Sunday Worship
July 13, 2025 - 10 a.m. EDT

Prelude - Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (arr. Paul Manz)
Kathie Houchens, organist

Ringing of the Church Bell

Invitation to Worship
Kristin Ream

One: We are all children of a loving Creator,

All: Who meets us where we are.

One: No matter how far we wander or how lost we may be,

All: God always finds us and welcomes us home.

One: Just as God rejoices when we come together as one family,

All: Let us now rejoice and worship the God whose love and compassion knows no end.

Hymn 664 - Morning Has Broken

Morning has broken
like the first morning,
blackbird has spoken
like the first bird.
Praise for the singing!
Praise for the morning!
Praise for them, springing
fresh from the Word!

Sweet the rain’s new fall
sunlit from heaven,
like the first dewfall
on the first grass.
Praise for the sweetness
of the wet garden,
sprung in completeness
where God’s feet pass.

Mine is the sunlight!
Mine is the morning
born of the one light
Eden saw play!
Praise with elation,
praise every morning,
God’s recreation
of the new day!

Prayer of the Day [unison]
poem by Sara A. Speed

I put my headphones in, and I walk quickly looking at the ground. I create one million barriers of independence, But still God seeks after me. God leans a rainbow over the sky. God sends sunshine after rain. God blankets the Earth with wildflowers. God allows music to carry, and laughter to rise, all so that I might notice. And when I do notice, The unfurling that begins in my soul is slow, and holy, and burning. I am not alone. God has been chasing after me this whole time. Amen.

Canticle 399 - God Welcomes All

God welcomes all,
Strangers and friends;
God’s love is strong,
And it never ends.

Sharing the Peace

Welcome and Announcements

First Scripture Reading - Jonah 1:1-16
Lydia Allen, liturgist

Word with Children
Jenni Whitford

Second Scripture Reading - Jonah 3:1-10

Sermon - “Not a Story About a Whale”

Hymn 435 - There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
like the wideness of the sea.
There’s a kindness in God’s justice,
which is more than liberty.
There is no place where earth’s sorrows
are more felt than up in heaven.
There is no place where earth’s failings
have such kindly judgment given.

For the love of God is broader
than the measures of the mind.
And the heart of the Eternal
is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more faithful,
we would gladly trust God’s Word,
and our lives reflect thanksgiving
for the goodness of our Lord.

Affirmation of Faith [unison]
from the Iona Community

We believe that God is present in the darkness before dawn; in the waiting and uncertainty where fear and courage join hands, conflict and caring link arms, and the sun rises over disaster. We believe in a with-us God who sits down in our midst to share our humanity. We affirm a faith that takes us beyond the safe place: into action, into vulnerability, and into the world. We commit ourselves to work for change and put ourselves on the line; to bear responsibility, take risks, live powerfully, and face embarrassment. To stand with those on the edge; to choose life, and to be used by the Spirit, for God’s new community of hope.

Prayers of the People

The Lord’s Prayer [unison]

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Offering

Offertory - Mercy (Gordon Young)

Give online at granpres.org/give

Doxology 606 - Praise God, from Whom All Blessing Flow

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Prayer of Dedication

Hymn 475 - Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Come, thou Fount of every blessing;
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above;
praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
mount of God’s unchanging love!

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart; O take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above.

Benediction

Postlude - Guide Me Ever, Great Redeemer (arr. Melvin Rotermund)

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