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, in this room and online. Wherever you are on the journey of faith, you belong here today.
We’re in the middle of a series called Five Promises, and this week we come to the promise of witness, the promise to live our faith out loud. Grace Groups are meeting on Wednesday nights and Thursday mornings at eleven, and they are a good place to practice, to explore faith together and learn to tell your own story. Our faith was never meant to stay hidden.
If you’re looking for a next step, start anytime at mcphersonfirst.org/next or on 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 called Abram to leave the familiar and go toward a promise.
People: God still calls us out, and still goes with us.
Leader: God blessed him, not so he could keep the blessing, but so he could become one.
People: We are blessed to be a blessing.
Leader: So come, people on the way.
People: We come to worship the God who calls, blesses, and sends. Amen.
Welcome Your Neighbor
Abram’s blessing was always meant to reach past his own household, out to all the families of the earth. So don’t keep this morning to yourself. Turn to someone near you, and if you’re online, greet us in the comments, and welcome one another. A church is one of the few places that exists partly for the people not yet here. Who might you invite to come with you next week?
Please stand, welcome your neighbor, and then remain standing as we join together in song.
Opening Prayer
Let the song we’ve just sung settle into prayer. Pray with me using the words on the screen.
All: Calling God, you sent Abram out with nothing but a promise, and you send us too. Open our hands to receive your blessing and our mouths to share it. Meet us in worship, and make us people who live faith out loud. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Scripture Reading: Genesis 12:1-9 (CEB)
(Read by a lay reader, seated. The reader introduces themselves and offers one brief sentence of personal connection to the congregation before reading.)
Today we hear again from Genesis, the Bible’s book of beginnings. These verses tell of Abram, later called Abraham, and the call that set God’s whole rescue story in motion.
Listen for what God asks Abram to leave, and for the promise that turns one family into a blessing for the whole world.
Hear now Genesis, chapter 12, verses 1 through 9.
The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your land, your family, and your father’s household for the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation and will bless you. I will make your name respected, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
those who curse you I will curse;
all the families of the earth
will be blessed because of you.”
Abram left just as the Lord told him, and Lot went with him. Now Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all of their possessions, and those who became members of their household in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, Abram traveled through the land as far as the sacred place at Shechem, at the oak of Moreh. The Canaanites lived in the land at that time. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I give this land to your descendants,” so Abram built an altar there to the Lord who appeared to him. From there he traveled toward the mountains east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshipped in the Lord’s name. Then Abram set out toward the arid southern plain, making and breaking camp as he went.
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. You can also text PRAYERTEAM to 620-241-3626 to pray along with us through the week.
Will you pray with me?
Calling God, you spoke to one man in Haran and set a blessing loose on the whole world. We pause in your presence.
(pause)
We praise you for going first and going with us. You asked Abram to leave everything familiar, and you did not send him alone. You blessed him so the blessing would keep moving, and it has kept moving all the way to this room.
We confess that we hold your blessing tightly. We keep our faith quiet where speaking might cost us something. We wait to feel ready before we say anything, and we forget that Abram had no script either. We offer our prayers of confession to God in this time of quiet.
(pause)
We pray for the sick and the grieving. We pray for those far from home, for children stepping into new grades and new responsibilities, and for people who have not yet found anywhere they belong. And we pray for a world that needs your blessing carried into it.
We give thanks for everyone who told us the truth about you when we needed to hear it, and for a church that keeps making room.
Hear all we have brought you, spoken and unspoken.
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.
All: Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
All: 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
God blessed Abram so the blessing would keep moving through him, and we give in that same current. One way we pass the blessing on is with our gifts. To those who give faithfully, month after month, thank you; your generosity carries this ministry. And if today is your first time giving, welcome, and thank you. You can give in the offering plate, online at mcphersonfirst.org/give, or through the Church Center app.
This is also our moment to check in with one another. However you’re worshiping, take a moment to mark your presence with us, on the attendance pad in your row, on the Church Center app, or at mcphersonfirst.org/next.
Ushers, please come forward to receive this morning’s offering.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Generous God, receive these gifts and the lives behind them. Send them out as blessing, and turn our gratitude into service, so that we do not only speak of your goodness but carry it to our neighbors. Make us a people who live faith out loud with our hands. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Will you please stand as we sing together?
Benediction
Go now as people called, blessed, and sent. Love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously. The God who called Abram out goes before you. Christ, through whom every family of the earth is blessed, walks beside you. And the Spirit, who gives you the words, makes you a blessing wherever you go. And all God’s people said, Amen.