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SENIORS, ELDERS, AND GRANDPARENTS DAY

MUSIC & WORSHIP RESOURCES

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Bruce Henderson, Guest Lectionary Liturgist
Minister of Music, Madison Ave. Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD

Worship Planning Notes

	Old places and old persons in their turn, when spirit dwells in them, have an intrinsic vitality of which youth is incapable, precisely, the balance and wisdom that come from long perspectives and broad foundations.
	—George Santanyana

What a wonderful opportunity for your music and arts ministry to shower your elders and seasoned saints with appreciation, admiration, and love. At least one month prior to this service, take photos of all of the seniors of your church, including those in nursing homes and those who are home-bound, if they give permission for you to do so. If you cannot get permission to take current photos, try to get older photos. Then, create a wall of the “Seasoned Saints.” Names should be listed under each photo and if possible, the year the person joined your church and any church groups or committees on which they have served.

Create a video that can be shown throughout the day’s service featuring all of the saints on the wall of Seasoned Saints.

Honor the senior member of your church who has served the longest. Invite his or her family member and friends to be present for the celebration.

All seasoned saints who are able to can march in together and then sit together. Each should be pinned prior to the service with a pin/ribbon to indicate that they are being honored.

1. Responsive Reading

Our Elders

Leader:	Sovereign God, we remember our elders of African descent. They fought courageously dur­ing times of war and peace. They built much of the United States of America with the knowledge, skill, and sweat of their brows. They also built their own institutions when denied admission to the institutions of others. They cared for their own needs and the needs of others. Despite many hardships, they sustained their families and communities.
Congregation:	We remember our elders today with pride.
Leader:	They loved God. They created new means of expressing that love in their preaching and praying, in their spirituals and gospel music. They built churches and religious organiza­tions, and expressed their faith in the lives they lived.
Congregation:	We remember our elders today with faith and reverence.
Leader:	They gave us birth. They loved and cared for us. They passed a cherished heritage on to us. Our elders educated us and opened our eyes to the beauty of our past and the hopefulness of our future. They taught us to love ourselves and one another.
Congregation:	We remember our elders today with love and gratitude.
Leader:	They filled their lives with art, poetry, and literature. They excelled whenever they were given the opportunity. They were brilliant, creative, and inventive. They painted, tapped, sculpted, drummed, hummed, sang, and shouted, leaving us a rich, imaginative legacy.
Congregation:	We remember our elders today with respect and appreciation.
Leader:	Now let us call the names of some of them: Absolom Jones, Lemuel Haynes, Richard Alien, David Walker, Maria Stewart, Sojourner Truth, and Jarena Lee,
Congregation:	Daniel Payne, Frederick Douglass, Mary Pleasant, Harriett Tubman, Nannie Helen Burroughs, and Booker T. Washington,
Leader:	Anna Julia Cooper, William O. Tanner, Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell, George Washington Carver, Adam Clayton Powell, and William E. B. Du Bois,
Congregation:	Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carter G. Woodson, Mary McLeod Bethune, Marcus Garvey, Paul Robeson, Duke Ellington, and Howard Thurman.
Leader:	Now let us be mindful of those elders whose names are lost to us in history, those who were washed away in the Middle Passage. Let us remember them before God.
	(Silence)
	Let us now call the names of the elders, living and departed, who in our lifetime have posi­tively influenced our homes, churches, communities, and the world.
	(Naming of elders by the congregation.)
	We thank you, O God, for the elders you have given us.
All:	Thanks be to God!

2. Hymns and Congregational Songs
(a) Great Is Thy Faithfulness. By Thomas O. Chisholm

(b) Hold to God’s Unchanging Hand. By Jennie Wilson and F. L. Eiland. Tune, (UNCHANGING HAND), by F. L. Eiland

(c) The Solid Rock. By Edward Mote and William B. Bradbury

(d) All the Way My Savior Leads Me. By Fanny J. Crosby and Robert Lowry

3. Spirituals
(a) Lord, I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired. Arr. by Jester Hairston

(b) Fix Me, Jesus. Arr. by Uzee Brown

(c) Ole-Time Religion. Traditional

4. Gospel Songs for Choirs, Ensembles, or Praise Teams
(a) Be Ye Steadfast. By Arthur Jones

(b) I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired. By Curtis Burrell YouTube:

(c) Hold On, Old Soldiers. By Walter Hawkins

5. Liturgical Dance and Mime Ministry Music
(a) Fix Me, Jesus. Arr. by Hall Johnson YouTube:

(b) Safe in His Arms. By Darius Brooks

(c) Restoring the Years. By Donald Lawrence

6. Anthems
(a) Wait on the Lord. By Willis Barnett

(b) God of Our Fathers. Arr. Diane Bish

(c) Some Day. Arr. by Nathan Carter

7. Modern Songs (Written between 2000–2010)
(a) Never Seen the Righteous Forsaken. By Donald Lawrence

(b) In the Midst of It All. By Kevin Bond

(c) Servant Well Done. By Glenn Burleigh

8. Offertory Song or Instrumental
(a) Faithful Is Our God. By Hezekiah Walker

(b) Oh, What He’s Done for Me. Traditional Congregational Song

(c) If It Had Not Been for the Lord on My Side. By Helen Baylor

9. Song or Instrumental for the Period of Prayer
(a) In the Garden. By C. Austin Miles

(b) May the Work I’ve Done Speak for Me. By Sullivan Pugh

(c) Only a Look. By Virginia Davis Marshall and Anne Shepherd    

10. Sermonic Selection
(a) It Pays to Serve Jesus. Arr. by Nathan Carter

(b) It Is Well with My Soul. Arr. by Carl W. Haywood

(c) And He Blessed My Soul. By Anita W. Stevens

11. Invitational Song or Instrumental
(a) Put All Your Trust in Jesus. By Carol Cymbala and Jim Hammerly

(b) He’s Sweet I Know/He Knows How Much You Can Bear. Arr. by Kirk Whalum

(c) I Love to Tell the Story. By A. Catherine Hankey and William G. Fischer

12. Benediction Song or Instrumental
(a) Come and Go to That Land. Congregational Song

(b) Be with Us All, Lord. By Uzee Brown, Jr.

(c) Savior, Again to Thy Dear Name We Raise. By John Ellerton. Tune, (ELLERS), by Edward J. Hopkins

13. Other Recommendations

(a) The church can take this occasion as an opportunity to establish a ministry or council of elders chosen from the various ministries and leadership organizations in your church. The process of establishing the council would take place before Seniors, Elders, and Grandparents Day. It is important that clear guidelines for the make-up of the council be established. The council members are to be chosen by vote.

The rationale for establishing this council would be for the church and the community it serves to benefit from their accumulative wisdom in a collective forum. The council would gather at least once each month, and also in response to special situations, to consult and give advice on various non-governance issues involving your church community. These issues could include family or marriage/relationship matters, disputes between members, personal-development for youth and young adults, conserving the history and useful traditions of the church, moral instruction, etc.

At a designated point in your Seniors, Elders, and Grandparents service, the council would be presented to the church as a part of an initiation ritual where they would be awarded special status as deserving appreciation and respect for their wisdom and their accomplishments as family and community leaders.

(b) Invite a family to begin a scholarship fund to honor an elder, especially an elder who was an educator. The fund would begin with at least one thousand dollars and have contributions made each year. If several families want to begin a scholarship, all families can contribute to the church’s general scholarship refund and have recipients send letters of thanks to the contributing family and the seasoned saint who is the reason the scholarship funding was made.

(c) Plan a “Seasoned Saints Event.” Possible events include: A luncheon for seniors the Saturday before the special service; an appreciation service after the special service; and a token of appreciation bag being given to all seniors of the church, especially those in nursing homes and those who are home-bound. Tokens might include: gift cards to stores seniors frequent, toiletries, a copy of a popular magazine for seniors, and CDs of music that seniors will enjoy.

Cites and Additional Information for Music and Material Listed

1. Responsive Reading—Our Elders.
Location:

2. Hymns and Congregational Songs
(a) Great Is Thy Faithfulness. By Thomas O. Chisholm
Location:
(b) Hold to God’s Unchanging Hand. By Jennie Wilson. Tune, (UNCHANGING HAND), by F. L. Eiland
Location:
(c) The Solid Rock. By Edward Mote and William B. Bradbury
Location:
(d) All the Way My Savior Leads Me. By Fanny J. Crosby and Robert Lowry
Location:
3. Spirituals
(a) Lord, I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired. Arr. by Jester Hairston
Location:

(b) Fix Me, Jesus. Arr. by Uzee Brown
Location:

(c) Ole-Time Religion. Traditional
Location:
4. Gospel Songs for Choirs, Ensembles, or Praise Teams
(a) Be Ye Steadfast. By Arthur Jones
Location:
(b) I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired. By Curtis Burrell
Location:
(c) Hold On, Old Soldiers. By Walter Hawkins
Location:
5. Liturgical Dance or Mime Ministry Music
(a) Fix Me, Jesus. Arr. by Hall Johnson
Location:
(b) Safe in His Arms. By Darius Brooks
Location:
(c) Restoring the Years. By Donald Lawrence
Location:

6. Anthems
(a) Wait on the Lord. By Willis Barnett
Location:

(b) God of Our Fathers. By George William Warren. Arr. By Diane Bish
Location:

(c) Some Day. Arr. by Nathan Carter
Location:

7. Modern Songs (Written between 2000–2010)
(a) Never Seen the Righteous Forsaken. By Donald Lawrence
Location:

(b) In the Midst of It All. By Kevin Bond
Location:

(c) Servant Well Done. By Glenn Burleigh
Location:

8. Offertory Song or Instrumental
(a) Faithful Is Our God. By Hezekiah Walker
Location:

(b) Oh, What He’s Done for Me. Traditional Congregational Song
Location:

(c) If It Had Not Been for the Lord on My Side. By Helen Baylor
Location:

9. Song or Instrumental for the Period of Prayer
(a) In the Garden. By C. Austin Miles
Location:
(b) May the Work I’ve Done Speak for Me. By Sullivan Pugh
Location:
(c) Only a Look. By Virginia Davis Marshall and Anne Shepherd
Location:
10. Sermonic Selection
(a) It Pays to Serve Jesus. Arr. by Nathan Carter
Location:

(b) It Is Well with My Soul. Arr. by Carl W. Haywood
Location:

(c) And He Blessed My Soul. By Anita W. Stevens
Location:
11. Invitational Song or Instrumental
(a) Put All Your Trust in Jesus. By Carol Cymbala and Jim Hammerly
Location:
(b) He’s Sweet I Know/He Knows How Much You Can Bear. Arr. by Kirk Whalum
Location:
(c) I Love to Tell the Story. By A. Catherine Hankey and William G. Fischer
Location:
12. Benediction Song or Instrumental
(a) Come and Go to That Land. Congregational Song
Location:
(b) Be with Us All, Lord. By Uzee Brown, Jr.
Location:
(c) Savior, Again to Thy Dear Name We Raise. By Rev. John Ellerton. Tune, (ELLERS), by Edward J. Hopkins
Location:

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