FALL REVIVAL

MUSIC & WORSHIP RESOURCES

Sunday, October 7, 2012
(See the interview with Revivalist Charles E. Booth in today’s cultural resource unit.)

Darryl Walker, Lectionary Team Liturgist

Worship Planning Notes

Many think that revival is for the purpose of re-energizing faithful servants who sometimes grow weary in well-doing. While that is true, that is not all there is to it. Each person was made in the image of God and born into relationship with God. When sin and circumstance separate us from God we need to reconnect, and that process is revival. Hence revival is not just for the seasoned saints. It is also for the unsaved, the backslidden, the heart-broken, and the dispossessed. Revival is not just about having better church services; it is about living better lives—lives that reflect our right relationship with God through our relationships with each other.

The following suggestions can help you incorporate activities and music that spotlight and undergird key points about living in right relationship with God.

1. Select a scripture dealing with revival and living a holy life to connect all preaching, teaching, music, and other liturgical activities.
   
   
2. Revival is not about waiting for the Lord to come; it is about realizing that the Lord is already here. Select opening songs like “The Presence of the Lord Is Here” to emphasize that.
   
   
   • If you are alive, God is in you. Revival is reconnecting with the God in you. Lamentations 5:21 is a good guiding scripture: “Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored; renew our days as of old.” Our “days as of old” are our days after God created us and before the world and our experiences in it reshaped us. To emphasize the fact that God is in each of us, select a point in the service where those who know God (maybe the choir) can circulate throughout the congregation greeting everyone in love while singing “The Jesus in Me Loves the Jesus in You.”
     
     
   • Remind the unsaved and the uncertain that it is not possible to revive something that wasn’t there in the first place. Luke 17:21 reminds us that the kingdom of God is inside every person, and inside ourselves is where we need to look for answers. Music should encourage searching for the righteousness inside of us.
     
     
   • Present either a dramatic reading by several voices, a liturgical dance, or a video of “The Creation” by James Weldon Johnson. Use this presentation as a catalyst for preaching, teaching, or discussion on how we and various aspects of our lives can be re-created at any time.


3. Being revived goes beyond being energized to act differently. It encompasses changing the inner person also. Liturgical elements should entreat the Lord to facilitate that change. If you have dancers or teenagers available to you, consider having them choreograph and mime songs that convey the following scriptures:


• 2 Corinthians 5:17: So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
  Suggested Poem: The Creation by James Weldon Johnson
  
  
• Psalm 51:10: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
  Suggested Songs:
  Create in Me a Clean Heart by Donnie McClurkin
  Give Me a Clean Heart by Margaret Pleasant Douroux
  
  
• Isaiah 40:31: But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
  Suggested Song: The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation (Emphasize the verse: "Wait on the Lord and be of good courage.")
  
  
• Titus 3:5: He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
  Suggested Song: God of Mercy by John P. Kee
  
  
4. Because we are made in the image of God—pure and holy—revival is a time to remind all humankind that regardless of where you are and what you have done in your life you are precious and of value. Just how much you—whoever you are—are worth is clarified in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”


• Because self-worth is such a personal thing to work out, when using music as an aid, solos may be more effective than choral arrangements. Choose songs that speak hope into the circumstances of a struggling person like “He Knows Just How Much You Can Bear” or “For Every Mountain.”
  
  
• For choral arrangements, consider “Eternal Life” or a version of John 3:16 with a powerful solo part. Consider pairing the solo with a personal testimony.
  
  
5. Because we are all God’s we are entitled to the tree of life. However, we can only access that entitlement if we accept our divine purpose; we are charged to serve God (Romans 12:1). Revival is a time to understand that as long as you live, it is never too late! Yet we could die at any moment so we must hasten to reinstate our divine charge.


• The music should weave the message of hastening to know God, to serve him, and to fulfill one’s divine purpose. Hastening means pursuing every day. Suggested Song: Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning
  
  
• Choose songs which convey that we are held captive by our sins and circumstances; we are exiled from our connection to God.
  
  
• Consider Isaiah 51:14 as a guiding scripture: “The oppressed shall speedily be released; they shall not die and go down to the Pit, nor shall they lack bread.” This passage is a good transition to bridge the message of salvation with the knowledge that Jesus is the bread of life.

1. Litany

O God, my Lord, have mercy on me. My soul yearns for a revival to mend my broken heart. Lift up my bowed-down head and draw me closer to you.

You have been faithful and I lift up praises to you, O God, to revive my soul in this service of revival.

As the Psalmist says, Be still and know that I am God. I seek you and the renewal of my Spirit and to know you are there in the stillness, invoking peace in my heart, body, and soul.

In my stillness I seek your presence daily. Revive me and renew my soul in service and worship to you.

I receive blessings from you as I search and find the quiet place and time to bring all my joys, cares, and concerns to you.

I seek you in my quiet time, in my private space where I can empty myself before you and be revived. I praise you in this service of revival.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Lord God, you have been my dwelling place and a very present help in time of need. Your Spirit floods my soul, and I praise you in this service of revival.

Lord, send a revival and let it begin in me. Forgive me of all my sins and restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.

Lord God, you have purged my sins, you have washed and made me whole, and I will praise you in this service of revival.

Dear God, revive me and revive your people, restoring each to yourself, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

2. Hymns and Congregational Songs
(a) You Won’t Leave Here Like You Came. By Darryl Hines

(b) Old Time Religion. Traditional

(c) Lord, Send a Revival. By B.B. McKinney

(d) The Jesus in Me. Arr. by Cynthia Wilson

3. Spirituals or Traditional Songs
(a) Search Me Lord. By Thomas A. Dorsey

(b) Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning. Arr. by Andre Thomas

(c) I Want to Be Ready. Traditional. Arr. by Raymond Wise

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

(e) This Little Light of Mine. Negro Spiritual. Arr. by Nolan Williams, Jr.

4. Gospel Songs for Choirs, Ensembles, or Praise Teams
(a) The Presence of the Lord Is Here. By Kurt Carr

(b) God of Mercy. By John P. Kee

(c) Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah. By William Williams. Tune: Traditional; arr. by Betty Gadling. Lined/Metered Hymn (Emphasize "Bread of heaven" verse.)

5. Liturgical Dance or Mime Ministry Music
(a) For God So Loved the World. By Lanny Wolfe

(b) The Creation. By James Weldon Johnson, ed. (1871–1938). Set to music of your choosing. Visit the Web for examples.

The Creation
(A Negro Sermon)

AND God stepped out on space,
And He looked around and said,
“I’m lonely—
I’ll make me a world.”

And far as the eye of God could see
Darkness covered everything,
Blacker than a hundred midnights
Down in a cypress swamp.

Then God smiled,
And the light broke,
And the darkness rolled up on one side,
And the light stood shining on the other,
And God said, “That’s good!”

Then God reached out and took the light in His hands,
And God rolled the light around in His hands
Until He made the sun;
And He set that sun a-blazing in the heavens.
And the light that was left from making the sun
God gathered it up in a shining ball
And flung it against the darkness,
Spangling the night with the moon and stars.
Then down between
The darkness and the light
He hurled the world;
And God said, “That’s good!”

Then God himself stepped down—
And the sun was on His right hand,
And the moon was on His left;
The stars were clustered about His head,
And the earth was under His feet.
And God walked, and where He trod
His footsteps hollowed the valleys out
And bulged the mountains up.

Then He stopped and looked and saw
That the earth was hot and barren.
So God stepped over to the edge of the world
And He spat out the seven seas;
He batted His eyes, and the lightnings flashed;
He clapped His hands, and the thunders rolled;
And the waters above the earth came down,
The cooling waters came down.

Then the green grass sprouted,
And the little red flowers blossomed,
The pine tree pointed his finger to the sky,
And the oak spread out his arms,
The lakes cuddled down in the hollows of the ground,
And the rivers ran down to the sea;
And God smiled again,
And the rainbow appeared,
And curled itself around His shoulder.

Then God raised His arm and He waved His hand
Over the sea and over the land,
And He said, “Bring forth! Bring forth!”
And quicker than God could drop His hand
Fishes and fowls
And beasts and birds
Swam the rivers and the seas,
Roamed the forests and the woods,
And split the air with their wings.
And God said, “That’s good!”

Then God walked around,
And God looked around
On all that He had made.
He looked at His sun,
And He looked at His moon,
And He looked at His little stars;
He looked on His world
With all its living things,
And God said, “I’m lonely still.”

Then God sat down
On the side of a hill where He could think;
By a deep, wide river He sat down;
With His head in His hands,
God thought and thought,
Till He thought, “I’ll make me a man!”

Up from the bed of the river
God scooped the clay;
And by the bank of the river
He kneeled Him down;
And there the great God Almighty
Who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky,
Who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night,
Who rounded the earth in the middle of His hand;
This Great God,
Like a mammy bending over her baby,
Kneeled down in the dust
Toiling over a lump of clay
Till He shaped it in His own image;

Then into it He blew the breath of life,
And man became a living soul.
Amen. Amen.

6. Anthem
(a) Ho’ Everyone That Is Thirsty in Spirit. By Lucy Rider Meyer

(b) Achieved Is Thy Glorious Work. By Franz Joseph Haydn. From Creation

(c) Fill Me Till I Thirst No More. Traditional

7. Modern Songs (Songs written between 2000–2011)
(a) For Every Mountain. By Kurt Carr

(b) O Taste and See. By Percy Gray, Jr.

(c) Lead Me to the Rock. By Stephen A. Hurd

(d) Open My Heart. By Yolanda Adams, James Harris, Terry Lewis, and James “Big Jim” Wright

(e) Better Days. By Marvin McCoy and Kenneth Shelton

8. Offertory Song or Instrumental
(a) I Will Do a New Thing. By Audrey Bird. Arr. by Nolan Williams, Jr.

(b) Closer/Wrap Me in Your Arms. By Michael Gungor

(c) Who’s on the Lord’s Side? By Timothy Wright

9. Song or Instrumental for the Period of Prayer
(a) Create in Me a Clean Heart. By Donnie McClurkin

(b) Give Me a Clean Heart. By Margaret Pleasant Douroux

(c) Stir Up the Gift. By Joe Pace

10. Sermonic Selection
(a) The Lord Is My Light. By Lillian Bouknight. Arr. by Stephen Key

(b) He Knows Just How Much You Can Bear. Traditional

(c) There Is Room at the Cross for You. By Ira Stamphill. Tune, (STAMPHILL).

(d) The Gift of God (The Wages of Sin Is Death). By Glenn Burleigh

11. Invitational Song or Instrumental
(a) Get Right with God. Traditional

(b) For God So Loved the World. Traditional. Note: Supplement the singing with a liturgical dance.

(c) I Give Myself Away. By William McDowell

(d) Changed. By Walter Hawkins

(e) Just as I Am. By William B. Bradbury and Charlotte Elliot

(f) It’s Time to Make a Change. By Maurice Watson and Jay Terrell

12. Benediction Song or Instrumental
(a) All Day Long. By Carlton L. Fellows

(b) Available to You. By Carlis Lee Moody, Jr.

13. Other Recommendations

(A) Before or after service one night or afternoon, help the congregation draw connections between physical revival and spiritual revival by serving them soul food. Feed their bodies the soul food that works for the cultures in your area. Potluck meals are a great way of getting people involved and for bringing in people who wouldn’t ordinarily come to a regular church service. Invite the neighborhood and see what happens.

(B) Feed their spirits with songs, dances, and skits based on scriptures concerning Jesus as the bread of life and provider of refreshment for the soul. Scriptures to consider include:

• John 6:35: Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
  
  
• John 4:10: Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
  
  
• John 7:38: And let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”
  
  
• Isaiah 55:1: Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

(C) Enlist the aid of an artistic young person to design a poster or flyer that proclaims something like:

SOUL FOOD IS BEING SERVED.
ALL WHO ARE HUNGRY & THIRSTY
ARE WELCOME AT THE TABLE.

• Choose songs that elucidate various elements of the poster. For example:
  Soul Food (“Bread of Heaven”)
  Is Being Served (“O Taste and See”)
  All Who Are Hungry & Thirsty (“Ho Everyone That Thirsteth” and “Living Water”)
  Are Welcome at the Table (“Let Us Break Bread Together”)

(D) Another suggestion for expanding worship outside of a structured worship service is to solicit the thoughts, experiences, and suggestions of various members on the following definitions of revival:

• restoration to vigor or activity ;
• a bringing or coming back into use, attention, or being, after a decline or a period of obscurity;
• a returning to life or consciousness; and
• renewal of validity.

Collect this information through a survey or in choir rehearsal, ushers meeting, deacons meeting, church newsletter, suggestion box, or other venues. The process of examining how these definitions relate to daily lives can engender revival by focusing thinking more directly on how God is or is not central to our lives. Draw from this information for sermons and perhaps put some of the comments in the bulletin, on the website, in the slides accompanying the service, or on a bulletin board.

(E) If you are holding a Youth Revival, consider using the following songs:

• For Your Glory. Traditional
• Running Back to You. By Fred Hammond
• Lord Make Me Over. Traditional
• Chasing after You (The Morning Song). By Christopher Stevens and Tye Tribbett

Cites and Additional Information for Music and Material Listed

Material in the Worship Planning Notes and #13 Other Recommendations was contributed by:

• Brian Johnson, Executive Director of Sacred Music at Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago;
• Ron Anderson, Associate Director of Sacred Music at Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago;
• Aaron Gaines, Music Staff at Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago;
• Marilyn J. Richardson Lewis, Principal of Higher Level, LLC;
• Byron Gray, Director of Men and Youth Choirs at New Hope Baptist Church, Denver; and
• Benita Edwards

Worship Planning Notes
Definitions of revival from Webster’s New World College Dictionary. Cleveland, Ohio: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2010.

1. Litany prepared by Rev. Joe Ann Watson, Administrative Assistant of Arts and Worship at Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago