IN PERSON AND LIVESTREAM WORSHIP SERVICE – A Service to Souls!
Westport Presbyterian Church—“The Phoenix Is Rising!”
September 11, 2022 11:00 am
“Anniversary of 9/11 Terrorist Attacks” (9:46 am, Sept. 11, 2001)
PRELUDE: Kelvingrove—Charles Callahan
RESPONSIVE CALL TO RENEW OUR SOULS-Bishop Desmond Tutu and teh Dali Llama
Pastor: It is through weakness and vulnerability
that we learn empathy and compassion—
People: And discover our souls.
Pastor: Under the greatest adversity
there exists the greatest potential for doing good,
People: Both for oneself and others.
Pastor: The quality of human life on our planet is nothing more
than the sum total of our daily interactions with one another.
People: Each time we help, or harm,
we have a dramatic impact on our world.
Pastor: There comes a time when we need to stop
just pulling people out of the river.
People: We need to dedicate ourselves to going upstream
Pastor: And find out why they are falling in.
People: Compassion is the radicalism of our time.
HYMN: Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah Glory to God #65
CALL TO CONFESSION AND COMMITMENT:
Pastor: With Gandhi, we confess the 7 deadly, modern sins, what he later said are “the seven blunders that human society commits, and that cause all the violence.”
ALL: Wealth without work.
Pleasure without conscience.
Science without humanity.
Knowledge without character.
Politics without principle.
Commerce without morality.
Worship without sacrifice.
—Mahatma Gandhi, India
RING GONG 3 TIMES, WHILE SILENTLY PRAYING FOR POWER TO END EXTREMIST TERRORISM AND HONORING THOSE WHO HAVE GIVEN AND LOST THEIR LIVES IN THIS CAUSE—From the 9/11 attacks to the Nice, France Truck Attack, from the Boston Marathon and Pulse Nightclub attacks to the Oklahoma City Bombing and the Tulsa Black Wall Street Massacre.
SUNG PRAISE TO GOD FOR POWER AND HEALING GRACE: Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace Sing the Faith #2171
BIBLE READINGS: Psalm 121, Luke 15:1-10
PRAYER BEFORE SERMON:
Leader: May the words of my mouth.
People: And the meditations of our hearts.
All: Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen
SERMON: A Faith Driven Response to Extremism
HYMN: Wounded World That Cries for Healing Sing the Faith #2177
WELCOMING
ANTHEM: Even when God Is Silent—Sumner Jenkins
MATTHEW 25 PRAYER, LORD PRAYER
CONGREGATIONAL SUNG RESPONSE: Come, Bring Your Burdens to God (sing twice) Glory to God #851
OFFERTORY: His Eye Is on the Sparrow—Charles H. Gabriel
Jennifer Weiman, mezzo soprano
UNISON PRAYER OF DEDICATION: (read words in bold, not words in parentheses)
May we know the honor of being a human being. (Jake Swamp, Haudenosaunee/Iroquois)
May we share the honor of being a human being. Let us unite a frightened world by acts of kindness.(early pandemic, viral social media post)
Hate has no home here. (a 9 year old Muslim child wrote these words on a sign for a protest at Chicago’s airport when the January 27, 2017 travel ban from Muslim countries was announced)
Let hate have no home where you are.
Love your enemies. (Jesus)
Replace apathy with curiosity! Violence with community. (Fred Culver) May our capacity for God be reborn.
Never forget—
What you give, you have. (Roman soldier)
Amen.
HYMN: We Shall Overcome (stanzas 1-4) Glory to God #379
BENEDICTION
SUNG BENEDICTION RESPONSE: We Shall Overcome (stanza 5) Glory to God #379
POSTLUDE: Vivement (from PIECES DES CLAVECIN, 1717)—François Couperin
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
*Thanks to everyone making Westport Showers happen on Sunday and Thursday and Westport Weekday Food Refuge every weekday. We are grateful for your support, and we praise God for your faithfulness.
*Please consider signing the MORE2 petition on the book table at the back of the sanctuary. This petition calls for local control of the Kansas City Police Department. Stan Morgan, Rev Scott, Marian Thomas, Karen Daniels (niece of pioneering Black police chief in KCK) and several others from the ACLU and St. Mary’s Episcopal Church downtown are working for local control and we are also working with the Urban League on a campaign to Vote NO on the statewide measure that would compel cities to spend 25% on the police budget. We are NOT for Defund. We are FOR REFORM. #GoodTroubleKC.
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