African-american Worship

Featuring vital and profound music and the energetic interchange of the spoken word, African-American worship is emotionally charged and integrated with all of life. All of the senses and many forms of expression are used to lament the trials of life and to celebrate the power of God in Christ. Of all the cultures which make up pluralistic society of the United States, the African American may capture best the wholistic view of worship. The African American worship service evokes all the ingredients of the human personality. Both in music and the spoken word, African Americans have resisted the taming of the senses and have allowed their worship to be a reflection of their entire existence-not merely a "spiritual" phenomenon that occurs in worship and is unrelated to everyday living. In order to understand the African American worship phenomenon, one must understand its history. It was religion that sustained the African American throughout the centuries of slavery and continues to…