CLEVELAND (02/19/2008) -- The Worship Ways prayer for Amistad Sunday, observed on March 9th, the fifth Sunday of Lent, has been posted to the Connecticut Conference web site. Written in poetry by the Rev. Dr. Bernard R. Wilson, Senior Minister of Norfield Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in Weston, the prayer reflects on the challenges met by the Amistad captives of the nineteenth century and those who aided them, going on to say "that we cannot rest on remembering."
Amistad Sunday this year falls during the Freedom Schooner Amistad's Atlantic Freedom Tour, which began the day before the UCC's General Synod opened in Hartford in June. Amistad has already visited Canada, England, and Sierra Leone, and is currently in the Cape Verde Islands, off the African coast. On March 9, Amistad should be at sea on her voyage to Barbados in the Caribbean, following the infamous course of the Triangle Trade which brought so many enslaved Africans to the western hemisphere, and which left so many dead along the way.
The contemporary Amistad is a floating classroom, teaching about the Atlantic slave trade while specifically recalling the Amistad Incident of 1839, when 53 Mendi took control of the coasting schooner bringing them to a plantation in Cuba from Havana. The ex-slaves ordered the crew to sail back to Africa, but were unable to navigate themselves and were intercepted by a US Revenue Service vessel off Long Island. There followed a lengthy legal battle, which eventually went to the US Supreme Court. The legal efforts were organized and supported by members of the Amistad Committee, drawn in great part from members of Connecticut's Congregational Churches, notably First Church of Christ in Farmington where the Mendi lived for quite some time. In the end, the court ordered the former captives repatriation to their homes in contemporary Sierra Leone.
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| We Cannot Rest on Remembering, PDF format (108K) |
Out of the depths we cry to you, O God,
because the injustice in our world is too much to behold and bear.
We cry out for those who are abused, enslaved, raped and treated as less than your
children. We cry out for our brothers and sisters who are weak, exploited, suffering
and upon whom unspeakable acts of violence are committed daily.
We cry out to you for the children of our world who go hungry for no reason at all
when we possess the means to feed them all.
Today, we cry out to you to move us from despair about the challenges
in our lives and world and to empower us to bring your Divine love to all in need.
O God, in the words of the Psalmist hear our voices; be attentive to our prayers.
On this day when we commemorate the Amistad Event
and the 53 captives held aboard it ... we pause to give you thanks
for their faith, legacy and inspiration.
We remember also the faithful believers of our church
who took up the Amistad cause and fought to secure
the inalienable rights that are endowed by you.
And yet, O God we know that we cannot rest on remembering
because you call upon each and every one of us to act
to make a difference in our world today.
Lord, if we are to respond to the challenges of our world
we need you to move us with your Holy Spirit,
the same spirit that charged the Amistad captives
to stand up for the freedom that was rightly theirs.
God, we are your people and this is your church;
you challenge us to act as your presence in this world:
in a world groping in the night of despair
you've given to your church the Light of hope to shine.
In a world where people are living behind walls that divide
and doors that are locked you've given your church
the Keys to the Kingdom to unlock those doors.
God, we give you thanks for the gift of our Savior Jesus Christ,
whose love and compassion
gives us strength for today and hope for tomorrow
and in whose name we lift this prayer. Amen.
"We Cannot Rest on Remembering" was written by the Rev. Dr. Bernard R. Wilson, Senior Minister of Norfield Congregational Church, United Church of Christ of Weston, Connecticut.
Copyright 2008 Local Church Ministries, Worship and Education Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115-1100. Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education. All publishing rights reserved.
