Home Equipping Leaders African American 21st Century Africana Worship Resources for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost, Year A

21st Century Africana Worship Resources for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost, Year A

Gathering Call
Leader: Lord, nobody told us that the road would be easy.
People: But we don't believe you brought us this far to leave us.

Leader: Lord, nobody told us headaches and heartaches wouldn't come.
People: But we don't believe you brought us this far to leave us.

Leader: Lord, nobody told us we wouldn't study long and sometimes study wrong.
People: But we don't believe you brought us this far to leave us.

Leader: Lord, nobody told us we would mistake your voice for the voice of the Evil One.
People: But we don't believe you brought us this far to leave us.

Leader: Lord, nobody told us our kindness would be taken for weakness.
People: But we don't believe you brought us this far to leave us.

Leader: Lord, you told us you'd never leave us, so you sent us Jesus Christ. Through Jesus we experience Your Presence and Your Deliverance.

People: And so, Lord, we praise you and thank you for giving us Jesus! He righted our wrongs and showed us how to right them. We knew you didn't bring us this far to leave us. Praise the Lord! Praise Jesus Christ!

Opening Hymn: "I Don't Feel No Ways Tired," 175, Songs of Zion

Morning Prayer
God, let us count the ways you never leave us. Your Light of Day greeted us this morning. Your Smell of Life filled our nostrils with the crisp, chilly air of a new day. Your Sounds of Attentiveness whispered softly in our ears this morning the melody of gently crackling leaves. These are among the Good Morning gifts we thank you for. You have given us another day in Your Precious Presence.

Come what may this day: angry traffic, angry words, paved roads, paved ways, we will praise your Holy Name! And so we greet you this day with shouts of joy and thanksgiving. Amen.

OR

Gathering Call
Leader: How many of you feel, sometimes, that The Wrong is just too strong for you to handle, and you sink into deep despair and sleepless nights? Or that we fight Wrong with rage? Unable to pull in our anger, we spew it on those who wronged us. If this is you, just bow your head. My head is bowed.

(People's Response: Bow your head)

Leader: How many of us have tried our best and have gotten nowhere fast? Then, we decided to "let go" and let the Lord fight our battles? If this is you, just raise your right hand and say, "Amen!" (Leader raises his/her right hand and says "Amen!")

(People's Response: Rraise right hand and say, "Amen")

Leader: How many of you come here today to witness to the fact that God never leaves us alone? that because of Jesus, we still have favor with God? So we'll go where God tells us to go and do what God tells us to do. If this is you, just raise your left hand and say, "We thank you, Lord Jesus. We praise you Lord Jesus!" (Leader raises his/her left hand…)

(People's Response: Raise left hand and say, "We thank you, Lord Jesus. We praise you Lord Jesus!")

Leader: How many of you come here today, believing that you can fly, knowing that because of Jesus, we can soar. If this is you, raise your hands to a Mighty Good God and say, "Hallelujah!" (Leader does the same.)

Music and Liturgical Dance:
"I Believe I Can Fly" as sung by Yolanda Adams on her compact disc The Experience.

(An easy to use sacred dance resource with step-by-step illustrations is Dancing Through the Christian Calendar by Sylvia B. Bryant, nationally known African American liturgical dance artist who danced for the Festival 2000 Bicentennial Program at the 1984 General Conference in Baltimore.)

Psalm 107:8-14, 21-22
or Psalm 107:1-9M 33-43 (UMH 830)
For alternate sung response, substitute "O Give Thanks Unto the Lord"

For additional resources for October 30, 2005, see Worship Planning Helps, Preaching Helps, and Lectionary Hymns for October 30, 2005.

About the Author: Sherrie Dobbs Johnson is the pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Brooklyn, NY

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