African-American Liturgical Traditions
2002 Reston, Virginia
2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
Convener 2002
Scott Haldeman (assistant professor of Worship, Chicago Theological Seminary)
Seminar Participants 2002
Kathleen Dorsey Bellow, Joseph Donnella, Edward Gabriele, Scott Haldeman, Rawn Harbor, Fred Holper, Kenneth Louis, Eva Lumas, Helen McConnell, Mary McGann, J-Glenn Murray, Clarence Rivers, James Schellman, John West, and Ruth Teena Williams
Seminar Report 2002
In Reston, the work of the group revolved around five major foci:
- the Berakah celebration in honor of Clarence R.J. Rivers;
- Liturgiam authenticam, from a distinctly African American perspective;
- an anaphora written by Clarence Rivers;
- liturgical aspects of the founding of Mother Bethel and St. Thomas Episcopal Church; and
- The African American Heritage Hymnal (GIA, 2000).
At the invitation of Gabe Huck as president of the Academy, John West, J-Glenn Murray, Mary McGann, Melva Costen, and Eva Lumas contributed to the preparation of the opening evening. Thanking them along with two of our guests, Kenneth Louis and Rawn Harbor who also participated, the group discussed the success of integrating the entire evening (assembly song, Berakah, and memorial service), the importance of procession, and other embodied action on the part of the assembly and the power of unapologetic ritualization in a particular cultural idiom to elicit active participation by the entire Academy membership. With Clarence Rivers, who shared with us a question his bishop often asks him after a liturgy where he presides, “Does it always have to be so grand?” we answered corporately, “Yes, if at all possible.”
J-Glenn Murray asked for our help in identifying aspects of Liturgiam authenticam of particular interest to African-American Roman Catholics. After reading together exemplary passages from the document, we discussed troubling claims such as that the Roman Rite is uniquely trans-, or even supra-, cultural; that new norms surrounding the composition of new texts are required to protect the integrity of the liturgy; and that translations must follow the editio typica in a manner that will make coherent translations difficult, if not impossible. Then, looking through African-American eyes, we were able to say, among other things, that this bid for centralization of all matters liturgical revokes the promise of the final step in inculturation—organic growth of new texts and rites that honor the African-American experience; that the call for new, more “faithful” translations from Latin into English both delays continuing efforts toward inculturation and denies cultural variety among English speakers; and that, far from being free of cultural baggage, the Roman Rite will continue to be experienced by African-Americans and others throughout the globe as culturally imperialistic, denying many the means to participate fully in the worship of God.
Rawn Harbor accompanied while Clarence Rivers sang his anaphora and the rest of us joined in the sung responses. The text juxtaposes images of Christ as Lion of Judah and Paschal Lamb, engaging the assembly in the rehearsal of acts of courage and self-giving as the people approach the table.
Scott Haldeman shared preliminary findings on liturgical aspects of the situation in Philadelphia in the late eighteenth century when Richard Allen and Absalom Jones left St. George’s Methodist Church because of the racism of the congregation. Allen and Jones, with a small group of “freedmen” and women then reassembled, first, as the Free African Society and, later, in two independent congregations, Mother Bethel and St. Thomas. Debates over forms of worship are involved throughout the story. Members of the group provided helpful responses and suggestions of bibliographic sources and questions for further research. The discussion centered on early African American burial practices since access to cemeteries and dignified treatment of the dead was a central concern, the relationship of hymnals to the spirituals which were not written down or published until the late nineteenth century, and the reasons various decisions might have been made to preserve or reform liturgical texts inherited from the white churches.
Finally, in an inter-seminar conversation with the music group we again gathered around the piano to consider the African American Heritage Hymnal. After preliminary remarks on the history of the project by Bob Batastini, Helen McConnell offered a review that praised the richness of the book as a liturgical as well as musical resource while also raising questions about minor flaws in indexing, a few lacuna in the repertoire, and the overwhelmingly masculine language for both God and God’s people throughout the book. James Abbington, a member of the editorial board, then invited us to sing some of the selections chosen for this collection that have not been published widely before: a variety of less familiar spirituals, examples of the call and response form, traditional and contemporary gospel selections, and recent service music.