Worship Elements — Grace That Seems Unfair
Matthew 20:1-16 (CEB) · The Gospel on Stage and Screen · Father's Day · United Methodist Men Sunday · Series Launch
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
Good morning! I’m [NAME], [CONNECTION to McPherson First]. Welcome, whether you’ve been worshipping here for decades or today is your very first Sunday with us. You belong here.
Today we begin a new four-week series called The Gospel on Stage and Screen: Stories That Find Us. Each week we explore how the parables of Jesus show up in the stories our culture is telling right now. This morning we hear a story about a landowner who can’t stop going out to find workers, at dawn, at nine, at noon, at three, and even at five o’clock. It’s a story about grace that seems unfair.
Today is also Father’s Day and United Methodist Men Sunday. We give thanks for the ministry of the UMM in this congregation and across the connection, and we hold gently those for whom Father’s Day carries complexity or grief.
As followers of Jesus, we grow in faith through five membership promises God uses to shape us: prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. Today the promise we will sit with most closely is gifts, the way we participate in a generosity that started before we got there and won’t run out after we leave.
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 (8:30 only)
I invite you to join in the responsive call to worship as you see the words on display.
Leader: The landowner went out early in the morning.
People: Before we asked, God was already on the way.
Leader: At nine, at noon, at three, at five, God kept going out.
People: God’s generosity has no closing time.
Leader: Some worked all day. Some worked one hour.
People: All received the same grace.
Leader: Come, worship the God whose love refuses to keep score.
People: We come with open hands and grateful hearts.
Welcome Your Neighbor
In Jesus’s parable, the landowner goes out again and again to gather workers nobody else has chosen. The vineyard is the kind of place where everyone gets noticed. This is what witness looks like, simply being present to one another and welcoming everyone who walks through these doors.
Picture someone who feels like the five o’clock worker, still standing in their own marketplace, wondering whether anyone sees them. Could you let them know they are welcome here and invite them to worship next Sunday?
Please stand, welcome your neighbor, and then remain standing as we join together in song.
Opening Prayer
We’ve lifted our voices in song. Now let’s quiet our hearts and pray together, using the words on display.
All: God of the vineyard, you go out looking for us long before we go looking for you. Quiet the part of us that keeps score. Open us to grace that defies our calculations. Speak to us through your word today. Amen.
Pastoral and Lord’s Prayer
We enter a time of prayer together. During our prayer, there will be a couple of moments of silence. Use them however feels right. Prayers is one of the five membership promises through which God works in us. Text PRAY to 620-241-3626 anytime to submit a prayer request. Will you pray with me?
God of unearned grace, you go out looking for us before we know we are lost. We pause in your presence.
(pause)
We praise you because you are the landowner who keeps walking back to the marketplace. You do not weigh our resumes or check our timing. You place the same denarion in every hand. We praise you for a generosity that makes no sense by our accounting and reveals exactly who you are.
We confess that we have not always trusted your math. We have kept score on each other and on ourselves. We have grumbled when grace landed in someone else’s hand. We have measured our worth by who got more, who got less, and who got there first.
We offer our prayers of confession to God in this time of quiet.
(pause)
We give thanks for the unearned moments. For the friend who showed up when nothing had been asked. For the second chance we did not deserve. For the kindness from a stranger that came at exactly the right hour. Thank you for the denarions we have received without earning.
We pray for those in this community who are hurting, those facing illness, loss, uncertainty, and loneliness. Be near to them. We pray for those who feel overlooked, standing in their own marketplace at five o’clock, wondering if anyone sees them. Go out to them. We pray for our world, where the instinct to measure and compare creates walls between your children. Tear those walls down. On this Father’s Day, we give thanks for those who have shaped our lives with love, patience, and faithfulness, and we hold gently those for whom this day carries grief.
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, who turned the world’s values upside down, 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.
All: Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
All: And 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
The landowner does not run out of denarions. Every worker who walks in receives a full day’s wage. When we give, we practice gifts, participating in a generosity that does not run out because it belongs to God.
Thank you to those who give faithfully, month after month, quietly and steadily. You are the partners who carry this ministry through every season. If today is your first time giving, 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.
I also invite you to check in through the Church Center app, at mcphersonfirst.org/next, or using the attendance pad in your 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.
Doxology (8:30 only)
Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow. UMH #94 in E♭. Chorus.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
We’ve given our gifts and offered our prayers. Now we are sent to practice service, to be God’s hands and feet in our community. Will you pray with me?
God of every good gift, thank you for the generosity of this congregation. Take what we offer and multiply it beyond what we can imagine. Send us out as people who serve the way you serve, not measuring, not calculating, just giving. In the name of Jesus, who gave everything. Amen.
Will you please stand as we sing together?
Benediction
Go now, loved by a God who refuses to keep score. Love boldly, serve joyfully, lead courageously.
And may the God who goes out at dawn, the Christ who pays the same wage, and the Spirit who fires the accountant go with you always. And all God’s people said, Amen.