WESTPORT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH WORSHIP SERVICE
10TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
CELEBRATION OF HOLY COMMUNION
August 2, 2026
PRELUDE: Prelude on Hyfrydol Michael Larkin
CALL TO WORSHIP: (adapted from Danna Faulds’ poem, “Allow”)
One: There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt,
containing a tornado. Dam a
stream and it will create a new
channel. Resist, and the tide
will sweep you off your feet.
All: Allow, and grace will carry
you to higher ground. The only
safety lies in letting it all in –
the wild and the weak; fear,
fantasies, failures and success.
One: When loss rips off the doors of
the heart, or sadness veils your
vision with despair, practice
becomes simply bearing the truth.
All: In the choice to let go of your
known way of being, the whole
world is revealed to your new eyes.
OPENING HYMN: #260 Glory to God Alleluia! Sing to Jesus
UNISON CONFESSION OF OUR NEED OF GOD:
All: Gracious God, the poet warns against trying to “control” our lives.
But we don’t like feeling “out of control.”
We fear “losing control.”
So we spend lots of time, and lots of energy – “resisting.”
We are not sure how safe it is to soften our hearts – to “allow” everything in.
Help us to let go of our tight-gripped approach to life, steering it this way and that.
Help us to “let go of our known way of being” – all our familiar routines and habits.
Heal us and make us whole, so we can see the world with “new eyes.”
ASSURANCE OF GOD’S GRACE: (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)
One: If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:
everything old has passed away; see: everything has become new.
All: All this is from God, who reconciled us to God’s self through Christ,
and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
One: Believe the good news: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven and freed for new lives!
All: Thanks be to God!
SUNG RESPONSE: #437 Glory to God You Are the Lord, Giver of Mercy! (tune: Wayfaring Stranger)
Note: You will hear the melody first, then sing twice
SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST:
One: The peace of Christ be with you.
All: And also with you.
One: Let’s share the peace of Christ with one another.
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION:
One: Holy God, amidst the flood of words that barrage us daily, speak your life-giving, freedom-making Word to us, and bless us in its hearing,
All: Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING: Genesis 32:22-31
Romans 9:1-5
MESSAGE: Staying Curious Rev. Jared Witt
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
SUNG PREPARATION FOR PRAYER: #469 Glory to God Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying (Sing 1x)
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER:
All: Our Mother and 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.
CELEBRATION OF HOLY COMMUNION:
THE OFFERING OF OURSELVES/INVITATION TO GIVE:
One: All that exists is woven together as God’s beloved creation. If we have abundance, it is because God has given us abundance. Remembering God’s sustaining work in creation, the offering will now be received.
OFFERTORY SOLO: Wade in the Water Mark Hayes Emma WitbolsFeugen, soprano
PRAYER OF DEDICATION:
One: Holy God, the world and all that is within it was made at your Word. Receive then, our offerings as commitments of our intention to see the world through the eyes of your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
INVITATION TO THE TABLE
GREAT THANKSGIVING
BREAKING OF THE BREAD
COMMUNION
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION:
One: God incarnate, in these ordinary elements you have fed us with the body of the living Christ, that we might become the body of the living Christ. Increase in us faith, hope, and love, that we might be your friends, co-creators of a new world.
All: Amen.
WELCOME: News In, Around, and Beyond the Community
CLOSING HYMN: #410 Glory to God God Is Calling through the Whisper
CHARGE AND BLESSING
POSTLUDE: Come Away to the Skies (Middlebury) Michael Larkin
A WESTPORT WARM WELCOMING!
- WELCOME! MEMBERS! NEWCOMERS! FRIENDS! We are so glad you could join us for worship today! VISITORS, please take a moment to let us know you were here by picking up an attendance card (in the pews) and filling out whatever information you would like to share with us.
- WELCOME FAMILIES! NURSERY care is available in the upstairs children’s space. Parents are asked to fill out a brief registration form before church begins. (This form only needs to be filled out once). Children’s Sunday School is on break for the summer.
- HEARING ASSISTANCE DEVICES available upon request. Talk to Deanna up in the front of the sanctuary at the livestream table if you would like to use one.
MISSION & OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES:
- WESTPORT SHOWERS happens on Sunday mornings & Thursday nights. Items Needed for our CLOTHING CLOSET include: Sneakers, T-shirts, Underwear (Men’s Boxer Briefs), Socks, Women’s pants/shorts size 0-8, Men’s pants/shorts size 28-40, Bandaids, Sweatpants, Leggings, Belts, Backpacks, Body wash, Sports bras, & Washcloths.
- WESTPORT SHOWERS is looking for additional volunteers to help with Sunday mornings. With the increase in guests, we would like to have teams of 2 volunteers upstairs working together at the door and 2 downstairs working in the shower/laundry room each Sunday. You would be working with experienced volunteers who can train you in what is needed. If you would like to help, and are willing to volunteer 1 Sunday morning a month, reach out to Drew Irwin or Allison Rozga for more information.
- We are giving out lunches on Thursdays in the RESOURCE CENTER and Sundays as part of WESTPORT SHOWERS. Food donations of fruit cups, meat, cheese, peanut butter, squeeze jelly are always needed.
- NAAAP KC and some other midtown organizations will be hosting a BACKPACK GIVEAWAY on August 8. If you would like to make a financial donation to help with this project, please place cash or check made out to Westport Presbyterian in a pew envelope and mark it “School Supplies” by Sunday, Aug. 2. Or you can give on our website through Tithely (Select Mission Giving as the fund and put School Supplies in the memo line.) We will donate all funds collected to help with this effort.
INREACH & OUTREACH IN THE COMING WEEK: (All Events are at the Church, 201 Westport Rd – unless noted)
- Tonight, Aug. 2 6:00 p.m. Taizé Service is CANCELLED
- Monday, Aug. 3 8:35 a.m. Voting Equipment Delivered (Fellowship Room)
6:30 p.m. Men’s AA Meeting (Fellowship Room)
7:30 p.m. Boy Scout Troop 60 (Westport Rising Room) - Tuesday, Aug. 4 6:00 a.m. -7:00 p.m. ELECTION DAY – Polls Open (Fellowship Room)
4:30 p.m. Centering Prayer and Silence – 20 min (Chapel)
5:15 p.m. Session Meeting (Fellowship Room) - Thursday, Aug. 6 9:15 a.m. Voting Equipment Picked Up (Fellowship Room)
11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Resource Center Open & Sack Lunches Distributed (Fellowship Room)
5:30 p.m. Westport Showers – For Women, Trans, & Gender Non-conforming people (Basement) - Saturday, Aug. 8 8:30 a.m. Private Rental – Meeting (Living Room/Library)
9:00 a.m. Heart of Westport Neighborhood Association Mtg (Westport Rising Room)
10:00 a.m.-4:00 NAAAP Back to School Backpack Giveaway (Fellowship Room) - Sunday, Aug. 9 8-9:30 a.m. Westport Showers (Fellowship Room & Basement)
10:00 a.m. Book Discussion Group
11:00 a.m. Service of the Lord’s Day (Sanctuary)
Nursery Care (Upstairs Children’s Room)
After Church Potluck – Emily’s Last Sunday (Fellowship Room)
August 4 Election Information for KC Residents
- AMENDMENT 1 – DNR SALES TAX RENEWAL
Reauthorizes for another 10 years an existing one-tenth of 1% statewide sales/ use tax for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The tax generates roughly $140 million annually, dedicated for soil and water conservation programs and for the operation and maintenance of state parks and historical sites. Voters have overwhelmingly approved it every time, support hitting almost 80 percent the last time. Soil and water conservation programs combat soil erosion and contamination of water supplies, and are entirely funded by this sales tax. The state parks system derives 75 percent of its funding from this tax. If not renewed, lawmakers would have to fund these programs and the state parks system out of general revenue, leaving less money for other state services, such as education, health care and public safety. - AMENDMENT 2 – JACKSON COUNTY ASSESSOR
Would remove from the Missouri Constitution the requirement that Jackson County have an elected – not appointed – county assessor. The issue is largely moot since Jackson County voters approved a county charter change last year. On Nov. 4, 2025, Amendment 2 was rendered unnecessary by approving a county charter amendment mandating the switch to an elected county assessor. Amendment 2 simply deletes the constitutional exemption and adds the mandate that county assessors “comply with all training provisions required by law.” - AMENDMENT 4 – INITIATIVE PETITIONS
Would effectively eliminate the initiative petition process to change the Missouri Constitution by setting an impossibly high bar for voter ratification of future constitutional amendments proposed by petition. Currently, ratifying an amendment to the Missouri Constitution has always required a simple majority of the statewide vote cast, for both legislative and citizen initiative petition amendments. Amendment 4 retains the simple statewide majority requirement for the legislature, but requires citizen initiative petitions to win majorities in all of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. Failure to pass in a single district would result in a measure being rejected. Mathematically a measure could win 95 percent of the statewide vote but narrowly fail in a single congressional district, resulting in just 5 percent of voters vetoing the wishes of an overwhelming majority. - AMENDMENT 5 – SALES TAX EXPANSION
Would override 3 existing constitutional amendments that protect voters – including bans on taxing services or real estate transactions and a requirement that voters must approve any major tax hike – and authorize state lawmakers to significantly expand sales and use taxes on “any goods and services.” The revenue generated by these taxes would be used to gradually reduce, and ultimately eliminate, the state’s individual income tax, which currently provides about two-thirds of state general revenue (approximately 64%) . The wealthiest 20 percent of Missouri taxpayers would enjoy a net tax cut, the remaining 80 percent would experience an overall tax increase as the minimal savings low- and middle-income taxpayers would receive from eliminating the income tax would be exceeded by the increased sales taxes they would pay(Missouri Budget Project).This tax shift would hit senior citizens especially hard as Social Security benefits are already exempt from the state income tax. Those who rely on Social Security as their primary source of income would receive no benefit from eliminating the tax, and would pay a much larger share of their income in taxes than they currently do. Exactly how high taxes would increase is unclear, as Amendment 5 leaves it to future lawmakers to make those decisions in yet-to-be-drafted legislation. To make up this revenue reduction, state and local taxes a together could hit 20 percent in some places. Amendment 5 also disallows the Missouri legislature to reinstate the state income tax in the future if this tax shift fails. The only way to bring it back would be through a Citizens Iniative Petition and if Amendent 4 passes, this avenue would be closed.
for “fair ballot language”https://www.sos.mo.gov/petitions/2026BallotMeasures.
There are also primaries on this election for US Representative, Jackson County Executive, and Jackson County legislators. The winners will be on the ballot in November. For candidate forum videos by the League, go to You Tube and type in LWVKC.org, then scroll down until you find the 2026, August 4th videos. You can also find them on LWVKC.org (website).
Jackson County (Outside Kansas City) Kansas City
https://jcebmo.org/ (816) 325-4600 https://www.kceb.org/ (816) 842-4820
Check your registration, your polling place, and what district you are now in.
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