WOMEN’S DAY
(March is Women’s History Month)

MUSIC & WORSHIP RESOURCES

Brandon A. Boyd, Young Adult Lectionary Team Liturgist
Minister of Music, Worship and Arts, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Choral Conducting Graduate Student, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL  and

Marty Austin Lamar, Guest Lectionary Liturgist
Assistant Minister of Music, Turner Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church, Hyattsville, MD

Worship Planning Notes

Creative Ideas to Integrate into the Worship Experience

• Use pictures of phenomenal women, particularly within the church, to promote this special service. Use on the program cover or projected on screens prior, during, and after service.
  
  
• Celebrate the “SURVIVORS” within your congregation who have overcome sickness, imprisonment, recession, education challenges, etc. Allow these women the opportunity to serve as your worship leaders and program participants.
  
  
• There are several dramatic works written specifically about women. “Crowns” by Regina Taylor uses the emphasis church hat as its vehicle to discuss tradition, death, womanhood, and faith. This piece could be produced as a staged reading or as a vignette during the worship experience, or it could be incorporated into a hat show and tea.
  
  Do not be afraid of using literature that is a bit more controversial. Be wise in your editing so that the work is appropriate for the church setting but not in a way that loses its meaning or reality. Please review the suggested list below:
  
  The Exonerated: A New Play. By Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen
  
  Rabbit Hole. By David Lindsay-Abaire
  
  For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf. By Ntozake Shange
  
  Peace from Broken Pieces: How to Get Through What You’re Going Through. By Iyanla Vanzant

• All excerpts presented during the worship experience should be minimally produced. Use all black costuming, stools, and music stands.

• Attempt to incorporate the national theme for Women’s History month as frequently as possible.

NATIONAL THEME for 2013

The national theme can be used creatively with the YOUTH of your congregation. Find women within your congregation who have careers in the listed fields of the theme. Have your youth interview these phenomenal women and broadcast the interview in a 20/20 format during a special event or throughout a series of worship services.

1. Litany and Congregational Prayer

Congregational Prayer

Leader: Most merciful and all-wise God, it is by your hand that you took the rib of Adam and made woman. We laud and glorify your holy name for the wisdom, strength, faith, and courage you birthed into the heart of every woman. Teach us, O Lord, to pattern our lives, our witness, and our service after the women of scripture whom you ordained to serve and labor in your kingdom.

PEOPLE: With Miriam, who with Moses and Aaron led the people of Israel out of Egypt; With Deborah, who judged the people of Israel in truth and righteousness; With Ruth, who was an example of faithfulness; With Mary Magdalen, who first brought the good news of the resurrection; With Phoebe, deacon and leader of the early Church; With Priscilla, who labored with Aquila in the service of Christ; With Dorcas, who tirelessly served, doing good and helping the poor; With Mary the mother of Jesus, who said “yes” with no holding back; With these, our sisters, we pray for women everywhere who see their families divided, their children sad.

Leader: We pray for women who against all odds create an environment of love and peace for their family to live in; we pray for women who, when tempted to give up, find new strength in you and continue to follow the path you have ordered.1 God our God, you have made women in your own image and likeness. Teach us to trust your design and seek the divine destiny that you have for every woman in every corner of your universe.

ALL: Grant us favor and continue to protect our spirits from anything that may hinder our walk with you or our sister. We offer this prayer to you. Amen!

2. Hymns and Congregational Songs
(a) Help Us Accept Each Other. By Fred Kaan. Tune, (AUERELIA).

(b) I Am on the Battlefield for My Lord. By Sylvana Bell and E.V. Banks

(c) God of Grace and God of Glory. By Harry Fosdick. Tune, (CWM RHONDDA).

(d) We’ve Come This Far by Faith. By Albert Goodson. Arr. by James Abbington

3. Spirituals or Traditional Songs
(a) Ain’t No Grave Can Hold My Body Down. By P. Caldwell and S. Ivory

(b) Give Me Jesus. Negro Spiritual. Arr. by Nolan Williams

(c) This Day. By Edwin Hawkins

4. Gospel Songs for Choirs, Ensembles, or Praise Teams
(a) Still I Rise. By Rosephanye Powell

(b) Champion. By Ashaala Jenkins

(c) Strength. By John P. Kee

5. Liturgical Dance or Mime Ministry Music
(a) Still I Rise. By Percy Brady

(b) My Refuge, My Strength. By Byron Cage

(c) I Look to You. By R. Kelly

6. Anthems
(a) Give Thanks and Sing for Joy. By Roy Belfield

(b) Hail Warrior. By Undine Smith Moore

(c) If I Faint Not. By Kevin and Celeste Johnson

7. Modern Songs
(a) I’m Still Standing. By Kurt Carr

(b) God Made Me. By Jules Martholomew

(c) Back to Eden. By Donald Lawrence

8. Offertory Song or Instrumental
(a) You’re All I Need. By Jason Clayborn

(b) All of My Help. By T. Manley and N. McNair

(c) Jesus Is a Rock in a Weary Land. By Glenn Burleigh

9. Song or Instrumental for the Period of Prayer
(a) Just a Little Talk with Jesus. By Cleavant Derricks. Tune, (JUST A LITTLE TALK).

(b) Is Your All on the Altar. By Elisha Hoffman

(c) What Shall I Render. By Margaret P. Douroux

10. Sermonic Selection
(a) It Pays to Serve Jesus. By Frank Huston

(b) Powerful God. By D. Kipping and J.J. Hairston

(c) Turning Around. By C. Rodgers, L. Gray, P. Feaster, and V. Mitchell

11. Invitational Song or Instrumental
(a) It Pays to Serve Jesus. By Frank Huston

(b) Give of Your Best to the Master. By Howard Grose. Tune by Charlotte Barnard

(c) I Trust in God. By W.C. Martin. Tune by C. Gabriel and V. Nix

12. Benediction Song or Instrumental
(a) Order My Steps. By Glenn Burleigh

(b) The Lord Bless You and Keep You. By Peter Lutkin

(c) Till We Meet Again. By Kirk Franklin

13. Visual Aids

Please refer to Worship Planning Notes for creative suggestions that include dramatization, liturgy, etc.

Cites and Additional Information for Music and Material Listed

1. Call to Worship and Responsive Reading
The Women’s Sunday Litany is by Marty Lamar. ¹Beginning with the words “With Miriam,” this text of the Congregational Prayer is from the More Than Life website (http://www.morethanlife.org/prayerstopray.html#Women).