SOUL-SPEAK: THE INTERSECTION OF SERMON

AND COLLECTIVE SONGDelores Carpenter. Ed. D.

CrossCurrentsAuburn Seminary NYC

July 2012

“Black Christianity is distinct from white Christianity because it was forged as a protest against slavery and racism…The central themes of the black church were and are protest, liberation, education, and community. (Carl Marbury, Dean of Garrett Evangelical Seminary (p.11 in Benn III) The Struggle for Equality and Justice for All is on-going and Global – In part to regain the rights that were taken from African Americans, in part to close the gap between the quality of life for European Americans and African Americans

The Black Church

Instilling racial pride Making black history more accessible Focusing on social activism Expanding cultural memory Designing more hymn-sings/workshops Motivating participants to greater social justice

involvement

Religious Education Association November 2012

52 Sundays of Soulful Celebration 2012

VISION

The very act of collective song… helped to develop and to eventually normalize the significance of resistance themes and figures into a collective cultural product. (Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance, 1990

Collective Song

Hendricks –”We should attempt to remarry the emotionality of Gospel music with the prophetic consciousness and resistance sensibilities of the Spiritual to produce a new generation of resistance music…music that moves all people to that inspired action we know as the struggle to establish God’s kingdom of justice – on earth, as in heaven.”

From Spirited Singing to Spirit-Led Action : A New Generation of Resistance Music

Lining out Issac Watts’ hymns combines an expressive range of words with rhythmic fluency

Black music performance is consistently integrative, interactive, movement oriented and transformative

In congregational singing…melodies are composed or reworked through improvisation based upon the speech rhythms

William Dargan, Lining Out the Word: Dr. Watts Hymn Singing in the Music of African Americans

“Although Hamer traveled as much as she could, she was always grounded in Mississippi. In contrast, the SNCC Freedom Singers followed the hybrid model of professional musician and movement activist.”

Bernice Johnson Reagon”

Amplifying the Voice of the Activist

Situating the griot alongside modern artists to form a bridge and continuity

1.Select spoken excerpt (from social justice sermons/speeches that include a historical vignette/s and/or

references to music) 2. Song selections 3. Historical background 4. Performance elements – key,

pace, arrangement, solo parts 5. Length 6. Sequencing pieces together

Process

Lawrence Campbell Untitled 1963 (Danville Christian Progressive Ass.)

Fannie Lou Hamer Untitled 1964, Sunflower, Ms. (her home town)

Garner Taylor “ Silence and Sorrow” published 1981 Martin Luther King “A Knock at Midnight” published in Strength to

Love 1963 Prathia Hall “Between the Wilderness and a Cliff” 1992 J. Alfred Smith “Speak Until Justice Awakes” published 2001 Renita Weems “Not…Yet”, 2004 Jasper Williams “God at the Midnight Ball” 1960s Samuel Proctor “Relevant Religion” Outstanding Black Sermons 3 Reverdy Cassius Ransom “The American Tower of Babel; Or,

Confusion of Tongues Over the Negro” 1909  

Ten Sermons Analyzed for Themes

5 Hope: Good/truth/righteousness/justice will triumph C Hm K R S 5 Forgiveness/love toward oppressors Hl Hm K P S 4 Somebodiness/Dignity/Equality C R Hm S 4 Weariness Hm K T We 3  A way out of no way C S We 3 God is with us C Hl R 3 Conscience as a guiding principle K P Wi 2 Mystery of God C S 2 Jesus at Calvary Hl T 2 Being in the Wilderness Hl K 2 Faith K We 2 Prophetic warning of judgment Hm Wi  

12 Themes in 10 Sermons

Ann Wimberly’s Soul Stories

An Everyday Story An African American Heritage Story A Biblical story Questions of Liberation and Vocation

A Compatible African American Christian Education Theory

Paucity of published African American women’s sermons

Subjectivity of criteria for what constitutes a social justice sermon

Methodology for identifying the key themes of a sermon

Developing the place of biblical texts

Limitations

Developing some measurement of how many of those who attend such sermon-song presentations are motivated to become involved in social justice –evaluation at each event and follow-up (3 years later)

Analyzing themes in other social justice sermons that mention musical lyrics

Building a repertoire of sermon-songs – (perhaps a dozen)

Consultations with Song Leaders and musicians

Next Steps

Can the sermon song be another genre for preserving the lining out of the hymn and the speech-song of the griot?

Will the 12 themes identified remain the most prominent as more and more sermons are analyzed?

Questions?