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 worshiped here for years or this is your first Sunday, in person or online, you belong here.
We’re in the second week of As For Me and My House. Today we meet David at the worst moment of his life, and we listen to the prayer he prayed once he stopped explaining himself. The promise we lean on is prayers, the honest kind you pray when the excuses run out.
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 sees what we keep hidden and calls us close anyway.
People: Create in us a clean heart, O God.
Leader: We come carrying what we would rather not say out loud.
People: Wash us, and we will be clean.
Leader: Mercy is not something we earn by hiding.
People: Give us back the joy we have lost.
Leader: Come and worship the God who makes us new.
People: We bring our whole hearts this morning, nothing held back.
Welcome Your Neighbor
Nathan told David a story instead of an accusation, and David heard himself in it. That is one way witness works, a truth someone else can finally see.
Picture the empty space in the pew beside you next Sunday. Whose name goes there?
If you’re online this morning, you count in this circle. Please stand, welcome your neighbor, and then remain standing as we join together in song.
Opening Prayer
We’ve sung our way into this morning. Now settle your heart and pray with me, using the words on screen, as we ask God to search us the way Nathan’s story searched David.
All: Merciful God, you see us completely and love us anyway. Search the places we keep closed. Wash what needs washing, and make our hearts new. Give us courage to stop explaining and simply come home to you. Amen.
Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 12:1-9; Psalm 51:1-9 (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 Samuel, which tells the story of David’s reign, and from Psalm 51, a prayer the tradition ties to this same week. Chapter 11 is the part usually left out. David has taken Bathsheba, arranged her husband’s death, and gone on ruling as though nothing happened.
Notice how long David stays angry at the man in Nathan’s story before he learns whose story it is.
Hear now Second Samuel, chapter 12, verses 1 through 9.
So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When Nathan arrived he said, “There were two men in the same city, one rich, one poor. The rich man had a lot of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing—just one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised that lamb, and it grew up with him and his children. It would eat from his food and drink from his cup—even sleep in his arms! It was like a daughter to him.
“Now a traveler came to visit the rich man, but he wasn’t willing to take anything from his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had arrived. Instead, he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the visitor.”
David got very angry at the man, and he said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the one who did this is demonic! He must restore the ewe lamb seven times over because he did this and because he had no compassion.”
“You are that man!” Nathan told David. “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I anointed you king over Israel and delivered you from Saul’s power. I gave your master’s house to you, and gave his wives into your embrace. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. If that was too little, I would have given even more. Why have you despised the Lord’s word by doing what is evil in his eyes? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and taken his wife as your own. You used the Ammonites to kill him.
Hear now Psalm 51, verses 1 through 9.
For the music leader. A psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him just after he had been with Bathsheba.
Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love!
Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion!
Wash me completely clean of my guilt;
purify me from my sin!
Because I know my wrongdoings,
my sin is always right in front of me.
I’ve sinned against you—you alone.
I’ve committed evil in your sight.
That’s why you are justified when you render your verdict,
completely correct when you issue your judgment.
Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin,
from the moment my mother conceived me.
And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places;
you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.
Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean;
wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and celebration again;
let the bones you crushed rejoice once more.
Hide your face from my sins;
wipe away all my guilty deeds!
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 knows us all the way down, we come to you this morning without our usual explanations.
(pause)
We praise you for being a God who tells the truth and stays anyway. You did not walk away from David, and you have not walked away from us. You send people into our lives who love us enough to say the hard thing.
We confess that we are practiced at managing our own stories. We soften what we did. We explain why it made sense at the time. We judge in others exactly what we excuse in ourselves.
Name honestly before God the thing you have been explaining away, and offer it to the One who already knows.
(pause)
We pray for this congregation, that we would be people who can hear the truth and still feel loved. We pray for anyone carrying a secret that has grown heavy, that they would find a safe place to set it down. We pray for those who are sick, grieving, or afraid, and for families under strain this week. We pray for our community, and for a world that keeps mistaking power for permission.
We thank you for mercy that does not wait until we have earned it.
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
Nathan reminded David of everything God had already given: rescue, a kingdom, a house, and the offer of more. God’s generosity always comes first, and our gifts are how we answer it.
Thank you to those who give steadily, month after month, without anyone needing to ask. You carry this ministry through every season. If you’re giving for the first time today, thank you for taking that step.
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 a small act of presence, marking that you were part of the body this morning.
Ushers, please come forward to receive this morning’s offering.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
We’ve given our gifts and told the truth in prayer. Now we’re sent to practice service, carrying mercy into places that expect judgment. Will you pray with me?
Generous God, thank you for these gifts and for the honesty you make possible. Use both to bring people back to you. Amen.
Will you please stand as we sing together?
Benediction
Go now, honest and unhidden. Love boldly, serve joyfully, lead courageously.
God makes you new, Christ restores your joy, the Spirit keeps you. And all God’s people said, Amen.