John's vision in the book of Revelation of every nation, tribe, people, and language worshiping together before the Lamb is a call in the here and now. A call to unite our voices as one in our worship, our prayers, and in the whole of our lives. We lament the brokenness of our sin which divides us, segregates us, and damages our witness to our unity in Christ.
Synod 2022 mandated:
that synod direct the executive director to request Worship Ministries to continue to curate and provide resources to the churches that help congregations in matters of racial injustice to lament, confess, and receive assurance of pardon in corporate worship.
Grounds:
- a. Worship in the Reformed tradition has historically included confession of sin and assurance of our pardon. As Jesus’ church, we model confession for one another and the world around us as we regularly confess all our sin, individually and corporately, including attitudes and actions of racism, disordered ethnic pride, white supremacy, systemic racism, and any sin that destroys the unity given us in Christ.
- b. The Heidelberg Catechism supports the need for confession and repentance in Question and Answer 89: “What is the dying-away of the old self? To be genuinely sorry for sin and more and more to hate and run away from it.”
With this assignment in mind, the following list of resources around racial reconciliation and diversity will be updated regularly to help your church engage the work of anti-racism. This page has resources to help your church pray over, lament, and commit to addressing racial injustice in our churches, our communities, and our world. We are grateful for partner organizations that have already done exceptionally good work on this and recommend you search their resources for valuable tools and ways to continue learning.
Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Zeteo (formerly the Preaching and Worship website)
RACIAL RECONCILIATION
Prayer of Lament incorporating Psalm 13
Worship Resources About Racism and Racial Reconciliation
Prayers and Litanies About Racism
Resources for Worship That Are Inclusive of All Races
Lent Resource: Praying Through the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Prayers for Indigenous Ministries Sunday
A Prayer for the Suicide Crisis in Indigenous Communities
Resources in Chinese, Arabic, French
MULTICULTURAL WORSHIP
Strategies Towards Multicultural Worship
Multicultural Worship: It's Not Just About Style
RECONCILIATION AND UNITY
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