you please stand as we sing together?

Benediction

Go now, asking for what matters. Love boldly, serve joyfully, lead courageously.

God gives you wisdom, Christ goes before you, the Spirit steadies you. And all God’s people said, Amen.

“The Lord appeared to Solomon at Gibeon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask whatever you wish, and I’ll give it to you.”” – 1 Kings 3:5 (CEB)

Sit with how dangerous that sentence is. No fine print. No category limit. Ask whatever you wish.

Most of us think we would like to be asked. But an open question is harder than a narrow one, because it does not tell you what kind of answer is expected. A specific request is easy to make. An unlimited one makes you say what you actually want, and then live with having said it.

Solomon is about twenty years old, newly installed over a kingdom he has not earned, measured every day against a father who is already a legend. God asks him what he wants, and the answer will reveal what he thinks his life is for. So will ours. If God asked you today what you want, what would you say?

God who asks what I want, help me answer honestly instead of correctly. Show me what I have really been asking for, underneath what I say out loud. Amen.