JESUS AND WOMEN
(March is Women’s History Month)

MUSIC & WORSHP RESOURCES

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Pamela Jean Davis, Guest Lectionary Liturgist
Director of Worship Arts, Fountain of Praise Church, Houston, TX

Worship Planning Notes

Women are and always have been special to the Savior. On this Sunday, instill in women that they matter to Christ, to the church, and to the world. Without the presence and labor of women, all churches would close.

The practices and policies of churches speak loudly to women about whether they matter. Sexist church practices, including those practiced by women against women, lessen the belief by women that they matter to Christ and in the world. The church must not perpetuate such thinking.

This is not a worship service for Women’s Day, which is an important annual celebration. Instead on this Sunday, women, those with and without church positions, are to be nurtured and encouraged in their relationship with Christ, in their personal lives, in their service to humanity, and in their service to the Church. Following are some way to do this:

• Make the service women-friendly. Let women lead in carrying out the service if that is their preference.
• Have women participate in the planning of the worship service.
• Display pictures of women in the church (young and old) on screens throughout the service.
• Gather all women of the church during altar prayer and have a special time of consecration.
• Three weeks prior to this service during Bible Study (including Bible study for teen girls) and Sunday School, include books and films for and about women.

1. Litany

Black Women

Today, O Lord, we honor black women—carriers and cultivators of culture. In a lush African garden, your hands fashioned her as Mother of Creation. Bless her now as she continues to pass culture on to future generations.

Thank you for black women, Lord. Their descendents have blessed the earth.

We remember some of the African queens: Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, Makeda, Nzingha, and Yaa Asantewa. Through the centuries they grew in wisdom and strength. Fertile minds were formed at their knee. They nurtured kingdoms as queen rulers of mighty nations. Bless black women now, Lord, as they continue to educate and lead their people.

Strengthen black women, Lord. Their genius has enriched the earth.

We remember Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Pauli Murray, and Rosa Parks. The black woman was treated as property during enslavement and the Middle Passage. Yet she survived and her vision of freedom ignited a determination to struggle for human and civil rights. Bless black women now, Lord, as they fight against injustice through strategies for hope, survival, and advancement.

Empower black women, Lord. Their bravery has ennobled the earth.

We remember Augusta Savage, Katherine Dunham, Marian Anderson, Mahalia Jackson, and Meta Warrick Fuller. They birthed black literacy and artistic traditions. Through autobiography, quilts, sculpture, dance, song and poetry, the once muffled voices of black women ring clear with creative power. Bless them now, Lord, as their moans and hums, whispers and shouts make our land beautiful.

Inspire black women, Lord. Their beauty has adorned the earth.

We remember Rahab, Zapporah, Jarena Lee, Julia Foote, and Zilpha Elaw. Black women prayed and preached, healed and helped faithfully at all times. As prayer warriors, they knew how to trust you, O God, especially in times of trouble. Their triumph has sparked fire in our souls. May the light that radiates from you today cast beautiful patterns on our lives through them.

We rejoice now, O Lord, with black women everywhere. Thank you, Lord. Their work blesses the earth.

2. Hymns and Congregational Songs
(a)  Make Me a Channel of Your Peace. By Sebastian Temple. Tune by Mark Bernard. For
SATB choir and congregation

(b)  How Great Is Our God. By Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, and Jesse Reeves

(c)  Savior, More Than Life to Me. By Fanny J. Crosby. Tune, (MORE THAN LIFE), by William H.
Doane

3. Spirituals or Traditional Songs
(a) Give Me Jesus. African American Spiritual

(b) The Lord Is Blessing Me Right Now. Traditional

(c) He Knows. By Pamela Jean Davis

4. Gospel Songs for Choirs, Ensembles, or Praise Teams
(a) Peace and Favor Rest on Us. By Kurt Carr

(b) I Am the One. By Kurt Carr

(c) Grateful. By John W. Stevenson

(d) Think of His Goodness. By Debra L. Perry

5. Liturgical Dance Music
(a) You Pulled Me Through. By Diane Warren

(b) More Than I Can Bear. By Kurt Franklin

(c) Here I Am to Worship. By Tim Hughes

6. Anthems
(a) Hallelujah Chorus. By G. F. Handel

(b) The Word Was God. By Rosephanye Powell. For SATB with divisi, a cappella

(c) Lift Up Your Heads. By Emma L. Ashford

7. Modern Songs
(a) My Name Is Victory. By Jonathan Nelson and Justin Savage

(b) Praise Him in Advance. By Deon Kipping

(c) We Bless Your Name. By Nolan Williams, Jr.

8. Offertory Song or Instrumental
(a) You Can’t Beat God Giving. By Doris Akers

(b) Count Your Blessings. By Timothy Wright

(c) You Are Great. By Eva Lena Hellmark

9. Song or Instrumental for the Period of Prayer
(a) I Am Just One Prayer Away. By Gregory Curtis

(b) A Touch. By Steven Ford

(c) Mighty Wind. By Andraé Crouch

10. Sermonic Selection
(a) Give Me Jesus. Spiritual

(b) Hide Me. By Steven Ford

(c) Because He Lives. By Gloria Gaither and William J. Gaither. Tune, (RESURRECTION), by William J. Gaither

11. Invitational Song or Instrumental
(a) He’s Working It Out for Your Good. By Montage Pheolan

(b) Jesus Saves. By Priscilla J. Owens. Tune, (JOYFUL SOUND/WE HAVE HEARD A JOYFUL SOUND), by William J. Kirkpatrick

12. Benediction Song or Instrumental
(a) Blest Be the Tie That Binds. By John Fawcett. Tune, (DENNIS), by Hans G. Naegeli

(b) Be Blessed. By James Harris III, Terry Lewis, James Q. Wright, and Yolanda Adams

(c) Right Now Praise. By Jonathan Nelson and Justin Savage

13. Audio Visual Suggestions
On screens and on Church bulletins, show images of Jesus and women. Some examples are:

• Jesus and Mary, the Mother of Jesus, holding Jesus in her arms
• Jesus and Mary, the sister of Lazarus
• Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well
• Jesus and Mary of Magdala

14. Other Recommendations
Sunday School, and teaching options include:

• If It Wasn’t for the Women…: Black Women’s Experience and Womanist Culture in Church and Community by Cheryl Townsend Gilkes
• Righteous  Discontent: The Women’s Movement in the Black Baptist Church, 1880–1920by Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham
• Just a Sister Away: A Womanist Vision of Women's Relationships in the Bible by Renita Weems

Cites and Additional Information for Music and Material Listed

14. Other Recommendations
Gilkes, Cheryl Townsend. If It Wasn’t for the Women…: Black Women’s Experience and Womanist Culture in Church and Community. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2000.

Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks. Righteous Discontent: The Women’s Movement in the Black Baptist Church, 1880–1920. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994.

Weems, Renita. Just a Sister Away: A Womanist Vision of Women's Relationships in the Bible. Nashville, TN: Publishing Editing Network, 1988.