21st Century Africana Liturgy Resources for the Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost, Year B

Call to Worship
(Based on I Kings 8:1, 6, 10-11, 22-30, 41-43)
Leader: Lord, sit with us in your Temple this morning; fill us with your blessing till we can't take anymore.

People: Fill us, O God, till we can't take anymore.

Leader: Lord, fill this place with your presence, so that the preaching comes alive, the singing causes souls to revive, demons tremble and die.

People: Fill us, O God, till we can't take anymore.

Leader: Hear our prayers, as we praise you today. Incline your ears to our cries, as we worship you today. There is none like you in heaven or on earth. Hear our plea, and forgive us we pray.

People: Fill us, O God, till we can't take anymore.

ALL: Come, let us worship the Lord!!

Alternate Call to Worship
(Based on Psalm 84)
Leader: Bombs overseas and murders in our streets; families with homes one day are homeless the next. O, Lord, our souls yearn, even faint to worship you.

People: Blessed are those who dwell in your house; we are forever praising you!

Leader: Demonic displacements in our cities and unrighteous gentrification in our towns! O Lord, our souls yearn, even faint, to worship you today.

People: Blessed are those who dwell in your house; we are forever praising you!

Leader: We search for your peace and cry out for your presence, looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. Thank you, for even the sparrow has a home with you; and so do we.

ALL: Blessed are those who dwell in your house; we are forever praising you!

Morning Prayer
(Based on Psalm 84)

Our Lord, and our God, as we your people stand in this place to call upon your name in the midst of our hardships and pains, suffering and shame, we cannot help but remember how lovely is your dwelling place, Lord God. With crime in the streets and chaos and calamity happening worldwide, we yearn for you this morning, Jesus.

We faint to be in your presence, for if we didn't have you on our side, where would we be? We cry out for you this morning, O Lord: a mother is having trouble with her kids. We shout out for you this morning, O Lord: a father is still trying to find a job. We moan for you, our maker, God: children are lost and looking to find their way.

Thank you for hearing our prayer. You are the God with whom even sparrows and swallows find shelter. You are the God with whom even baby birds find a home. We bless you, Lord! We honor you, Lord! We give thanks to your holy name.

Though life is hard sometimes, we thank you for the strength that you provide. Though life takes us through valleys so tough that words are inadequate to describe how we feel, we praise you, Lord God. For you turn our deserts into an oasis; you refresh the dry places with fountains of living water.

Lord, look upon us today. Lord, hear and listen to us today. We need your refreshing; we need your reviving; we need your reconciling. One day in your presence is better than a thousand days elsewhere; the humblest of places in your Presence is better than the seat of honor in Satan's palace.

For you, Lord God, are our light and our protection; you, Lord, are the source of our blessing and our boasting. We thank you and we praise you, Jesus, for in the midst of it all, you withhold no good thing from us. You supply our every need, as we earnestly walk in your way. May our trust be found in you, this day, and every day, now and forevermore, AMEN.

Responsive Reading
(Based on Ephesians 6:10-20)
Leader: PUT IT ON, somebody! Put on God's wardrobe.

People: Put on God's clothing, with its strength and its power.

Leader: PUT IT ON, somebody!

People: Deck yourself out in God's wear so that you can withstand wickedness.

Leader: PUT IT ON, somebody!

People: Put on God's threads so that you can fight the right fight; not against flesh but against foolishness in foul places.

Leader: PUT IT ON, somebody!

People: Put on the belt of truth so that you can stand.

Leader: Put it on!

People: Put on the jacket of righteousness so that you can stand.

Leader: Put it on!

People: Put on those shoes of peace so that you can stand.

Leader: Put 'em on!

People: Take up that shield of faith to deny the destructive darts of the devil, and stand!

Leader: Take it up and put it on!

People: Put on that hat of salvation so that you can stand. Take hold of that spiritual sword of the Spirit and stand in God's word.

Leader: Put it on!

People: Clothe yourself with prayer, cover somebody else in prayer.

ALL: PUT IT ON, SOMEBODY. PUT ON GOD'S WARDROBE and STAND!!

Prayer in Preparation for the Lord's Supper
(Based on John 6:56-69)
Leader: Lord, in a fractured world filled with sin and corruption, evil and deception, you have the words of eternal life.

People: Feed us till we want no more.

Leader: Lord, in a disbelieving world, where even disciples desert you, we remember that you heal and you forgive; you have the words of eternal life!

People: Feed us till we want no more.

Leader: Lord, as we sit at Table, remembering all the times we've turned away from you, please do not turn your back on us. Turn us your way and invite us with magnetic power to come. For you have the words of eternal life.

ALL: As we commune together because of Your grace, and by Your mercy, Lord Jesus, FEED US TILL WE WANT NO MORE.

About the Author: Joseph W. Daniels, Jr. is the Senior Pastor of Emory United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C.