Valuable not only for their sublime musical expression, the African American spirituals provide profound insights into the human condition and Christian life. Many spirituals focus on the climax of the Christian drama, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the ways in which those events bring about the liberation of Gods people.In these devotions for the season of Lent, Luke A. Powery leads the reader through the spirituals as they confront the mystery of Christs atoning ...

Living the Questions of the Bible presents questioning as a viable and faithful Christian practice. We may think the Bible is only about getting answers, but the Bible is also a question book, revealing how the life of faith is a quest with and for God. By exploring various passages in the Bible, this book attempts to invite readers into an interrogative spirituality, one in which we learn that even God questions. Faith seeks and keeps on seeking. It may reach understanding, or it may not....

Discussions of racial difference always embody a story. The dominant story told in our society about race has many components, but two stand out: (1) racial difference is an essential characteristic, fully determining individual and group identity; and (2) racial difference means that some bodies are less human than others.The church knows another story, says Luke Powery, if it would remember it. That story says that the diversity of human bodies is one of the gifts of the Spirit. ...

That the Holy Spirit is present in preaching is something we take for granted. How the Spirit is present is a question we seldom ask. Luke Powery suggests that we fail to ask that question to the detriment of our preaching. Drawing on the tradition of African American preaching, he locates the Spirit’s activity in the sermon in two primary places; First, in celebration, the joyous acceptance of God’s gifts to the church and to the world. But equally as powerful is the expression of lament,...

From Nicaea to now: rediscovering how the Triune God shapes faithful ministry in a modern world.In this illuminating collection marking the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, distinguished scholars and ministry practitioners from Duke Divinity School explore how Trinitarian faith continues to transform Christian identity and practice. Moving beyond abstract formulations, this volume demonstrates the enduring power of Nicene confession to shape faithful wi...

Valuable not only for their sublime musical expression, the African American spirituals give us profound insights into the human condition and the Christian life. Many focus on an essential scene of the Christian drama: the coming of God as the child in Bethlehem and as the hope of the world and the liberator of God's oppressed people.In these devotions for the season of Advent, Luke Powery leads the reader through the spirituals as they confront the mystery of incarnation and rede...

During times of deep trouble, God generates new and creative ways to break through the fear and pain to get to us even as we seek to get to God. Recent crises are unparalleled and world-changing. Life is a terminal condition. What we say on Sunday morning matters. Nothing is more important than communicating the power and presence of the living God, who for us and our broken dying world is strength, hope, healing, and salvation. And yet, the age-old challenge of how to name God in our worl...

Designed to empower preachers as they lead their congregations to connect their lives to Scripture, Connections features a broad set of interpretive tools that provide commentary and worship aids on the Revised Common Lectionary.For each worship day within the three-year lectionary cycle, the commentaries in Connections link the individual lection reading with Scripture as a whole as well as to the larger world. In addition, Connections places each Psalm ...

Designed to empower preachers as they lead their congregations to connect their lives to Scripture, Connections features a broad set of interpretive tools that provide commentary and worship aids on the Revised Common Lectionary.For each worship day within the three-year lectionary cycle, the commentaries in Connections link the individual lection reading with Scripture as a whole as well as to the larger world. In addition, Connections places each Psalm ...

The story of the good Samaritan in Luke 10 is one of Jesus's most well-known parables. It continues to fascinate readers with its powerful imagery and ethical significance.In this exposition, New Testament scholar Emerson Powery shows how this classic and beloved text can speak afresh to the life of the church today. Powery explains that in every generation, followers of Jesus need to be reminded that mercy is a natural consequence of faith. Jesus's parable of the good Samaritan em...

Journey inside the pages of Scripture to meet a personal God who enters individual lives and begins a creative work from the inside out. Shaped with the individual in mind, Immersion encourages simultaneous engagement both with the Word of God and with the God of the Word to become a new creation in Christ.Immersion, inspired by a fresh translation--the Common English Bible--stands firmly on Scripture and helps readers explore the emotional, spiritual, an...

What can preachers do to help congregants navigate everyday life with the courage, imagination, and savvy it takes to testify in action and word to God's mercy and justice?Christianity's witness depends on credible Christian lives carried out in ordinary settings of everyday life. Sunday's Sermon for Monday's World helps preachers design sermons that equip believers to act with improvisational, creative courage in the ordinary settings of their Monday-to-Saturday lives.