Sunday August 23, 2026 Worship Service
Livestream at 10:00 a.m.

Gathering in God’s Name

Prelude — Prelude on Hyfrydol — Paul Manz 
As the prelude begins, you are invited to begin your personal preparation for worship.

Silent Meditation                                                                                                         
What the church of Jesus Christ believes, teaches, and confesses on the basis of the Word of God: this is Christian doctrine. Doctrine is not the only, not even the primary, activity of the church. The church worships God and serves mankind, it works for the transformation of this world and awaits the consummation of the next. “Faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” – love, and not faith, and certainly not doctrine. — The Emergence of the Christian Tradition: Volume 1, Jaroslav Pelikan

Choral Call to Worship — I Believe This Is Jesus — arr. Victor C. Johnson
Larry Frederickson, Jayne Frederickson, Kara Penniston, and Marietta Morhardt, soloists

Praise and Adoration

*Hymn #321 — The Church’s One Foundation — AURELIA   
(*Please stand, if you are able)
1.All sing
2. Women        
3. Men          
4. Choir only                                
5. All sing

Confession and Pardon

Call to Confession

Prayer of Confession
Lord of the conscience: we need Your help. We need Your help because we struggle to follow Your example. You are so forgiving: Your steadfast love is from everlasting to everlasting; Your grace and mercy build up the hopeless; Your Word is pure and eternal. We know this, and yet we have chased superficial perfection instead of Your holy completion, we have made poor decisions with what power we have, and we have even withheld forgiveness precisely when we come to You seeking it. Forgive us, Lord of all that is good. Make us less like the people we should not be. Make us more like You.

Silent Prayers of Confession and Petition

Kyrie Eleison — Lord, Have Mercy — SCHUBERT

Assurance of Pardon

*Congregational Response (#581) — Glory Be to the Father — GLORIA PATRI (Greatorex)

*Welcome                            
During the Welcome, children are invited to come forward.

Time for Young Disciples

Announcements

Fellowship of Prayer

Joys and Concerns

Prayers of the People
The Lord’s Prayer
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.

Anthem — O Thou Who Camest from Above — Philip Stopford

Proclamation of God’s Word

Scripture Lesson — Matthew 16: 13-20 — page 798 of the pew Bible

Sermon — “Son of Jonah” — Rev. Joshua Garry 

Our Response to God’s Word

*Affirmation of Faith — F-1.01, Foundations of Presbyterian Polity, The Book of Order
The Good News of the Gospel is that the triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost – creates, redeems, sustains, rules, and transforms all things and all people. This one living God, the Scriptures say, liberated the people of Israel from oppression and covenanted to be their God. By the power of the Spirit, this one living God is incarnate in Jesus Christ, who came to live in the world, and be raised again to new life. The Gospel of Jesus Christ announces the nearness of God’s Kingdom, bringing Good News to all who are impoverished, sight to all who are blind, freedom to all who are oppressed, and proclaiming the Lord’s favor upon all creation. Amen.

*Sanctus (#562) — Holy, Holy, Holy — SANCTUS (Schubert)

Presentation of Tithes and Offerings

Offertory — Psalm 150 — Peter Anglea

*Doxology (#609) — Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow — LASST UNS ERFREUEN
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise God, all creatures high and low. Alleluia, Alleluia!
Praise God, in Jesus fully known: Creator, Word, and Spirit one. Alleluia, alleluia! alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

*Prayer of Dedication        
God who gives without ceasing: we pray that what we give today would be just a glimpse – a glimpse  of what we will be able to give tomorrow. May we bless others with these blessings that come from You. And through them may we be reminded that the blessings of others are also blessings for ourselves; for to love humankind is to rejoice in the joy of others. In Your name we pray, Amen.

*Hymn of Dedication #353 — My Hope is Built on Nothing Less — SOLID ROCK

*Charge and Benediction

*Choral Response — Now Thank We All Our God — arr. Marianne Forman