PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH WORSHIP SERVICE
9TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
July 26, 2026
PRELUDE: Wade in the Water setting by Chris Nole
CALL TO WORSHIP: (from Psalm 119)
One: The decrees of the Lord are wonderful,
All: The unfolding of God’s word gives light and understanding.
One: Turn to us, O God, and be gracious to us.
All: Make your face shine upon your servants.
One: We come together to worship the living God.
*OPENING HYMN (You may rise in Body or Spirit): #619 Glory to God Praise, My Soul, the God of Heaven
UNISON CONFESSION OF OUR NEED OF GOD:
All: God of grace, we want to understand what the kingdom of heaven is like,
but we are easily distracted by the cares and concerns of the world.
We overlook your power, hidden in all things.
We fail to watch for you, working out your purposes in mysterious ways.
We are less than whole-hearted in our faith and discipleship.
We put our trust in small comforts rather than the satisfying way of Jesus.
Gracious God, hidden and manifest, help us to feel and experience the good news.
Transform our lives and our world by your grace.
ASSURANCE OF GOD’S GRACE:
One: Friends, listen to this good news; the empires of this world will rise and fall, but the mercy of the Lord will never end.
All: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, thanks be to God.
SUNG RESPONSE: #623 Glory to God I’ve Got Peace Like a River (verse 1)
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: Inspire us by your Holy Spirit that the words we read on the page might become living words in our hearts and lives as we encounter the grace, love and peace of
Jesus Christ.
All: Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING: Genesis 29:15-28
One: May God bless the reading of Holy Scripture.
All: Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE: The Odyssey (4): Borrow and Bend: Rev. Dr. Jared Witt
Stories We Listen To and Live By
MOMENT FOR SILENT REFLECTION
*CONGREGATIONAL HYMN (You may rise in Body or Spirit):
#701 Glory to God Lord, Prepare Me
WELCOME: News In, Around, and Beyond the Community
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.
THE OFFERING OF OURSELVES/INVITATION TO GIVE:
One: Out of gratitude for all that God has provided for us and with hope that God’s new realm will grow and flourish in this world, we bring our tithes and offerings for God’s work among us in this time and place.
OFFERTORY: God of the Sparrow Carl Schalk
Emma WitbolsFeugen, voice and guitar
PRAYER OF DEDICATION:
One: We give you thanks, O God, for the many blessings of being your beloved childrenyou’re your realm of love grows quietly like a small seed unfolding into fullness, bless our tithes, gifts and offerings, and bless us that we might be ever
more faithful in your work of reconciliation, love and joy.
All: Amen.
CLOSING HYMN (You may rise in Body or Spirit): #702 Glory to God Christ Be Beside Me
CHARGE AND BLESSING
POSTLUDE: The Quiet Journey Thomas Keesecker
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.
INREACH & OUTREACH IN THE COMING WEEK: (All Events are at the Church, 201 Westport Rd – unless noted)
- Today, Jul. 26 2:00 p.m. Boy Scouts Eagle Court of Honor (Sanctuary)
4:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. WCA Disability Pride Event: ADA Anniversary Celebration (Chapel & Fellowship Room) - Monday, Jul. 27 6:30 p.m. Men’s AA Meeting (Fellowship Room)
7:30 p.m. Boy Scout Troop 60 (Westport Rising Room) - Tuesday, Jul. 28 4:30 p.m. Centering Prayer and Silence – 20 min (Chapel)
- Wednesday, Jul. 29 6:30 p.m. Stewardship Committee Meeting (Zoom)
- Thursday, Jul. 30 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)
6-7 p.m. WCA Disability Pride Event: Resilient Meditation – Chronic Pain-Informed (Chapel) - Saturday, Aug. 1 8:30 a.m. Private Rental – Meeting (Living Room/Library)
7:00 p.m. KC English Dance (Westport Rising Room) - Sunday, Aug. 2 6:30-9:00 a.m. Westport Showers (Fellowship Room & Basement)
Connection Hour Small Group: 10:00 a.m. Book Discussion Group
11:00 a.m. Service of the Lord’s Day (Sanctuary)
Nursery Care (Upstairs Children’s Room)
5:00 p.m. Community Potluck Dinner (Fellowship Room)
6:00 p.m. Taizé Service (Sanctuary)
LOOKING AHEAD:
- Tuesday, Aug. 4 6:00 a.m. ELECTION DAY – Polls Open (Fellowship Room)
-7:00 p.m.
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).
Find out where you can vote early and what’s on your ballot.
Jackson County (Outside Kansas City)
https://jcebmo.org/ (816) 325-4600
Kansas City
https://www.kceb.org/ 816) 842-4820
Check your registration, your polling place, and what district you are now in.
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