Click here to see a startling and informative Anti-Incarceration chart.
The Lectionary thanks Linda Yester for providing this chart.

ANTI-INCARCERATION/SOCIAL JUSTICE SUNDAY

MUSIC & WORSHIP RESOURCES

Sunday, July 21, 2013

The African American Lectionary Worship Team

Worship Planning Notes

Anti-Incarceration/Social Justice Sunday requires work by churches before and after this worship service. See today’s lectionary commentary and cultural resource unit for very cogent analyses of all relevant issues. What both units point out is the need for churches to do more to lessen the number of black and brown men and women who are imprisoned, especially for non-violent offenses, and the need for more and stronger programs after persons leave jails and prisons. We would add that this assistance is especially needed for offenders under age 30.

Today’s worship service can be one that showcases lament or one that showcases hope. Songs that highlight both are listed below. Do not be afraid to have members of your congregation engage in a worship service in which they lament the incarceration of their loved ones or the incarceration of any young man or woman. Church services should not always be celebratory. Sometimes parishioners need permission from pastors and worship and arts ministries to honestly lay bare their pain and anguish. It is extremely difficult for families to face the long and arduous days of having a loved one imprisoned. So, with extreme care, design a worship service that allows congregants to cry, pray, testify, and lament.

If you choose to do a service of hope, make sure that the service is not just an empty ritual. It should be tied to efforts by your church to help men and women who are either in prison or who have been released from prison. Those who are released from the prison system have little hope of not being returned to prison without support programs that allow them to learn new approaches to problems, get educated, find jobs, and find new and positive ways to live in the world. These are some of the reasons that the Church exists. It does not require a large amount of money to positively support those re-entering society after imprisonment. It likely will require collaboration with state and local organizations who do this work. Such groups should also be included in your worship service. They can have a role during the order of worship and/or be present to provide members information about what they do.

Image Suggestions

Place one or more of the following images throughout your sanctuary. One may also be used for your bulletin cover.

• Image of a prisoner in a cell
• Image of a mother and young adult child embracing
• Image of a father and young adult child embracing
• Statistics that show the level of incarceration in America by African males. See today’s cultural resource unit for additional possible images.

1. Call to Worship

Creator and Sustainer God, the one who is our Mother and our Father,

Today, we come to you with pained hearts but hopeful spirits.

Today, by intention, we bring before you those who are in prison, those who have returned from prison, their families, and their friends.

Give us the courage and the common sense to design programs of uplift that lead men and women to safety, soberness, security, and most importantly, salvation through you.

Haunt us, O God, until we are moved to be part of the incarceration solution and not part of the problem through our timidness, our unconcern, or our unwillingness to help someone who has fallen, since we have all fallen at some point in some way. Amen.

2. Litany

3. Hymns
(a) Father, I Stretch My Hand to Thee. By Charles Wesley. Tune by Hugh Wilson

(b) I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say. By Horatius Bonar. Tune, (OLD CENTURY AIRE).

(c) Yes, God Is Real. Text and Tune, (GOD IS REAL), by Kenneth Morris

(d) Amazing Grace. By John Henry Newton. Choral arr. by John Ness Beck for SATB voices

4. Spiritual or Traditional Song
Spiritual
(a) Glory, Glory, Hallelujah (Since I Laid My Burdens Down).

Traditional
(b) Until I Found the Lord. By Clara Ward

5. Songs for Choirs, Ensembles, or Praise Teams
(a) Jesus Dropped the Charges. By The O’Neal Twins and The Interfaith Choir

(b) Freedom. By Albertina Walker

(c) Never Be Bound Again. By Paul S. Morton Jr.

(d) One More Chance. By Eric McDaniels

6. Liturgical Dance or Mime Ministry Music
(a) Chains. By Kirk Franklin

(b) Jailbird. By Dallas Lockett

(c) Fix Me, Jesus. Spiritual

7. Congregational Song
(a) He Brought Me Out. By Henry J. Zelley, refrain by Henry L. Gilmour

(b) Nothing Between. By Charles A. Tindley

8. Music for Youth and Young Adults
(a) No Longer Bound. By Youth Explosion

(b) Free. By Cross Movement

(c) And Yet I’m Still Saved. By Donald Lawrence and Terrence Sykes

(d) Look at Me. By Coko

9. Offertory Song or Instrumental
(a) Take Over My Life. By Ricky Dillard

(b) My Testimony. By Vashawn Mitchell

10. Song or Instrumental for the Period of Prayer
(a) Spirit of the Living God. By Daniel Iverson

(b) We Need You Lord. By Jonathan Butler and Juanita Bynum

11. Sermonic Selection
(a) Deliverance Will Come. By Shea Norman

(b) One More Chance. By John Stoddart

12. Invitational Song or Instrumental
(a) Another Breakthrough. By Israel Houghton

(b) Marvelous. By Walter Hawkins

(c) Take My Life (Holiness). By Scott Underwood

13. Benediction Song or Instrumental
(a) We Won’t Leave Here Like We Came. By Maceo Woods

We won’t leave here like we came in Jesus’ name
Bound, oppressed, afflicted, sick or lame
For the Spirit of the Lord is still the same
We won’t leave here like we came in Jesus’ name

(b) I Shall Wear a Crown. By Thomas Whitfield

(c) Peace and Favor. By Kurt Carr

(d) Victory Chant. By Joseph Vogels

Cites and Additional Information for Music and Material Listed

1. Call to Worship by The African American Lectionary Worship Team

2. Litany by Michelle Riley Jones, The African American Lectionary Liturgist