In Getting to God: Preaching Good News in a Troubled World, Professor Luke A. Powery and co-authors Joni Sancken and John Rottman demonstrate how preachers can proclaim God's grace in our world today by building on the theological grammar and preaching method proposed by Paul Scott Wilson.
During times of deep trouble, the book argues, 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 world looms large.
Amidst the immense challenges of preaching today, three preachers and teachers of preaching show a way forward by walking readers through a sermon-creation process for specific challenging circumstances that gets to God. Sancken, Powery, and Rottman lead by example, showing preachers how to contextualize a theologically rich approach to preaching, expand the horizon of ministry, and equip preachers with a vital practice, that of learning to look for and name God's active presence in our world.
The Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery is the dean of Duke University Chapel and associate professor of homiletics at Duke Divinity School. His teaching and research interests are located at the intersection of preaching, worship, pneumatology, and culture, particularly expressions of the African diaspora. He is the author of Spirit Speech: Lament and Celebration in Preaching; Dem Dry Bones: Preaching, Death, and Hope; Rise Up, Shepherd! Advent Reflections on the Spirituals; and Were You There? Lenten Reflections on the Spirituals.