Other Books by William Powell Tuck
Facing Grief and Death
The Struggle For Meaning (editor)
Knowing God: Religious Knowledge in the Theology of John Baillie
Our Baptist Tradition
Ministry: An Ecumenical Challenge (editor)
Getting Past the Pain
A Glorious Vision
The Bible As Our Guide For Spiritual Growth (editor)
Authentic Evangelism
The Lord’s Prayer Today
The Way for All Seasons
Through the Eyes of a Child
Christmas Is for the Young…Whatever Their Age
Love as a Way of Living
The Compelling Faces of Jesus
The Left Behind Fantasy
The Ten Commandments: Their Meaning Today
Facing Life’s Ups and Downs
The Church In Today’s World
The Church Under the Cross
Modern Shapers of Baptist Thought in America
The Journey to the Undiscovered Country: What’s Beyond Death?
A Pastor Preaching: Toward a Theology of the Proclaimed Word
The Pulpit Ministry of the Pastors of River Road Church, Baptist (editor)
The Last Words from the Cross
Lord, I Keep Getting a Busy Signal: Reaching for
a Better Spiritual Connection
Overcoming Sermon Block: The Preacher’s Workshop
A Revolutionary Gospel: Salvation in the Theology of Walter Rauschenbusch
Holidays, Holy Days, and Special Days: Preaching through the Year
Star Thrower: A Pastor’s Handbook
PRAISE FOR A POSITIVE WORD FOR CHRISTIAN LAMENTING
William Tuck’s A Positive Word for Christian Lamenting is an eminently practical work of pastoral theology, drawing on his years of preaching experience and pastoral service. I would especially recommend it for one who is new to pastoral ministry. Each “first funeral,” for one late in life, for suicide or disease or accident or early in life, can be a frightening endeavor. This volume is filled with examples of funeral sermons for just such occasions. Reading it is like sitting with the author for personal consultation. The preface alone is worth purchasing the book! There are other books on the funeral as an industry and as a concept, but if the reader’s questions is, “What do I say?” this is the place to find an answer.
Rev. Dr. David Moffett-Moore, Sr.
Pastor for Portage United Church of Christ, Portage MI, author of The Jesus Manifesto: A Participatory Study Guide to the Sermon on the Mount and Wind and Whirlwind: Being a Pastor in a Storm of Change
From years of rich pastoral experience comes a book of twenty-six homilies addressing a wide variety of losses including a difficult murder and suicide, the death of a child, a death at Christmas time, and the losses of his own mother and father. Tuck well exceeds his stated goal of assisting in the grieving process and celebrating life. His homilies are full of grace, creativity, and solid biblical exegesis. While many books on funerals offer good generic material, I have found none that speak to such a wide range of losses with such insight and sensitivity. This is a book not only for ministers but for all of those who would like to better understand their own grief and better understand how to stand with others who grieve. It is indeed a positive and most instructive word for Christian lamenting.
Dr. Ronald Higdon
Pastor Emeritus Broadway Baptist Church, Louisville, KY and author of Surviving a Son’s Suicide and In Changing Times: A Guide for Reflection and Celebration
Everybody, sooner or later, will walk through the darkest valley – the valley of the shadow of death. And every pastor, sooner or later, will stand before family and friends to offer a message that incorporates aspects of the deceased’s life and accentuates the Resurrection. Sometimes the pastor isn’t sure how to say what needs to be said. I know first-hand. As a second-year seminary student serving a student pastorate I was informed of the completed suicide of a parishioner. Unsure of myself and how to approach the funeral I went to my preaching professor, Bill Tuck, who took the time to help me so I could be of help in that situation – especially the funeral. Now, more than 35 years later, my mentor – a seasoned author-pastor-preacher-teacher-theologian – presents a wonderful gift that offers exceptional insight on how to speak a word about the person and incorporate a faithful proclamation of the Gospel in the same setting. In A Positive Word for Christian Lamenting, Tuck provides 26 unique homilies addressing various situations and circumstances surrounding death. Not only is Tuck’s work a must for pastors and professional care-givers, it is a good resource for anybody who has walked or is walking or will walk through the darkest valley. Sooner or later it will happen if it hasn’t already. And Bill Tuck’s book enables a mourner to engage a lament that is positively Christian.
Dr. Jimmy Gentry
Senior Pastor, Garden Lakes Baptist Church, Rome, GA
A POSITIVE WORD FOR CHRISTIAN LAMENTING
FUNERAL HOMILIES
William Powell Tuck
Energion Publications
Gonzalez, FL
2016
Copyright © 2016, William Powell Tuck
Some Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (NRSV), copyright © 1989 by the Division of the Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA.
Scripture quotations marked NEB are taken from the New English Bible, copyright © Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press 1961, 1970. All rights reserved.
Some Scriptures are the author’s translations.
ePub Edition:
ISBN13: 978-1-63199-318-3
Print Edition:
ISBN10: 1-63199-273-2
ISBN13: 978-1-63199-273-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016950335
Energion Publications
P. O. Box 841
Gonzalez, FL 32560
energion.com
