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, both in this room and online. Whoever you are, and however your week has gone, you belong here this morning.
Today we begin a new series called Five Promises. Over the next five Sundays we will explore the promises we make when we join this church: to support its life with our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness. We start with presence, with simply showing up, because that is where Noah’s story starts too.
Looking for a next step? You can find one 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 spoke to Noah in a world gone wrong, and made a promise before the first rain fell.
People: God shows up first, before we ever build a thing.
Leader: God set a bow in the clouds, a sign to remember the covenant forever.
People: God keeps covenant, in every season, for every generation.
Leader: So we gather this morning to answer a God like that.
People: We come to worship the One who first showed up for us. Amen.
Welcome Your Neighbor
Noah’s family didn’t board the ark alone, and we don’t come to God alone either. Turn to someone near you, and if you’re worshiping online, drop a hello in the comments, and welcome one another by name. This is what witness looks like up close: making room for each other, and remembering there is always room for one more in the boat. Who might you invite next week?
Please stand, welcome your neighbor, and then remain standing as we join together in song.
Opening Prayer
As the music settles, let the singing carry you into prayer. Pray with me using the words on the screen.
All: Faithful God, you show up before we do. Quiet the noise we carried in, and open us to your covenant love. Meet us here as we worship, and send us out ready to show up for you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Scripture Reading: Genesis 6:13-22; 9:12-17 (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 from Genesis, the Bible’s book of beginnings, written to tell God’s people where they came from and whose they are. These verses sit inside the story of Noah and the flood.
Listen for the promise God makes before the first drop of rain, and for the sign God hangs in the sky to remember it.
Hear now Genesis, chapter 6, verses 13 through 22, and chapter 9, verses 12 through 17.
God said to Noah, “The end has come for all creatures, since they have filled the earth with violence. I am now about to destroy them along with the earth, so make a wooden ark. Make the ark with nesting places and cover it inside and out with tar. This is how you should make it: four hundred fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. Make a roof for the ark and complete it one foot from the top. Put a door in its side. In the hold below, make the second and third decks.
“I am now bringing the floodwaters over the earth to destroy everything under the sky that breathes. Everything on earth is about to take its last breath. But I will set up my covenant with you. You will go into the ark together with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives. From all living things—from all creatures—you are to bring a pair, male and female, into the ark with you to keep them alive. From each kind of bird, from each kind of livestock, and from each kind of everything that crawls on the ground—a pair from each will go in with you to stay alive. Take some from every kind of food and stow it as food for you and for the animals.”
Noah did everything exactly as God commanded him.
God said, “This is the symbol of the covenant that I am drawing up between me and you and every living thing with you, on behalf of every future generation. I have placed my bow in the clouds; it will be the symbol of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember the covenant between me and you and every living being among all the creatures. Floodwaters will never again destroy all creatures. The bow will be in the clouds, and upon seeing it I will remember the enduring covenant between God and every living being of all the earth’s creatures.” God said to Noah, “This is the symbol of the covenant that I have set up between me and all creatures on earth.”
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?
Faithful God, you made a promise before the first drop of rain, and you have never once forgotten it. We pause in your presence.
(pause)
We praise you for showing up first. You approved of Noah before he lifted a hammer. You set your covenant in place before the water rose. You tied the remembering to your own memory instead of ours, and you are steady when we are not.
We confess that we do not always show up. We skip the ordinary faithfulness because nothing seems to come of it. We wait for a sign before we obey, and we get tired of doing the next right thing in the dark. We offer our prayers of confession to God in this time of quiet.
(pause)
We pray for those who are sick and those sitting beside them, and for those who grieve. We pray for everyone shut inside a long stretch where nothing has changed and no answer has come. Make your presence known to them. We pray for this congregation as we begin these five weeks, and for a world that needs a God who keeps promises.
We give thanks for every person here who keeps showing up when no one notices, and for the ones who reminded us we were remembered.
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
Everything we have begins as a gift. God provided for Noah and his family, food for the journey and room in the boat, and God provides for us. One way we say thank you is with our gifts. To those who give faithfully, month after month, thank you; your steady generosity sustains this ministry. And if you’re giving for the first time today, welcome, and thank you. You can give in the offering plate as it passes, 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 today, 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. Take what we have offered and multiply it for your work in the world. Turn our gratitude into service, so that we thank you not only with our words but with our hands and our showing up. Make us a people who carry your covenant love to our neighbors. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Will you please stand as we sing together?
Benediction
Go now as people held inside a covenant God will never forget. Love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously. The God who approved of Noah before he built a thing goes before you. Christ, who keeps every promise, walks beside you. And the Spirit, who moved over the waters, stirs you to keep showing up. And all God’s people said, Amen.