Resurrection Week Four
LIBERATION LECTIONARY
Resurrecting our Futures
“Don't agonize, organize.” Florynce Kennedy
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:3-5
Praise God the Creator, and our Lord Jesus Christ. According to God’s great mercy, we have been given a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for us. You are being protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
Lesson: Black Life is the Black Future
“There are Black People in the Future" is inspired by afro-futurist artists and writers who highlight the need for Black people to claim their place. Through the inscription and utterance of the words, ‘There are Black People in the Future,’ the project addresses systemic oppression of black communities through space and time by reassuring the presence of Black bodies. In 2017, Wormsley placed these words on a billboard in East Liberty, a neighborhood in Pittsburgh’s east end that has suffered gentrification. When the billboard was removed by the city, community members protested, in response to this community support, Wormsley has raised grant money to artists, activists, and community workers in Pittsburgh and Houston around their interpretation of the phrase “There Are Black People in the Future”. Since then, the billboard has been replicated in Detroit, Charlotte, New York City, , Kansas City and Houston, and London. The text, which Wormsley encourages others to use freely, has since been used in protest, critical art theory, essays, song, testimony and collective dreaming.”
Prayers For Our Futures
For Black Women
“I pray that the weights on Black women’s plates are lightened. That instead, our cups are filled to the brim with all of the joy and peace that our mere existence deserves. I pray that our arms raise music of our own hips, the metronome of our feet, the scores of our hums. That our laughs and snaps fuel the drumming of our hearts.
I pray that we feel no need for the validation of those who are not our own. That we are constantly reminded of the prophetic nature of our own minds. I pray that we Black women feel at home in our own celebrations of our majesty. I pray that Black women, in this week and in this lifetime, grant ourselves permission to settle into our own expansiveness.” Now and ever, for there are Black People in the Future.
(adapted from Blkgirlculture.com)
For Black Men
“May you know your worth in times of strength and in times of struggle.
Honesty about your imperfections, regardless of the opposition you’ve faced,
May your voice shake things up, may your courage give hope.
May your faith make our people brave. Remember, beautiful black man, your brokenness is part of you. You need to weep sometimes, you need to breathe and be still.
Then you will be a true a world changer, your story will reach millions, your passion will enlighten others. May you embrace all aspects of you: the fatherly and the feeble, the fearful and the fierce, the queer and the quiet, the solemn and the celebratory.
May you live a long life, may you love your body and be proud of your people. We pray for you today, we believe that you will make the world a better place, now and ever.” For your future is sure, and we will get there together.
(adapted from Josefina Sanders)
For Black Youth
“Lord, protect our children. Keep them from dangers seen and unseen. Help them to know the difference between appreciation and exploitation. Lord protect them from forces that will misjudge them and steal life for no reason at all.
Give our children supernatural discernment to know which way to go. Protect their minds, Lord, let the angels encamp around them so that hurt, harm, and danger do not come to them. Protect their heart so they won’t grow bitter and cold.
Lord sometimes our peoples heart grows heavy with fear and anxiety, when we think about bringing Black children into the world and raising them with joy, safety, abundance and assurance. Give all of us the strength to combat this fear with faith, knowing that you are God and that there is no weapon formed against our people that will prosper, because you have overcome it all.” Because our babies, our little lambs, our children, our youth are proof that There Are Black People in the Future.
(adapted from Mona Smith)
For Black Disabled People
Creator of all community members, we pray your blessing and join the promise of your favor over disabled loved ones today. We are so thankful that we, the disabled beloved are present, willing, and able to tell our own stories stuttering, preach our own sermons sip-puffing, sing our own songs sightless, and present our own arts autistically.
We pray that Christian communities feel the tension between dependency and accommodation as the church wrestles with (or largely ignores) its pastoral duty in relation to persons living with disabilities. We pray divine mercy on every minister and witness in the faith who continues to ignore the Black disabled community.
Lord we pray for a strong and swift increase of mutuality in partnership between the commonly abled and the differently abled. We pray that Holy Spirit solidarity emerges as a paradigm for preaching, ministry, community and transformation. We pray for wholeness in the sacrament of brokenness—a wholeness that is communally redemptive, not individualized. A wholeness that never binds disability to brokenness, but embraces disability as part of holy healing. We believe and claim the power of your promise today, for There Are Disabled Black People in the Future. (Adapted from Raedorah C. Stewart)
For Black Trans People
“As we talk about healing, it's important to recognize that trans people exist because our ancestors existed,” adds Lady Dane. “As we look back into our ancestry, we find that Black trans people were integral parts of their communities. They were holy. They were seen as deserving, not only love, but also the community’s protection.”
You ignore my divinity and instead you try and break me with your words and your body / And yet in the midst of it all / HERE I AM.
We know that the way that we create healing is through each other, through honoring our journeys and the legacies that allowed us to be here and to call ourselves into being.
We know that we deserve healing. We know that the way that we create that is through each other, through honoring our journeys and the legacies that allowed us to be here and to call ourselves into being. (Adapted from Black Trans Prayer Book)
MUSIC: Move and Meditate
Move to Jesus Will // Mediate to I Do Worship
“Jesus Will” Reminds us that we are not alone in our journeys to the places God has for us. We worship a living Lord who can open doors that we don’t see, move us in the right decision and direction, and give us power and ability to stand still when that is best, even when we feel agitated enough to fight!
The song “I Do Worship” says “for your goodness and your glory. For the joy inside your story. For the peace you gave to me. For the day you set me free.”
Experience these songs and think about the future of our work and the church, when we wonder about which way we are going to go, or what Black bodies need and how our survival will turn to flourishing.