HOMECOMING/FAMILY AND FRIENDS DAY

MUSIC & WORSHIP RESOURCES

Sunday, September 23, 2012

DJ Boyd, Guest Lectionary Liturgist
Director of Worship, St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church, Charlotte, NC

Worship Planning Notes

Homecoming or Family and Friends Day is usually a highly celebrated and participated in worship event that many churched and unchurched attend. It is a time in the African American community where many are encouraged to invite their family members, loved ones, friends, co-workers etc., to worship together on this day.

Careful planning will heighten awareness about this lectionary moment and help it become a commemorative day for all. It is recommended that churches form a team to help organize events for this special celebration. Select a date at least four months in advance; invite guest speaker(s) and choirs and perhaps plan to serve a meal. The key is to plan ahead.

You can also use this day as a fundraiser. There’s no better time to bring awareness to and raise money for special projects than when a crowd is present. This year the suggested centering theme is LOVE, which is a way to connect people from all walks of life. This is a day where your church members should make sure that each and every person feels welcomed. Keep the theme of LOVE as the anchor for your planning.

1. Litany, Responsive Reading, Invocation, or Call to Worship

Litanies

Love

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.

Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.

For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Reconciliation

Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”

Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you,

Leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;

But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another,

Tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;

That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things… by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Invocation

Gentle Shepherd … King of Love, we come to you as we are, not as we pretend to be. The truth is, God, that when we lift our heads above our path, we all too often discover ourselves lost in a maze of choices. We confess from the very beginning of this worship that we are lost... Were it not for you, O great seeker of our souls, patient parent to our childhood, joyful host to our homecoming; Were it not for you, O Lord, we would be lost forever. But, because of you, there is room for us at the great Love Feast. Gentle Shepherd ... King of Love, seek and find us as we are, not as we pretend. Be patient with us, and teach us how to wait. May the echoes of your celebration reverberate in our midst this hour, transforming our worship from a mournful plea to a joyful song. Gentle Shepherd ... King of Love, lead us. Amen.

Call to Worship

Bringing Home Love for Family and Friends

(b) O How I Love Jesus. By Fredrick Whitfield

(c) Great Is Thy Faithfulness. By Thomas O. Chisholm and William M. Runyan

3. Spirituals or Traditional Songs
(a) Plenty Good Room. Negro Spiritual

(b) ‘Tis the Ol’ Ship of Zion. Negro Spiritual

(c) Take Me Back. By Andraé Crouch

(d) My Soul Is Anchored in the Lord. Negro Spiritual. Arr. by Charles Garner. For SATB choir and tenor solo

4. Gospel Songs for Choirs, Ensembles, or Praise Teams
(a) I Call You Faithful. By Donnie McClurkin

(b) Jesus Is the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me. By James Cleveland

(c) Rain Lord. By Greg Whitaker

5. Liturgical Dance or Mime Ministry Music
(a) A Heart That Forgives. By Kevin LeVar

(b) Family (There Is a Healing). By Donald Lawrence

(c) Still Say Thank You. By Smokie Norful

6. Anthems
(a) If My People. By Glenn Burleigh

(b) Lord Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace. Arr. by John Rutter

(c) Walk Together Children. Negro Spiritual. Arr. by Moses Hogan

(d) Done Made My Vow. Arr. by Nolan Williams, Jr.

7. Modern Songs (Written between 2000–2011)
(a) I Need You to Survive. By David Frazier

(b) God Is Great. By John Lakin

(c) Encourage Yourself. By Donald Lawrence

8. Offertory Song or Instrumental
(a) May the Lord God Bless You Real Good. Traditional. Arr. by Clarence McClendon

(b) Lord Prepare Me to Be a Sanctuary. By John Thompson and Randy Scruggs

(c) Battlefield. By Norman Hutchins

9. Song or Instrumental for the Period of Prayer
(a) Unity. By Glorraine Moone

(b) Lord Keep Me Day by Day. By Eddie Williams

(c) Sweet Hour of Prayer. By William W. Walford

10. Sermonic Selection
(a) We Study, We Shout, We Serve. By Eddie Robinson

(b) Let Us All Go Back. By Ricky Dillard

(c) Pastor and People. By Nolan Williams, Jr.

11. Invitational Song or Instrumental
(a) We Offer Christ to You. By Joel Britton

(b) Come Home. By Hezekiah Walker

12. Benediction Song or Instrumental
(a) Blest Be the Tie That Binds. By Lowell Mason

(b) God Be with You. By William G. Tomer

13. Audio Visual Aids
Be sure to use the web to advertise your Homecoming/Family and Friends Day. Here are some clips of ministries who have use this medium to advertise important events in their churches.

14. Other Recommendations

• In Homecoming: A Prophetic Study of Ruth (FaithWalk Publishing, 2002), author and speaker Julie R. Wilson sheds new light on the importance of women in the Old Testament while giving a balanced view on men’s and women’s roles in today’s Church. The book reveals how the book of Ruth can help believers regain spiritual footing after serious setbacks. Homecoming challenges readers to determine where they are in the process of reconciliation and how to proceed to maturity.
  
  
• Drama Teams. Your Ministry and Arts group can get the congregation excited and make them aware of your upcoming Homecoming/Family and Friends Day through a skit. The skit can be comical, informative, and entertaining!
  
  
• Hold a Taste Testing. Most memories of Church Homecomings include food! Why not revive or continue this tradition. Organize a food committee to prepare meals or have persons bring dishes. You can even have contests, best pies/cakes; maybe this can be a fundraiser; the sky is the limit. Be creative and be sure that your event is designed to bring families together.
  
  
• Don’t forget the Youth! Whether it’s an organized activity at the church or a trip, have your youth involved in some way. Show how they are vital and important—not just the church of tomorrow but the church of today as well. If your church does not have a youth ministry, ask the pastor to designate or ask for a volunteer for this event to make sure that youth in the church and your community are engaged.

Cites and Additional Information for Music and Material Listed