Themes
Abundance of love • Trinitarian life • Communion • Abraham • History • Israel • Word became flesh • Memory • Covenant • Potter and clay • Fullness of time • Eyes to see • Ears to hear • Heart • Mind • Will • Imagination • Glory • Children of Abraham • Co-heirs with Christ
Out of an abundance of love, God willed not to be without us. Not because He needed us—but because He desired to share His life, His love, His joy. So He began something. He chose a friend.
Scripture reading
Genesis 12:1–3 Jeremiah 18:3–6 Romans 5:6–8 Galatians 4:4–5 Matthew 11:15 Matthew 16:16
This call to worship1 is about the long progression from Abraham to us, right here, right now, today.
In Genesis, we read: The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation… and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” * * * 1,300 years later, there’s a moment of crisis in Israel. Israel has broken the covenant. It’s on the brink of collapse. It’s about to be marched off to exile. And Jeremiah the prophet is struggling with God over the whole thing. And so God speaks to Jeremiah and tells him to go to the home of a pottery maker, and so in the Book of Jeremiah we read this: So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and so he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done?" Declares the Lord. "Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel." * * * About 675 years later, the Apostle Paul penned these words: When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son. and Although we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly… * * * And one of Jesus’ favorite exhortations was: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” * * * And finally, at one point, Jesus asked his disciples: He said to them, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Prayer
Father in heaven, before all things —before there was anything— You were not alone. You were never solitary. There was never any monotony, never any silence, never any vacancy, never any absence or loneliness or need. Before all worlds, before any beginning, there was incomprehensible love. There was unbounded joy. There was inextinguishable delight. There was You loving the Son, the Son delighting in You, and the Spirit rejoicing in both. You are a communion of love, full, overflowing, free, infinitely alive. And out of that abundance of love, You willed not to be without us. Not because You needed us— but because You desired to share Your life, Your love, Your joy. So You began something. You began something with Abraham. It wasn’t an idea. It wasn’t a new religion. It wasn’t a set of moral teachings, It wasn’t a theological system. It was a history—a new history. You chose a man. You chose a friend, named Abraham. And through him, You began to carve the path to the place where your self-revealing love —your Word— would become flesh. Starting with Abraham, You formed a people— literally formed a people. You shaped their thinking. You kindled their imagination. You formed in them a longing, and taught them how to cry out. You planted the ache for redemption, and gave them psalms to sing. You molded their memory through covenant. You etched justice into their conscience through law. You gave them worship, so they could carry hope through time. You didn’t drop concepts into their minds from heaven— You engraved meaning across their history, year by year, feast after feast, sacrifice upon sacrifice, prophet after prophet, mercies after judgments, promises through kings, returns after exiles, On and on and on. You formed and re-formed, shaped and re-shaped a people, like a potter with a piece of clay. You covenanted. You spoke. You acted. You delivered. You judged. You forgave. You promised. You disciplined. You redeemed. All so that in the fullness of time our eyes would be opened so that we could see, our ears unstopped so that we could hear, our hearts awakened so that we could recognize. our minds renewed so that we could understand, our wills enlivened so that we could respond, our imaginations sanctified so that we could behold, and new language and new meaning and new memory all given so that we could exclaim with wonder and joy: “This is our God!” And in the fullness of time, You did come. You came Yourself. The Word became flesh. The Promise became a Person. Jesus Christ— true God, true man— the fulfillment of every covenant, the radiance of Your glory, the final and perfect self-giving of Your heart. And now, through Him, You draw us in. Not as distant beneficiaries, but as adopted sons and daughters— children of Abraham, co-heirs with Christ, and now participants in that very communion that You, O God, have shared from all eternity. So here we are. Not to observe, but to receive. Not to achieve something, but to worship. We are drawn even further today into the great unfolding story— from Abraham, to Christ, to us. In the name of Jesus, the final Word, the eternal Yes, every promise fulfilled, Amen.
1
This call to worship was given to the small assembly of Christians that gathered in Pathway Church, Beaverdam, Michigan, on June 29, 2025.