Black History Month Call to Worship, February Sundays

Black History Month Call to Worship
Sundays of February, 2020

Ase (or às̩e̩ or ashe; pronounced ah-shay) is a West African philosophical concept through which the Yoruba of Nigeria conceive the power to make things happen and produce change.

Worship Leader In a beginning before humans were formed 
and nature knew God’s great presence, the Spirit moved over the universe

People of God: Ashe!
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; 
for God has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.
Psalm 24:1-2

Worship Leader: In quiet peace God created humans, women and men,
colorful, balanced and creatively diverse  and the beauty of God’s love filled the
earth

People of God: Ashe!
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul,  with all your mind; and you shall love your neighbor as
yourself.   Matthew 22: 37-39

Worship Leader: In honor of Black History Month we remember names 
because of the ancestors who made a way out of no way
with God before them, beside them, and lovingly guiding succeeding
generations:

  • Nana Yaa Asantewa of Ashanti, Taharqa, ruler of Napatan Kush, Queen Nzingha, 
  • West African military ruler, Mansa Musa I, Emperor of the West African Islamic Empire

People of God: Ashe!

  • Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, Gabriele Prosser, Nate Turner and Denmark Vesey
  • Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Jerena Lee
  • WEB DuBois, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King, Jr
  • Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Ella Baker

These and more represent the great cloud of witnesses.
Their spirits linger with us creating new generations of warriors, preachers, prophets,
teachers, activists, organizers, mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters
of the African Diaspora.

People of God: Ashe!
After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count,
from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing
before the throne and before the Lamb, robed with palm branches in their
hands.  Rev. 7:9

Worship Leader: Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord! 

People of God: Ashe and Amen

Call to Worship for Black History Month was written by Rev. Dr. Velda Love, Minister for Racial Justice UCC.

Copyright 2020, Justice and  Local Church Ministries, Faith INFO Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH  44115-1100.  Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education.  All publishing rights reserved.