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 every week or this is your first time through the door, we are so glad you came. This is a holiday weekend and the last Sunday of a series we have walked together, and this morning we gather at the Lord’s table. We are a church learning to live with open hands, and one of the five promises we make here is gifts, returning to God a portion of all we have received. There is a place for you here, exactly as you are. Come and worship.
(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: In a world that always says “more,”
People: we come to the God who says “enough.”
Leader: Not enough as scarcity, but enough as fullness.
People: We have a God who provides, a table that is spread, a life that is full.
Leader: Lay down the restless wanting and come.
People: We come with open hands to the God who is more than enough.
Leader: Come and worship.
Welcome Your Neighbor
Following Jesus draws us toward people, not away from them. Take a moment to turn to those around you, the familiar faces and the new ones, and offer a genuine welcome. This is what witness looks like, a community warm enough that someone wants to come back and find out why.
We started this series with an open door, so finish it the same way. You don’t have to convince anyone. Just open the door: “Want to come with me?”
Please stand, welcome your neighbor, and then remain standing as we join together in song.
Opening Prayer
The music has gathered us in. Will you pray with me, using the words on the screen?
All: Generous God, our hands are so often clenched, around our worries, our wanting, our need for more. As we worship, loosen our grip. Open our hands to receive what you have already given, and open our hearts to you. Meet us at your table this morning. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Scripture Reading: Exodus 20:17 (CEB)
(Read by a lay reader, seated. The reader introduces themselves and the passage before reading it.)
One last time we hear from Exodus, where God gave a freed people the shape of a good life. We come to the final commandment, the one that reaches the deepest, into the wanting of the heart.
Listen for what this command guards against, and notice that it speaks not about your hands but about your wanting.
Hear now Exodus, chapter 20, verse 17.
Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s house. Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.
Leader: This is the Word of God for the people of God.
People: Thanks be to God!
Pastoral Prayer
(On Communion Sunday the Lord’s Prayer is prayed within the Great Thanksgiving, per the UMC communion order, and is not repeated here.)
Online and in this room, you are invited to pray. If you have a request for our prayer team, fill out a prayer request card from the pew rack and drop it in the offering plate, or share it in the Church Center app, and someone will pray with you this week.
God of all good gifts, we come to you honest this morning. So many of us are tired of wanting, worn down by the sense that we never quite have enough. Quiet the restlessness in us. And for those whose need is not imagined but real, the family that is short at the end of the month, the neighbor without work, the ones who genuinely lack, move us to be part of your provision.
(brief pause)
We thank you for these weeks together in your word, for the door you opened and the life you have shown us. As we come to your table, remind us that in you we already have more than enough. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Invitation to Give and Check-In
Everything we have comes from God before it is ever ours, and our giving is simply returning a portion with gratitude. We don’t give because the church needs it. We give because generosity is how we loosen the grip of more, and because our gifts let this church love this town all week long.
If you give faithfully, month after month, thank you. Your steady generosity quietly sustains everything we do. And if this is the first time you have given here, welcome, and thank you for joining in.
There are three simple ways to give. You can place your gift in the offering plate as it passes, give online at mcphersonfirst.org/give, or use the Church Center app, the easiest way to give right from your phone.
However you connect with us, let us know you’re here. You can check in on the Church Center app, at mcphersonfirst.org/next, or on the attendance pad as it comes down your row.
Ushers, please come forward to receive this morning’s offering.
Holy Communion: Invitation, Confession, and Pardon
Leader: Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another. This is Christ’s table, not ours, and there is room for everyone. Come, not because you must, but because you may; not because you have it all together, but because you long to be made whole. We confess our sin together now, using the words on the screen.
All: Merciful God, we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart. We have wanted what is not ours and overlooked what we already have. We have grasped when you called us to open our hands. Forgive us. Free us from the restless wanting that never satisfies, and turn our hearts back to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(brief silence)
Leader: 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.
People: In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.
Leader: Glory to God. Amen.
Holy Communion: The Great Thanksgiving
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 give you thanks, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. You made us and gave us a good world, full of enough. When we reached for more than we needed, you did not abandon us. You brought a people out of slavery, gave them a life shaped by your commandments, and led them toward a land of abundance. And when we still could not be satisfied, you gave us your very self in Jesus Christ.
And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
All: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Leader: Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. He healed the sick and ate with sinners. On a hillside with not nearly enough, he took five loaves and two fish, gave thanks, and there was more than enough, with baskets left over. 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.”
Leader: And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as we proclaim the mystery of faith:
All: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
Leader: 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. 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 Father, now and forever.
People: Amen.
Leader: And now, 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.
Holy Communion: Receiving
(Lift the bread and break it.)
Leader: Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, for we all share in the one loaf.
(Lift the cup.)
Leader: 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.
Servers, please come forward.
Leader: This is an open table. You do not have to be a member of this church, and you do not have to have it all figured out. If you are hungry for God, there is a place for you here. Come down the center aisle, receive a piece of bread, dip it in the cup, and return by the side. The cup holds unfermented grape juice, so all may share. If you would rather receive a blessing than the bread and cup, simply cross your arms, and we will pray for you. And if you are worshiping with us online, you belong at this table too; hold your own bread and cup, and receive with us where you are.
Friends, the table is ready. As the ushers direct your row, come and receive.
Prayer after Holy Communion
Generous God, you have fed us at a table where there was more than enough. Thank you for filling our open hands with your grace. Now send us out content and free, released from the grip of more, ready to share what we have received with a hungry world. In the name of Jesus Christ, who is our enough. Amen.
Will you please stand as we sing together?
Benediction
You came in this morning with a quiet list of everything you lack. Go out knowing that in Christ you already have enough, and that enough is meant to overflow into open-handed generosity. Love boldly, serve joyfully, lead courageously.
The God who is more than enough goes before you. The Christ who fed you at this table walks beside you. The Spirit who frees you from the grip of more lives within you. Go in peace. And all God’s people said, Amen.