Come out of hiding.
A call to worship.
This call to worship1 is an invitation to stand before God without disguise, because the God revealed in Jesus Christ is not repelled by our exposed sin, woundedness, or failure. He moves toward us in reconciling mercy.
A congregation does not assemble on the basis of its moral achievements or private religious feelings, but because the Father has already drawn us near in the Son and gathers us by the Spirit into a shared life of grace. Truthful repentance is not the threshold we cross to earn God’s welcome; it is our fitting response to a welcome already enacted in Christ who became sin for us.
Forgiveness is communal rather than merely individual. The Spirit is creating a people who bear one another’s burdens, resist fear and evasion, and become a local embodiment of God’s healing hospitality.
Themes
Divine initiative • Gathered • Belonging • Exposed • Mercy • Repentance • Renewal • The wounded • Spirit-formed community • Shared burdens • Forgiveness * Divine presence • Worship
He turns toward us even when all the stuff we’re hiding is exposed.
Scripture reading
Genesis 38:26 Psalm 34:18 Romans 5:8
This call to worship reminds us that we don’t come to God because we have it all together. We come because, in Jesus Christ, God has already turned toward us with mercy. And He is drawing us into a life where no one has to carry their burdens alone.
There is a person in scripture whose entire life was transformed by a single confession. We read about this confession in Genesis when Judah exclaims: She is more righteous than I. Similarly, King David wrote these song lyrics when he was in a position of fear and humiliation. He wrote: The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. And the Apostle Paul penned these words in his letter to the Romans: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Prayer
Gracious God, we’re here this morning again. But not because we have earned a place or have had some moral success in our lives. The truth is, all our failures are exposed before You. We are only here because You have turned toward us in Jesus Christ. He called us. He gathered us. He welcomed us. He brought us near. And He turns toward us even when all the stuff we’re hiding is exposed. Before You, Father, are all our joys and our burdens. Before You is all of our wounded humanity. Before You are all the places in our lives that feel strong and hopeful, and the places that are fragile, or hidden, or broken. Nothing is concealed from Your mercy, and so nothing is beyond Your care. Forgive us where we’ve failed to love others well. Forgive us where we have held back kindness, or courage, or compassion. Forgive us where we’ve been quick to judge others and slow to recognize our own need for grace. Help us to see ourselves truthfully. And then turn us back again toward Jesus, and make us honest, and humble, and new. You don’t turn away from the wounded, the lonely, the overlooked, the ashamed. So then, teach us also to see one another with that same mercy. Make this little church a place of welcome and healing. Form in us the opposite realities we see in the world, realities of fear, evasion, injustice. And by Your Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, gather us together, and form us into a community where burdens are shared and no one is left alone. Teach us to live out the truth of our salvation— that it isn’t a private forgiveness; it’s us being drawn into the Son’s communion with You, Father, and, therefore, into a communion with one another. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, receive our praise, our prayers, our lives. You have given us life. You have met us in Jesus Christ. You are present with us now. We worship You with gratitude and joy. Amen.
A call to worship given to the small assembly of Christians that gathered in Pathway Church, Beaverdam, Michigan, on June 21, 2026.