Blue Note Preaching
Blue Note Preaching in a Post-Soul World: Finding Hope in an Age of Despair by
"Can preaching recover a Blues sensibility and dare speak
with authority in the midst of tragedy? America is living stormy Monday, but
the pulpit is preaching happy Sunday. The world is experiencing the Blues, and
pulpiteers are dispensing excessive doses of non-prescribed prosaic sermons
with severe ecclesiastical and theological side effects."
―from chapter 1
Uniquely
gifted preacher Otis Moss III helps preachers effectively communicate hope in a
desperate and difficult world in this new work based on his 2014 Yale Lyman
Beecher Lectures. Moss challenges preachers to preach with a "Blue Note
sensibility," which speaks directly to the tragedies faced by their
congregants without falling into despair. He then offers four powerful sermons
that illustrate his Blue Note preaching style. In them, Moss beautifully and
passionately brings to life biblical characters that speak to today's pressing
issues, including race discrimination and police brutality, while maintaining a
strong message of hope. Moss shows how preachers can teach their congregations
to resist letting the darkness find its way into them and, instead, learn to
dance in the dark.
