How does the minister in God's Trombones by James Weldon Johnson use words to engage his congregation?

One of the more interesting aspects of the sermons is the way the preacher uses familiar terminology. Take, for example, the section "Listen Lord—A Prayer." The speaker first compares the people to empty pitchers waiting to be filled by the Lord. When praying for the preacher the speaker asks the man of God to be kept safe from the devil's gunshot. Although it is doubtful that the devil actually has a gun, the people listening to this prayer were well aware the damage and death that a bullet could bring about.

Another example of this use of familiar terminology is the speaker's cry for the Lord to use turpentine to clean the imagination of the preacher. Turpentine was a medicinal liquid used to clean infection from wounds and rid the body of parasites. This liquid medicine was commonly found in the homes of the people listening to this prayer and was commonly used by them.

A final example of this familiar terminology used by the preacher giving these sermons can be found in the sermon "The Creation." At the end of this sermon God is described as a mammy, or mother, leaning over to care for her baby. The idea of the mammy would have been very familiar to these people as they often watched the mothers of their own families caring for their children. In addition, black women also often cared for the children in other people's families and were referred to as being a "mammy" to those children.