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    Mary Had a Baby: An Advent Bible Study Based on African American Spirituals
    Mary Had a Baby: An Advent Bible Study Based on African American Spirituals
    Mary Had a Baby: An Advent Bible Study Based on African American Spirituals
    Ebook72 pages58 minutes

    Mary Had a Baby: An Advent Bible Study Based on African American Spirituals

    By Dr. Cheryl Kirk-Duggan and Marilyn E. Thornton

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    About this ebook

    Mary Had a Baby: An Advent Bible Study Based on African American Spirituals, written by Marilyn E. Thornton with material from the first edition by Cheryl Kirk-Duggan. Mary Had a Babyhas four sessions, one for each week of Advent, and is perfect for small groups, Sunday school, midweek sessions, and choir workshops. Each lesson includes Scripture, song lyrics, devotional and contextual information, and discussion questions to stimulate deepening faith and a sense of community. The book includes leader helps. The four spirituals featured in Mary Had a Baby are “Mary Had a Baby,” “Rise Up Shepherd and Follow,” “Children, Go Where I Send Thee, “ and “Go, Tell It on the Mountain.” A mp3 file of the four songs is available free with purchase of the study.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAbingdon Press
    Release dateSep 16, 2014
    ISBN9781630880064
    Mary Had a Baby: An Advent Bible Study Based on African American Spirituals
    Author

    Dr. Cheryl Kirk-Duggan

    Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan is Professor of Theology and Women's Studies and Director of Women's Studies at Shaw University Divinity School in Raleigh, North Carolina. She has authored many books, including Mary Had a Baby and Undivided Soul, both published by Abingdon Press.

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      Book preview

      Mary Had a Baby - Dr. Cheryl Kirk-Duggan

      9781630880064_Cover.jpg

      Title Page

      4469.png

      Copyright Page

      MARY HAD A BABY

      AN ADVENT BIBLE STUDY BASED ON AFRICAN AMERICAN SPIRITUALS

      Copyright © 2014 by Abingdon Press

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to Permissions Office, 201 Eighth Avenue, South, P. O. Box 801, Nashville, Tennessee 37202-0801, faxed to 615-749-6128, or e-mailed to: permissions@abingdonpress.com.

      Scripture quotations in this publication, unless noted otherwise, are from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by the Common English Bible. All rights reserved. Used by permission. www.CommonEnglishBible.com.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      ISBN: 978-1-426-79551-0

      14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 — 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      Contents

      Contents

      Opening Meditation

      Introduction

      Lesson One: Mary Had a Baby

      Lesson Two: Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow

      Lesson Three: Children, Go Where I Send Thee

      Lesson Four: Go, Tell It on the Mountain

      Leader Guide

      Opening Meditation

      Opening Meditation

      Advent

      It is a time of expectation and anxiety.

      It is a day when we tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love.

      We remember how you came, Lord, and we anxiously await your return.

      You promised to return, and like Israel in the days of old, we expectantly await the fulfillment of your promise.

      It is hard down here, Lord, and we know that you know all about it.

      They treated you mean; treat us mean too!

      Your body [would be] broken, but you came anyway.

      They made you be born in a manger, but you came anyway.

      Our eyes was blind, but you came anyway.

      We didn’t know who you were.

      And so, sweet, little Jesus boy, we gather today, looking for you to show up in our celebration [and in our study], as we wait for you to come again,

      All grown up, with all power in your hands. Hallelujah!

      All rights reserved, © Marilyn E. Thornton, 2007. Used by permission.

      Introduction

      Introduction

      The birth of Jesus is celebrated in many kinds of songs: carols, hymns, oratorios and cantatas, and the African American spiritual. And yet the season of Advent is not just preparation for the Christmas season: putting up decorations, buying presents, baking treats, and lighting candles. The Advent season is the preparation in our hearts for the second coming of Jesus Christ. The season serves as our confession that even though we did not know who Jesus was when God came wrapped in flesh the first time, we are cultivating a value system that embraces the hope, joy, transformation, and communal healing that will be realized when Christ returns. African American spirituals provide an excellent medium by which to cross the divide between the first and second coming of Christ. Through them, all people can come to a better understanding of the unconditional love, justice, mercy, hope, faith, and community that Jesus brings for the flourishing of all God’s children.

      The African American spiritual represents a unique form in sacred music. The theology of spirituals speaks not only of God who sits high and looks low but one who profoundly and unequivocally identifies with those experiencing a world of cruelty, injustice, poverty, racism, and oppression. As the spiritual Sweet Little Jesus Boy describes, They treat you mean, Lord; treat me mean, too! But that’s the way it is down here. As a song form, the spiritual reflects the African origins, social context, musical vocabulary, Christian ethos, and biblical knowledge of the enslaved black people who created it. The songs in this Advent study point to the Messiah/Christ, about whom Isaiah prophesied: Nations will come to your light and kings to your dawning radiance (Isaiah 60:3). Yes, in the midst of opposites being drawn together, God’s pulling down the powerful, lifting up the lowly, feeding the hungry, and sending the rich away empty (Luke 1:52-53) a little child—whom Christians believe to be sweet, little Jesus boy, Mary’s baby—will lead them (Isaiah 11:6).

      Mary Had a Baby: An Advent Bible Study Based on African American Spirituals utilizes four songs: Mary Had a Baby, Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow, Children, Go Where I Send Thee, and Go, Tell It on the Mountain. The lessons will engage the birth narratives of Christ as found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke and will invite us to a time of rebirth and renewal, to not only welcome the Christ Child but the coming Reign of God. Prepare your heart by listening to and singing along with the downloadable selections, by interpreting the lyrics, by searching the

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