Welcome to Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church 

Where the love of Christ builds a harbor of acceptance, inspiration, 

Fellowship, service and joy. 

You enrich our worship with your presence. 

"When we say welcome we mean it!"

It is not possible to pass the collection plate at our live home church.

  We do need your contributions.  Please send your check, made out to Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church to:

Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church

c/o Monty Rice

1298 Warren Rd.

Cambria, CA 93428

 If this is your first time here, WELCOME. 

If you have a prayer request, please send to:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church-PCUSA 

2700 Eton Rd. • Cambria, CA 93428 

Call or text 805.395.1521 

Info: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. website: www.safeharborcambria.org 

The Gathering 

At the tolling of the bell, please quietly prepare your heart for worship. 

Meditation Music Deborah Farrand 

Welcome and Announcements 

Call to Worship (In unison) 

Those of us who gather now, remember this. Our faith is like a mustard seed, though small when it is sown on the ground, becomes a great shrub with large branches. We plant and nourish our faith each time we hear the word, and give praise. We come to cultivate our faith now as we worship Father, Son and 

Holy Spirit. 

Prayer of Adoration (In unison) 

Holy and Almighty God, you are the source of our every blessing. You are the creator of love. You give us light for our way and Christ for our soul. You gather us in and hold us forever. We praise and adore you. Make us your own. Amen. 

Hymn of Praise # 401 Here in This Place 

Prayer of Confession 

(In unison) God of Mercy, we wonder-if we come to the Shepherd’s Gate, or before the Judgment seat, how will you see our lives? Dare we engage you with our uncer-tainties? Can we bring our doubts and fears into your presence? May we lament? Can we share our disappointments? Do you come to us with, or in, our discomfort? Silently now, we offer our concerns about the questions and the diligence of our faith... 

(In unison) Lord, help us to actively seek and discern Your will. Help us to share our every thought and every moment with you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. 

Assurance of Pardon New Creations in Christ 

The Sharing of the Peace 

The Word 

Hymn of Preparation #452 Open the Eyes of My Heart 

Leader: Listen for the Word of God. 

People: Our ears are open and our hearts are ready to receive. 

Scripture: Genesis 32:22-31 

Leader: The Word of the Lord. 

People: Thanks be to God. 

Sermon: Night Flight Rev. Eugenia Gamble 

Hymn of Response # 738 Somebody’s Knocking at Your Door 

The Prayers 

Call to Prayer: Hymn # 466 Come and Fill Our Hearts with Your Peace 

Prayers of the People 

The Lord’s Prayer 

Response to Prayer # 710 We Are an Offering 

Prayer of Dedication 

The Sending 

† Hymn of Parting # 837 What a Fellowship, What a Joy Divine 

† Charge and Benediction 

Musical Response Go With Us, Lord 

Go with us, Lord, and guide the way, through this and every coming day; 

That in your Spirit strong and true, our lives may be our gift to you. 

CURRENT PRAYER LIST 

Members of our community that are lonely, hungry and sick.

If you would like to support the work of Safe Harbor Church financially: 

Tax deductible checks may be made to Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church. 

During our period of isolation, please mail checks to: 

Monty Rice 1298 Warren Road Cambria CA 93428 

WHEN WE SAY “ WELCOME! ”, WE MEAN IT! 

Jacob Wrestles with God………….Genesis 32:22-31………...June 13, 2021 

Genesis 32:22The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 

24Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” 27So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” 29Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” 31The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 

Background: Jacob, fleeing his brother Esau who has threatened to kill him, went to hide out with his uncle Laban in Haran. There he worked for his uncle and married Leah and Rachel. All during this time Laban is growing more and more wealthy. For reasons not given in Scripture, Jacob perceives that Laban does not look on him with the favor that he once did. It probably had to do with the fact that Jacob was skimming Laban’s wealth for himself and Laban’s sons were becoming restless. In any case, God tells Jacob that he should go home. So after an elaborate rationalization, Jacob gets his wives and a fair amount of his father-in-law’s livestock and takes off for the land of promise. While Laban is out shearing his sheep, Rachel steals her father’s household gods (small bronze statues considered to have great power) and she, Leah, Jacob and the children leave in secret. On the way Laban catches up with them and after some unpleasantness and some guile on the part of Rachel, the two men make an uneasy covenant and part. 

We pick up the story today as Jacob prepares to face his brother Esau. He has sent his family and flocks ahead of him across the river and he is alone with his thoughts, his memories and his fears. 

Word Study 

Vs. 22 – night – has special symbolic meaning here. Jacob is alone, vulnerable and unaware. 

Jabbok – an eastern tributary of the Jordan, about 20 miles from the Dead Sea. This would have been an outpost of the Promised Land. 

Vs. 24 – a man – any number of interpretations are possible here. Is this a Caananite demon? Is this Esau himself? Is it an angel? One scholar says that this is a text with “great spaciousness”. What is clear as the story unfolds, is that this wrestler/assailant is God in human form. Martin Luther goes so far as to say that 

the wrestler is the “Pre-incarnate Christ”. However we make sense of this strange usage, the point is that God is dealing directly and personally with Jacob! 

Vs. 25 – hip – this body part is very unclear. It could be that what is injured is Jacob’s vital organs. Whatever those ancient words meant, what is clear is that this attack has profound, lasting consequences that affected not only his spiritual, but also his physical life. It was a humbling reminder that God is God. Period. 

Vs. 26 – day is breaking – why did God choose to end the struggle with the crippling of Jacob? Many reasons can be imagined. The one given is that daybreak was coming. In the ancient world the belief was that if a human being saw God face to face, that person would die immediately. God was too grand and too holy to view. God would not allow the struggle to continue to the point in which Jacob’s life was threatened. 

I will not let you go until you bless me – By now Jacob has grasped that the “foe” is God. He is no longer wrestling. Now he is clinging. He will not let go of God until he receives the blessing, thus legitimizing the blessing he received by deceit from his father. 

Vs. 27 – What is your name? – a name contained a person’s entire identity. God was asking Jacob to tell him the whole truth about himself, to reveal his whole nature. 

Vs. 28 – Israel – God gives Jacob a new name, Israel. It is in the struggle with God, that Israel is formed. It is in the dynamic interchange with God that Israel’s character is sealed. 

Vs. 29 – please tell me your name – this question is placed respectfully, but is still inappropriate and so goes unanswered. Humankind will never know all that there is of God, God’s whole nature. God will always be part mystery. And God will not lay that mystery aside. Nor will God allow Jacob/Israel to have that kind of power over God. 

Vs. 31 – limping – Jacob’s limp is a sign of both humility and glory. He can never best God. Trying to do so has its price. But he and God have struggled together. He has been changed by that struggle. The limp is a reminder of that intimacy. 

Questions for Personal Reflection 

1. Have you ever had a night of wrestling with God? What was going on? Were you trying to make sense of something? Were you trying to make peace with something or someone? Did you realize it was God who had you in that uncomfortable embrace? 

2. There are many times in the Bible when God appears as a stranger. How do you usually respond to strangers? Have you ever received a blessing from a stranger? 

3. Blessing comes in many ways. How have you experienced blessing after times of turmoil or unexpected opposition?