Blue Note Preaching in a Post-Soul World: Finding Hope in an Age of Despair

"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."
â€"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.

Otis Moss III is Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois. An ordained minister in the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the United Church of Christ, he is the author of The Gospel according to The Wiz: And Other Sermons from Cinema and coauthor, with his father Otis Moss Jr., of Preach! The Power and Purpose behind Our Praise. His sermons and writings have appeared in numerous publications.