Worship Elements — Finding Your Voice in a Foreign Place
Acts 17:16-31 (CEB) · Fresh Start: When Life Takes an Unexpected Turn · Senior Sunday · Communion Sunday
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
Have you ever walked into a room where everyone seemed to speak a different language, not literally, but where everything felt unfamiliar and you weren’t sure your voice belonged? Today we discover what happens when faith meets a foreign place.
Welcome to McPherson First United Methodist Church! I’m [NAME], and I’m delighted you’re here this morning.
We’re forming disciples of Jesus Christ who love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously. Whether you’ve been part of this congregation for decades or this is your very first Sunday, you belong here.
Today we’ll share Holy Communion together. All are welcome at Christ’s table, and if you’re worshiping online, you may want to have bread and juice ready.
Five membership promises shape how we grow in our faith and how we support one another on the journey: prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. You’ll hear each of these named as we worship together today.
If you’re new or looking for your next step, visit mcphersonfirst.org/next or download the Church Center app. You can check in, request prayer, find ways to serve, or give. You can also text CONNECT to 620-241-3626 to stay in the loop.
Call to Worship
I invite you to join in our responsive call to worship as you see the words on display.
Leader: God is not far from any one of us.
People: In God we live and move and exist.
Leader: From every nation, God has drawn us together.
People: We gather as God’s own children, seeking the One who made us.
Leader: What others call unknown, we have come to know through Jesus Christ.
People: We worship the God who gives life, breath, and everything else.
Leader: God invites every person everywhere to turn and discover new life.
People: We open our hearts to the God who is already here.
Welcome Your Neighbor
This morning we hear how Paul stepped into a place full of strangers and chose to engage rather than withdraw. He looked around, found common ground, and started a conversation that changed lives. One of our five membership promises is witness, sharing our faith and inviting others into this community. Before Paul ever preached a sermon in Athens, he spent time in the marketplace simply talking with people.
Think about the people in your life who don’t have a faith community. Who might you invite to worship, to a Grace Group, or simply to coffee to talk about what matters most? This week, as our seniors prepare to enter new places, we’re all reminded that witness starts with genuine relationship.
Please stand, welcome your neighbor, and then remain standing as we join together in song.
Opening Prayer
God of every nation, you are never far from any of us. Open our eyes to see you at work in unfamiliar places. Give us courage to speak your truth and humility to listen for your voice in unexpected people. Shape us through your word today. Amen.
Invitation to Prayer and Pastoral Prayer
One of our five membership promises is prayers, building a real relationship with God through honest conversation. Right now, we bring our hearts before God together. If you’d like our prayer team to pray for you by name this week, text PRAY to 620-241-3626 or submit a request through the Church Center app.
Will you pray with me?
God of every nation and every generation, we come to you as people who are still learning to find our voices. We pause now to simply be present with you.
[Brief pause]
We pray for our high school seniors who stand at the threshold of something new. The excitement and uncertainty of graduation, new campuses, new jobs, and new cities all converge in these final days of high school. Walk with them into every unfamiliar room. Remind them that you arrived in those places long before they did.
We pray for everyone navigating foreign territory this morning, those starting new jobs, entering new relationships, grieving what’s familiar, or facing circumstances they never planned for. When the landscape feels unrecognizable, anchor them in the truth that you are never far from any of us.
We pray for this congregation as we continue through construction and change. Give us the same adaptability Paul showed in Athens, holding firmly to the gospel while speaking the language of the moment.
We lift up those who are sick, those who are lonely, those carrying burdens they haven’t named out loud. You know every need before we speak it. Meet each person in the specific place where they need you most.
We bring before you the silent prayers on our hearts right now.
[Moment of silent reflection]
We pray for our community of McPherson, for those who lead, those who serve, and those who struggle unseen. Make us a church that pays attention, just as Paul paid attention to the culture around him before he ever opened his mouth to preach.
We pray in the name of the God who is already at work in every place we’ll go this week. Amen.
Invitation to Give and Check-In
We continue living out our membership promises with gifts, supporting God’s work through our financial resources. If you already give regularly, thank you. Your faithfulness sustains this ministry week after week. If you’re considering giving for the first time, we’re grateful for whatever you offer. Every gift matters. You can give online through the Church Center app, at mcphersonfirst.org, or by texting GIVE to 620-241-3626.
We also live out our promise of presence, not just showing up, but actively participating in the life of this community. We’d love to know you’re here today. Check in through the Church Center app, visit mcphersonfirst.org/next, or sign the attendance pad in your pew and pass it along.
Ushers, please come forward to receive this morning’s offering.
Senior Sunday Recognition and Blessing
[After announcements, before sermon. Sarah introduces seniors at 10:15 service; Andrew follows with blessing.]
8:30 Service (no students present)
Today is Senior Sunday. At our 10:15 service, Sarah will introduce our graduating seniors, and I hope you’ll greet them outside the sanctuary after that service if you’re able to stay. Even though they’re not with us right now, I want to invite you to speak a blessing over them. These young people are about to step into foreign places: new campuses, new jobs, new cities. They need to know this church is behind them.
Leader: Join me in blessing our graduating seniors:
People: We celebrate their gifts. We believe in their future. We send them with our prayers.
Amen.
10:15 Service (after Sarah’s introductions)
Thank you, Sarah. You’ve just heard a little about each of these remarkable young people. In just weeks, they’re stepping into foreign places: new campuses, new jobs, new cities. Every one of them unfamiliar. But they’re not going empty-handed. They carry gifts already inside them, values shaped here, resilience built through victories and setbacks, and the love of people who’ve watched them grow.
Before they go, we want to speak that truth over them.
Leader: Church, say it with me:
People: We see your gifts. We believe in your future. We send you with our prayers.
The God who guided Paul to his voice in Athens guides you into your next chapter. You are seen. You are valued. You carry enough. This congregation remains your home. Amen.
Holy Communion
Invitation, Confession, and Pardon
Preaching Pastor: We come now to the Lord’s table. If you are worshiping online, please have bread and juice ready. Together we’ll share Christ’s invitation, confess where we’ve fallen short, and receive God’s grace. Join in the words on screen.
Preaching Pastor: Paul stood in the middle of Athens and told a city full of strangers that God is not far from any of us, that in God we live and move and exist. Now that same God sets a table and invites us close. We don’t come because we have all the answers or because we’ve found the right words. We come because God has already found us.
Host Pastor: This is God’s table, and all are invited. Whether you’ve been following Jesus your whole life or you’re still figuring out what you believe, whether you feel at home here or everything still feels foreign, you belong at this table. We prepare our hearts to receive by confessing together.
People: Merciful God, we confess that we have stayed silent when you called us to speak and spoken carelessly when you called us to listen. We have clung to what’s familiar rather than following you into new places. We have overlooked the signs of your presence in people and places we dismissed as foreign. Forgive us. Give us the courage of Paul in Athens, to find your fingerprints in unexpected places and to proclaim your love without fear. Amen.
Host Pastor: Take a moment for your own silent prayer.
(All pray in silence)
Host Pastor: 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! Glory to God. Amen.
The Great Thanksgiving
Preaching Pastor: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Preaching Pastor: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord.
Preaching Pastor: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Preaching Pastor: It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth.
You made every nation from one ancestor to live on the whole earth. You placed eternity in the human heart so that we would reach out for you and find you, because you have never been far from any of us. When we wandered after lesser gods, you sent prophets to call us home. And when the time was right, you sent your Son to stand among us and proclaim the truth we could not discover on our own.
In Jesus, you revealed yourself not as an unknown God but as a God who knows us by name, who gives us life, breath, and everything else.
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.
Host Pastor: 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.’
Preaching Pastor: 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.
Preaching Pastor: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. 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.
Host Pastor: 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.
Preaching Pastor: Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty God, now and forever.
Host Pastor: And now, with the confidence of children of God, let us pray:
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
Preaching Pastor: Though we are many, we are one body because we share one bread. The bread we break connects us to Christ’s body. The cup we share connects us to Christ’s life poured out for us.
Communion servers, please come forward to receive first, then serve our congregation.
(Servers come forward, receive, and take positions)
Host Pastor: 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 you’ll be offered a small cup of grape juice. Eat and drink. If you’d like to pray, you’re welcome to kneel at the rail. When you’re ready, return to your seat using the side aisles. Place your empty cup in the holders at either end of the rail.
Gluten-free bread is available at the station on the right side as you face the front of the room. If you need communion brought to you, raise your hand or let an usher know.
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 and receive God’s grace as the ushers give you direction.
(Music plays as congregation receives)
Prayer After Holy Communion
We’ve been fed at Christ’s table. Now we’re sent to practice service, to be God’s hands and feet in our community. Will you pray with me?
Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery in which you have given yourself to us. You have met us at this table just as you meet us in every foreign place, with grace we didn’t earn and welcome we didn’t expect. Send us 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 into every room, every campus, every conversation, and find your voice.
God the Creator goes before you, Christ walks beside you, and the Holy Spirit speaks through you. Amen.