WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY
CELEBRATION OF HOLY COMMUNION (and holy community)
Westport Presbyterian Church—“The Phoenix Is Rising!”
October 2, 2022 11:00 am
(Video will be posted LIVE on the church’s FB page at 11am and then cross-posted here. If the video doesn’t load properly here, you should be able to click on the Watch on Facebook link and watch as a guest)
PRELUDE: Chanson d’automne—Stephen Reynolds; From TROIS POÈMES en hommage à Gabriel Fauré
RESPONSIVE CALL TO RENEW OUR SOULS
Leader: The 23rd Psalmist said, “My cup overflows. “ As we watch this cup overflow, let meditate on how, in our own lives, our cups overflow……
People: The joy of loving another human being.”
Leader: The joy of loving and being loved by one of the earth’s four leggeds”
People: When I realized I was going to recover from some illness, injury, surgery, trauma, treatment…..”
Leader: When we won a long struggle for justice and freedom!
People: When the war ended!
Leader: When I realized what I wanted to do, really, with my life.”
People: When I had fallen, and somebody picked me up.
Leader: When we were lost and Jesus found us.
People: We praise the Living God!
HYMN: Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ GTG#526
UNISON PRAYER OF CONFESSION AND COMMITMENT
O God, help me. I am slow to learn, prone to forget, weak to climb; I am in the foothills when I should be on the heights; I am pained by my graceless heart, my prayerless days, my poverty of love, my lack of endurance in the heavenly race, my doubtful conscience, my wasted hours, my unspent opportunities. I am blind while the light shines around me. grind to dust my heart of unbelief. Make it my highest joy to study You, meditate on You, sit like Mary at Your feet, lean like John on Your breast, appeal like Peter to Your love. I believe, Lord, help my unbelief. Amen.
HYMN: Be Known to Us in Breaking Bread GTG#500
BIBLE READINGS 1 Corinthians 10:16 1 Corinthians 11:28 Matthew 26:28 1 Corinthians 11:26 John 6:51
SOLO: By the Waters of Babylon, op. 99 no. 7—Antonin Dvorák; Sung in Czech by Paul Davidson
PRAYER BEFORE SERMON
Leaders : May the words of my mouth
People : And the meditations of our hearts
All : Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen
MEDITATION: A Holy Communion Message
HYMN: Let Us Break Bread Together GTG#525
SERVICE OF HOLY COMMUNION
Pastor: Let’s gather around this planet friendly, holy table, With holy bread & drink
People: The promise of Christ being alive among us
Pastor: This is the welcome table of God where all who intend to experience the non-physical spiritual dimension of life
People: And live in relationships of freedom and peace with neighbors!
Pastor: Hunger no more! Come to eat! Here, all who longs for otherwise elusive grace
People: May enjoy the strong love of God in Jesus Christ.
Pastor: Here you are embraced and held by Self Giving Love!—
People: One of God’s great and holy names!
Pastor: Come to drink, you are invited into this holy mystery.
People: We are ready!
Pastor: Jesus said: “I am the bread of life. All who come to me shall not hunger, and all who believe in me shall never be thirsty.”
People: We are hungry for Your Love, O God, We are thirsty for Your Deep Peace, O Lamb of God. We come seeking an unusual gift— an experience of wonder and joy.
Pastor: Come, Holy Spirit. Come. Open our eyes to the mystery of The living Christ’s presence in our midst. Through the broken bread…
People: We are becoming the Body of Christ—
Pastor: Whom we named Pat after our fire—a name crossing genders.
People: We celebrate the new life Christ gives us.
Pastor: Now Pat has a new life, Pat is a new person, as a particular Body of Christ.
People: Let us praise and pray to God by singing an African hymn!
CONGREGATIONAL SUNG PRAYER: Come, Bring Your Burdens to God GTG#851
Pastor: Lift up names of people we wish to pray for, concluding with The Lord’s Prayer…
BREAKING AND SHARING OF THE BREAD
POURING AND SHARING OF THE WINE (We will take both bread and wine together rather than separately as we used to do. You may briefly unmask.)
Pastor: The Grace, Peace, Love and Joy of Jesus Christ be with you.
People: And also with you.
Pastor: Let us pray…..
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING: Gracious and loving God, You have united us into a body of Christ, And nourished us at Your table with holy food and drink. Thank you for feeding our hunger and relieving our thirst. Now send us into the world to do the great work You have called us to do; To find the lost and lonely! To heal wounded souls! To free people, including ourselves, who are not at all free! To give compassion to the vulnerable and marginalized! To love Beauty, the Planet and Sky, To persist in resisting evil, and to share by what we say and doThe Message of Jesus Christ!—Who is The Light in the World. Amen.
HYMN: In the Singing GTG#533
WELCOMING
OFFERTORY: Softly and Tenderly—Will Thompson, arr. Hugh Alexander Joshua Stark,baritone
Offering link
RESPONSIVE PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Leader: Confrontation is not bad.
People: Goodness is supposed to confront evil.
Leader: The best thing we can doPeople: Is be a dedicated servant of God. Leader: It does good to stand up and serve others.
People: We will no longer stand back while the future beckons us on!
Leader: The eyes of the world have been focused on us,
People: And somehow we are led to dedicate ourselves to this idea—
Leader: That racial segregation will end in this country.
People: We are a fire you cannot put out. Amen.
—Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, founder, Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights—Co-founder with Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, Bayard Rustin (pioneering Black gay rights leader) and Rev. Dr. Ralph Abernathy—of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference(SCLC)
HYMN: Somebody’s Knockin’ At Your Door GTG#728
BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE: Thy Strong Word (tune: EBENEZER)—Sandra Eithun
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. We need water again, chips, lunch meat.
Please consider signing the MORE2 statement of support on the book table at the back of the sanctuary. This statement 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 and promotions to higher office, 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 here.
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