Fauntleroy Church, United Church of Christ

Sunday Worship - July 26 , 2026

Welcome to worship at Fauntleroy Church, United Church of Christ! We are so glad to have you with us today. Here are a few helpful notes and asks as you prepare to worship:

Mask-only designated pews are available at the back of the sanctuary, on the entrance side. We ask that all who sit there do wear a mask to honor the needs and comfort of others in that section.
Please remember to silence your cell phone during worship.
Our Sanctuary features a hearing loop system designed to enhance audio clarity for individuals utilizing hearing aids or cochlear implants. To connect, please adjust your device to the T-coil (telecoil) setting. Wireless receivers are also available at the rear of the Sanctuary.
Please be aware that we livestream our worship on our Fauntleroy Church YouTube channel. For the care and safety of children, our camera focus will be blurred during the Time with Children that recurs weekly. Parents should know that children still might momentarily be shown on our recordings if they come forward for music, communion or a role in leading worship.
If desired, Sunday School and Childcare are available. See the back of this bulletin for details.
As an open and affirming congregation, the members and staff of Fauntleroy Church are committed to fostering community among people of all races, cultures, gender identities, and sexual orientations.

Fauntleroy Church gathers on the traditional, sacred lands and waterways of the Coast Salish peoples, specifically the Duwamish People, the first people of Seattle. We honor, with respect and gratitude, these original and ongoing stewards of this beautiful place who have cared for it and called it home for time immemorial. We acknowledge the harms that white settlers and the Church caused our indigenous siblings and their ongoing struggles due to that displacement and dispossession. We recognize God’s longing for us to repent and repair our relationship and commit to join with them to work for justice and the care of this land.

*Asterisks invite those who are comfortable to please stand.

PRELUDE Mayumi Tayake

WELCOME Reverend Karyn Frazier

OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGAGEMENT Carolyn Tucker

*PASSING THE PEACE OF CHRIST

You will be invited to turn to your neighbors and greet them with the peace of Christ. The traditional greeting, should you engage it, is “The peace of Christ be with you” with a response of “And also with you.”

*LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Pastor Karyn

*CALL TO WORSHIP (responsive) Ruth Reedy

Adapted from liturgy by Bonnie Kline Smeltzer of the Brethren Church in North Carolina.

Leader: We have come from the East and the West, the coastlands and the valleys, the cities and the suburbs.

RESPONSE: WE HAVE COME FROM THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH, THE MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS, FORESTS, ISLANDS AND INLETS.

Leader: Some of us have also come from places of pain and stress, from paths of struggle and sorrow.

RESPONSE: SOME OF US HAVE COME FROM PLACES OF JOY AND CELEBRATION, FROM PATHS OF COMFORT AND CARING.

Leader: All of us come seeking God’s presence.

RESPONSE: SOURCE OF ALL, BE WITH US IN THE NATURAL BEAUTY OF THIS PLACE. BE WITH US THROUGH SCRIPTURE, SONGS, AND STORIES. BE WTIH US IN THIS COMMUNITY OF OLD FRIENDS AND FRIENDS YET TO BE MADE. COME, SPIRIT OF LIFE, ABIDE WITH US AND GATHER US TOGETHER IN YOU. AMEN.

*OPENING HYMN No. 3 (English verses) Wakantanka Taku Nitawa (Many and Great, O God, Are Your Works)

Composer Joseph R. Renville (1842). Paraphr. by R. Phillip Frazier, a Native American Congregational minister. (1929). Tune: LACQUIPARLE, Native American melody, adapt. by Joseph R. Renville.(1842) Public Domain.

A TIME FOR CHILDREN Pastor Karyn

SINGING THE CHILDREN OUT (children may leave for Sunday School if they’d like)

Go now in peace, go now in peace.

May the love of God surround you,

Everywhere, everywhere, you may go.

SCRIPTURE READING Genesis 29: 15-28 Ruth Reedy

...Then Laban said to his nephew Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah’s eyes were delicate, but Rachel was graceful and beautiful. Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.

Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. But in the evening, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.) When morning came, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” Laban said, “This is not done in our country—giving the younger before the firstborn. Complete this marital week, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.” Jacob did so and completed her week; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife.

SERMON “Crooked Lines” Pastor Karyn

SPECIAL MUSIC “Wonderful, Merciful Savior” Jenny Mandt, Sarah Ackers, Greg Dirks

Words and music by Dawn Rodgers and Eric Wyse. Published by Curb Dayspring Music. Used with permission of OneLicense.net Annual License with podcasting, No. A-727720.

Wonderful, merciful Savior

Precious redeemer and friend, who would have thought that a Lamb could

Rescue the souls of all, oh you rescue the souls of all

You are the One that we praise, you are the One we adore

You give the healing and grace our hearts always hunger for,

Oh our hearts always hunger for.

Counselor, comforter, keeper. Spirit we long to embrace

You offered hope when our hearts had hopelessly lost the way

Oh we’d hopelessly lost the way.

Almighty, infinite God. Faithfully loving your own.

Here in our weakness you find us

Calling us as your own, oh you are calling us as your own.

You are the One that we praise, you are the One we adore

You give the healing and grace our hearts always hunger for,

Oh our hearts always hunger for.

SHARING OUR PRAYERS OF JOY AND CONCERN Pastor Karyn

PASTORAL PRAYER

LORD’S PRAYER (First Nations Version, used with permission)

Today’s interpretation of the LORD’s prayer comes from the First Nations Version of the New Testament, a translation envisioned by Terry Wildman, a member of the Ojibwe and Yaqui tribes. In collaboration with 25 other tribal representatives, he set the Creator’s stories in cultural and linguistic patterns similar to those used for Native oral storytelling. Though there are many names for God among First Nations people, in this translation, God is called “Great Spirit.” And though his translation was envisioned as a gift to First Nations people, Terry Wildman said he offers it as a gift to all people with the hope they will listen closely and hear something new about Creator’s love.

O Great Spirit, our Father from above,

we honor your name as sacred and holy.

Bring your good road to us,

where the beauty of your ways in the spirit- world above

is reflected in the earth below.

Provide for us day by day–the elk, the buffalo, and the salmon.

the corn, the squash, and the wild rice.

All things we need for each day.

Release us from the things we have done wrong,

in the same way we release others from the things done wrong to us.

Guide us away from the things that tempt us to stray from your good road,

and set us free from the evil one and his worthless ways.

Aho! May it be so!

MOMENT FOR MISSION Ken Workman, of the Duwamish Tribe

INVITATION TO GENEROSITY Pastor Karyn

From July through September, our plate offering will go to support the Lavender Rights Project. The Lavender Rights Project is a Black Trans feminist organization that works at the intersection of racial justice and LGBTQ+ liberation through policy advocacy, community organizing, and wrap-around health and housing support. They want to build a world where Black and gender diverse communities can thrive. We at Fauntleroy Church hope for that world, too! Here are the ways to participate in this offering today:

· Simply place cash in the offering plate.

· If you desire privacy, put cash inside one of the envelopes marked “Lavender Rights Project” You should find these envelopes in the pew backs. If you leave the envelope unsealed, we’ll reuse it.

· Put a check in the offering plate with “Lavender Rights Project” on the memo line.

· Put a check inside a “Lavender Rights Project” envelope with or without that memo line completed (the envelope itself will now indicate your intent).

· You can also donate online at www.fauntleroyucc.org looking for the LAVENDER RIGHTS PROJECT box/button.

Any checks with incomplete memo lines that are also not inside a “Lavender Rights Project” envelope will be assumed intended for the church’s operating budget (but we prefer you indicating your intent on the memo line so we make sure your offering goes where you want it to go!) Thank you for all the ways you give, including with your annual pledges. You sustain our church, our collective impact, and our voice in this world.

OFFERTORY Mayumi Tayake

*SUNG RESPONSE

Words by Rev. Mary Luti, permission for use in worship. Tune: OLD ONE HUNDREDTH by Louis Bourgeois (1551). Public Domain.

Praise God, who made all people one,
whose healing work is never done,
who calls us steadfast to abide
in mercy at each other’s side.

*PRAYER OF DEDICATION (unison) Ruth Reedy

Loving God, we sometimes take pride in doing good things that require little of us but turn away from the needed things that challenge us like repentance and repairing and deepening relationships. We acknowledge the suffering this has caused or has allowed to continue throughout your creation. Help us set aside our pride and re-center our lives in your true and on-going healing work. Bless today’s humble gifts to those efforts, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

*CLOSING HYMN “Prayer of St. Francis”

Words and Music by Sebastian Temple (1928-97). Tune: CHANNEL OF PEACE. Dedicated to Mrs. Francis Tracy. Text: Based on the prayer traditionally ascr. to St. Francis of Assisi, 1182–1226. Text and music © 1967, OCP. All rights reserved. Used with permission through OneLicense.net Annual License including podcasting, License #A-727720

Make me a channel of your peace:

Where there is hatred, let me bring your love;

where there is injury, your healing power,

and where there’s doubt, true faith in you.

Make me a channel of your peace:

where there’s despair in life let me bring hope;

Where there is darkness, only light,

and where there’s sadness, ever joy.

O, Spirit, grant that I may never seek

so much to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace:

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

in giving to all that we receive,

and in dying that we’re born to eternal life.

*BENEDICTION Pastor Karyn

*BENEDICTION RESPONSE

POSTLUDE

OFFERING: If you did not bring an offering with you today, we invite you to give at www.fauntleroyucc.org

Thank you for considering how you can support the work of this congregation.

Leah Atkinson Bilinski, Senior Pastor

Karyn Frazier, Associate Pastor

Zachary Fitzgerald, Music Director

Mayumi Tayake, Accompanist

Sarah Ackers, Volunteer & Engagement Coordinator

Allen Lambert, Caretaker

Aimee Pinckney, Financial Assistant

Pat Gedney, Financial Assistant

Carol Gilderoy, Lead Sunday School Teacher

Carol Smith, Nursery Supervisor

Sebastian Dwyer, Nursery Assistant

Kyle Lorenzen, Office Manager & Worship Technician

Jackie Gould, Building Coordinator

Alfred Machacon, Event Coordinator

Tyler Torres, Faith Formation Coordinator

Thanks to the following volunteers, who make Sunday mornings happen:

Building Opener: Mike Goldfine

Usher Team: Pam Goldfine, Jane Leonard, Tim Richards, Darrick Wymer

Greeter: Jackie Gould, Margie Huff

Sound Tech: Mike Goldfine

Liturgist: Ruth Reedy

Nursery: Carol Smith and Sebastian Dwyer

Sunday School: Carol Gilderoy, lead, and Sue Smith, Ella Steen, Tyler Torres

Coffee Hour: Alison Wetzel

Opportunities for Engagement: Carolyn Tucker