IN PERSON AND LIVESTREAM WORSHIP SERVICE – A Service to Souls!
Westport Presbyterian Church—“The Phoenix Is Rising!”
September 18, 2022 11:00 am
PRELUDE: Voluntary for Organ—Charles Zeuner (1795-1857)
CALL TO RETURN TO OUR SOULS:
Pastor: Glory be to God for dappled things –
People: For skies of couple-colour as a brindled cow;
Pastor: For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
People: Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls, finches’ wings;
Pastor: Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
People: And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.
Pastor: All things counter, original, spare, strange;
People: Whatever is fickle, freckled—
Pastor: (Who knows how?)
People: With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
Pastor: You, father/mother—forth whose beauty is past change:
Pastor: We Praise You.
-adapted from Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins
HYMN (Please stand if you wish): Bring Forth the Kingdom Sing the Faith #2190
CALL TO CONFESSION AND COMMITMENT (Please be seated):
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
SUNG PRAISE TO GOD FOR POWER AND HEALING GRACE: Jesus, We Are Here (English & Shona) Glory to God #392
BIBLE READINGS: Psalm 71:17-22, Mark 9:14-29
PRAYER BEFORE SERMON:
Leader: May the words of my mouth.
People: And the meditations of our hearts.
Leader: Be acceptable to You,
People: Our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
ANTHEM: A Different Season—text: Shirley Erena Murray, music: Alfred Fedak
SERMON: The Serenity Prayer
HYMN (Please stand if you wish): Amazing Grace Glory to God #649
WELCOMING
MATTHEW 25 PRAYER, LORD PRAYER
CONGREGATIONAL SUNG RESPONSE: Come, Bring Your Burdens to God (sing twice) Glory to God #851
OFFERTORY: Migratory V (from Myths and Hymns)—words and music by Adam Guettel
Luke Gilmore, tenor
RESPONSIVE PRAYER OF DEDICATION:
Pastor: It is certain that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have. (James Baldwin)
People: Hate is a wasteful emotion. Most of the people you hate don’t know you hate them. And the rest don’t care. (Medgar Evers, voting rights leader, 20th century martyr)
Pastor: No one can build the bridge upon which you and only you must walk across the river of life. (Friedrich Nietszche)
People: I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger, because I knew— Slavery is the next thing to hell. (Harriet Tubman)
Pastor: Never forget where you come from, And always praise the bridges that have carried you over. (Fannie Lou Hamer)
People: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (Jesus of Nazareth)
HYMN (Please Stand if you Wish): We Are Marching in the Light of God (marching, dancing, praying, singing, Siyahamba) Glory to God #853
BENEDICTION
SUNG BENEDICTION RESPONSE: Lead Me, Guide Me (refrain, sing twice) Glory to God #740
POSTLUDE: In Christ There Is No East or West (MCKEE)—Anna Laura Page
CHURCH AND COMMUNITY NEWS:
*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.
*Wednesday ZOOM Bible Study is this Wednesday, 6:30 pm. Ask Rev Scott for the ZOOM invitation. We are studying the Gospel of Mark 4:1-20. A spiritual experience!
*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. #GoodTroubleKC. Stan Morgan, Rev Scott, Marian Thomas, Karen Daniels (niece of pioneering Black police chief in KCK), John Simpson (retired attorney, leader of Social Justice Committee of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church), 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 (An unfunded mandate, government over reach). We are NOT for Defund. We are FOR REFORM, eg More Black and Brown police officers, equity audit process to begin ending White Supremacy culture in KCPD, police union support for Common Sense Gun Reform and ban on assault weapons sales.
*Memorial Service for Fred Culver, Saturday, Oct. 8, 1:00 pm in the church Sanctuary.
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