21st Century Africana Liturgy Resources for the Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Year B

Praise and Worship Song Suggestions

• "When the Battle is Over (Don't Wait until the Battle is Over, Shout Now)" by COGIC International Mass Choir
• "Yes" by Shekinah Glory
• "Take My Life" by Micah Stampley
• "Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy," 340, United Methodist Hymnal

Opening Scripture Reading & Meditation
(Psalm 125:1-4, The Message**)
Those who trust in GOD
are like Zion Mountain:
Nothing can move it, a rock-solid mountain
you can always depend on.
Mountains encircle Jerusalem,
and GOD encircles his people ...
always has and always will.
The fist of the wicked
will never violate
What is due the righteous,
provoking wrongful violence.
Be good to your good people, GOD,
to those whose hearts are right!

***But banish those who turn to crooked ways, O Lord,
take them away with those who do evil, and let Israel have quietness and peace.

Call to Worship
One: Beloved, let us worship the Lord our God who encircles, surrounds us in this very moment. For our cries and praises reach the very heart of God. Therefore, let us cry out today as we worship in Spirit and in truth. Let us give thanks for God's goodness. The Lord is here!

All: Thanks be to God!

Opening Hymn Selections

• "I Will Trust in the Lord," 464, United Methodist Hymnal
• "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus," 462, United Methodist Hymnal

We Will Not Forget: Words of Reflection
Today, September 10, we pause to honor loved ones affected by attacks in the United States at the World Trade Center Towers in New York City and The Pentagon in Washington, D. C., on September 11, 2001. Five years after these unthinkable and malevolent acts, we gather to encourage one another, to offer God's Word of healing for God's people and God's land, and to declare that the war on terrorism is a battle that belongs to God. As we grieve lives lost to wars and learn of increasing unrest in the Middle East ?? plots to murder and maim planned throughout the world ?? we declare with unified and fervent hearts that we will not live in fear. We believe God stands with us and rescues us when we cry out in times of trouble. We stand with the psalmist in the 125th Psalm believing that "the fist of the wicked" will not prevail. We trust God's Word and live by the Spirit.

O God, continue to heal, protect, and guide your people wherever they may be in the earth, great God of Peace. Work your wonders among us, even now. Amen.

About the Author: Stacey Cole Wilson serves as the Associate Pastor of Linthicum Heights UMC in Linthicum Heights, Maryland, and is a member of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.