God comes near.
A call to worship.
This call to worship1 is about the astonishing mercy of the God who does not wait for the world, the church, or the human heart to become clean before He comes near. God’s faithfulness is grounded not in our moral success, but in His own unconditioned love, revealed and enacted in Jesus Christ.
Our human experience has two sides: those who are wounded and those who wound, those who are silenced and those who protect themselves, those who feel ashamed and those who calculate. Saying that God only works through ‘good people’ is a comforting lie. Instead, God moves into our sin, shame, cowardice, and brokenness without being overcome by them.
In Christ, we see God as the faithful Son, the true Brother, the gentle Avenger, the selfless Bridegroom, and the Judge judged in our place. He is the One who exposes sin not by standing at a distance, but by condemning it in His own flesh.
Since Christ has carried our griefs and sorrows, we are invited to be truthful, protective, willing to confess, forgiving, and merciful. We praise the God whose promise stands firm despite our mistakes, whose grace reaches both victims and sinners, and whose healing presence helps ordinary people worship with sincerity and truth.
Themes
Covenant grace • God’s nearness • Healing in Christ • Unconditional love • Sin and shame • Divine faithfulness • The true Brother • Judgment in Christ • Self-giving love • Mercy of Christ
Otherwise, we’d always be asking, “Where are the good people God is working through, and are we them?” But instead, we ask, “Where is God going after sinners?”
Scripture reading
Genesis 34 Psalm 34:18 Isaiah 53:4–5
This call to worship invites us to come to God just as we are, without trying to look better or hide anything. It reminds us that through Jesus, God draws close to both the hurting and the stubborn, carrying our griefs, revealing our sin, and making us into people of truth, mercy, and peace.
King Davide wrote these lyrics for a song: The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. The propet Isaiah wrote: Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.
Prayer
Tenderly attentive, patiently redemptive Father in heaven, we’re here this morning exactly as we are; not as all-cleaned-up versions of ourselves. Some of us are here, and we’re wounded, tired, ashamed, silenced, afraid. And some of us, because we are those things, are here, and we’re calculating, desiring, managing, maybe defending. It doesn’t matter, though. Because You are still the God who comes near. You move into our abyss— our abyss of sin, and violence, and shame, and cowardice, and brokenness. And You come alongside us— the brokenhearted and the stiff-necked. In Jesus Christ, You have carried our griefs, You have borne our sorrows. And by His wounds, You have healed us. And we are rather glad that You are indeed like that — that Your covenant with us is grounded in Your own unconditional love toward us, and not in us. Otherwise, we’d always be asking, “Where are the good people that You’re working through, and are we them?” But instead we ask “Where are You going after sinners?” And that’s where we see You. You are moving through our sin. You are refusing to let Your covenant be destroyed by any of our foolishness. We see you in Jesus; who is the faithful Son, the true Brother, the righteous Avenger who doesn’t massacre the guilty but bears our guilt; who is the Bridegroom who doesn’t seize His bride but gives Himself for her; who is the Judge who exposes our sin by condemning it in His own flesh. So now, as You heal us, Keep us honest before others Make us people who tell the truth, who protect the vulnerable, who confess our sins, who refuse to repay evil with evil, and who welcome one another with the mercy of Christ. Show us Your presence, here with us now, Lord. Bring us into Your peace. Teach us to worship You in spirit and in truth. Amen.
A call to worship given to the small assembly of Christians that gathered in Pathway Church, Beaverdam, Michigan, on May 31, 2026.