Nov. 6th – Amazing Grace: Hymn Texts for Devotional Use By Bert Polman. This collection of familiar hymn texts offers readers an opportunity to read and enjoy the language and poetry of their favorite hymns free of the encumbering musical notation. Reading the hymn texts is spiritually enriching and will also enable the reader to sing the hymns with greater understanding. You can order this book at the PCUSA web store or an amazon.
Feb 26th – Songs We Should Remember, Truth We Can’t Forget: 50 Devotions from Negro Spirituals and Gospel Songs. Your Granny had more than “old time religion”. She had a solid foundation of biblical truth. And much of it was passed down through the words of Black sacred music. The Spirituals and traditional Gospel songs that the old folks used to sing are filled with wonderful truth from the scripture and priceless heritage from the Black cultural tradition. Songs We Should Remember guides you through 50 days of devotional reading to explore and celebrate the rich biblical truth found in Black sacred music.
Nov. 26th: Rise Up Shepherd! Advent Reflections on the Spirituals By Luke A. Powery
Valuable not only for their sublime musical expression, the African American spirituals give us profound insights into the human condition and the Christian life. Many focus on an essential scene of the Christian drama: the coming of God as the child in Bethlehem as the hope of the world and the liberator of God’s oppressed people.
In these devotions for the season of Advent, Luke Powery leads the reader through the spirituals as they confront the mystery of incarnation and redemption. In Rise Up, Shepherd, each devotion features the lyrics of the spiritual, a reflection on the spiritual’s meaning, a Scripture verse, and a brief prayer.