Click Here to see our Vacation Bible School Pictures from this year. https://presbyship.org/vacation-bible-s…ol-pictures-2026/
This week, we continue the “Summer Settings” sermon series back to the Old Testament in the book of Jonah. As we begin, in creation, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. God separated land and sea and filled both with life, and God included “the fish in the sea” among the things over which He commanded people to rule. Granted, that was all before the Fall of Adam and Eve, and things were a bit different back then.
After God’s creation became something to fear rather than merely something to steward and name, large bodies of water were a strong candidate for the scariest feature on the earth’s surface. This was especially true of the wide, untamed sea. Even though God promised Abram that his descendants would be more numerous than the sands of the seashore, God consistently led Abram and those descendants to hills and mountains, perhaps most notably in the Exodus, when the seaside route to the Promised Land was easiest, but God took them inland. All of these factors lead us to Jonah, whose story is the focus of today’s sermon. We may go to the beach to escape and get away from it all, but Jonah literally went to the beach to do both. We see God telling Jonah to go to Nineveh and deliver a message, but Jonah did not like the Ninevites. Not only did he not want to deliver the message, but he also did not want to give the Ninevites a chance to receive God’s grace. Filled with scorn, Jonah heads to Joppa, where he finds a ship going to Tarshish, essentially to escape the presence of the Lord.
tune into this week’s sermon to learn more.
Sunday School: 9:00 am
Worship Service: 10:30 am
Summer Settings Sermon Series
The Lord Prepared a Great Fish
August 9, 2026
Pastor Gary Rebok
For over two centuries The Presbyterian Church Shippensburg has been serving Jesus Christ in both the social and spiritual needs of the community of Shippensburg, PA. We are a congregation within the Presbyterian denomination of ECO: A Covenant Order of Presbyterians, whose purpose is to witness in love the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord and the one true redeeming and healing presence in the world today. Through the presence of the Holy Spirit, Presbyterian Church Shippensburg is a loving and committed church family where God’s Word is preached, faith is grown, relationships are built, and Christ’s work continues.
Upcoming Events
Sunday Morning Small Group
July 12, 2026
9:00am