Ideas for Advent and Christmas
These ways into the scriptures of this season are offered in no particular order; they are simply things that have worked that use cultural memories - the underlying principle of this website.
Let the opening phrase startle in a suitably unexpected kind of way. "I saw it written on the wall above a urinal:
'Tomorrow is cancelled due to lack of interest.'"
The sermon went on to consider sloth/apathy as a psychological ruin out of which God calls his people (Isaiah 52.7-10):-
"… It is easy to look into the world and point out the sins that hold it in their power. It is no hard task to
condemn violence, rampant greed, dire poverty, the abuse of power and privilege. These things are the works of darkness, and they are there for all to see. But the Advent collect prays that WE may have the grace to cast away the
works of darkness. In the season of Advent we look to our own sins first. We are the ones who must rid ourselves of the works of darkness and in courage put on Christ's armour of light. Tomorrow won't do, it has got to be NOW - 'now in
the time of this mortal life.' I picked on sloth/apathy as a sin that besets us because we appear so half-hearted, so little aware of what the Gospel demands, so lacking in trust of the Gospel promises. But couldn't I have chosen any other of the so called sevendeadly sins? - the covetousness that refuses to be generous in goods or spirit, the pride that puts things or personal loyalties before God, the lust that breeds jealousy and ill will, the envy that cannot give place to anyone else, thegreed that confines the gifts and the talents that God gives solely to myself, the anger that turns aside God's
forgiveness and festers so that it threatens to destroy the soul. In this season of penitence let's look at ourselves - the ruins of our lives. It is from within the ruins that the prophet calls on the exiles to lift their eyes to the approaching herald of good news. In ruins lay their lives, but God has not abandoned his people - they should shout together in triumph, for out of the ashes God will deliver them to a new and rich life. Out of the ruins God can act. …"
Preach on some of Advent antiphons [Ecclesiasticus 24.3-9; Exodus 3.1-6; Isaiah 11.1-4a; Isaiah 22.21-23; Numbers 24.15b-17; Jeremiah 30.7-11a; Isaiah 7.14 and conclude with 'O come, O come, Emmanuel.' This is particularly effective if the texts are preached on but no explanation of their association is given prior to the singing of the hymn.
Recast the story say, of John the Baptist from the perspective of someone who knew him as a child - "Look what's happened to young Johnny …" Or again, might a shepherd boy have encountered the adult Jesus thirty years later? Such
extrapolations need to clearly earth one of the great themes of Christian theology.
Use symbolic explanations from past ages. For example, Ignatius of Antioch (c37-107) interpreted the
Epiphany story as the defeat of the powers of magic, fatalism and death. Myrrh = fatalism of death; gold = economic and political power; incense = intuition and all the things that go beyond words. This easily translates into some critical
contemporary issues.
Pair things in different ways. For example, fear and faith(Matthew 1.18-25); counting and chaos (Luke 2.1-14);
wilderness and vision (Advent 3 in Year A); dreams and terror (Christmas 1 Year A). Notice how often pairing is
used in the media to intrigue and entice the audience.
What's in a name? Jesus is the obvious prime target (Matthew 1.21) with its associations with wideness, opening
things out, spaciousness and liberation.
Use the analysis of a painting as a way into the text. The Web Gallery of Art http://www.wga.hu/ is a great place to find paintings dated from about 1100 up to 1850. The Text this Week http://www.textweek.com/ also has lots of links.
Provide each worshipper with a credit card sized reproduction (if reproduction is permitted and with acknowledgment) that can be kept for inspiration during the whole season.
Identify the metaphor and extend it. When Isaiah (40.3-4) describes a highway being built for God in the desert isn't the image that of the sapper? How may we be sappers for God; how is John the Baptist such a figure; and what saps does
God build to overcome our fortifications? See the Advent 2C script on this site.
Begin with what people are actually doing now. Who in the Biblical stories is actually ready for what happens? Arguably no one! Perhaps our more mundane struggles to get ready for our celebrations offers a way to understanding something of that first Christmas. It's much better to go for 'Christ comes, ready or not' than yet another condemnation of the commercialisation of the season.
Begin with what has actually happened to you at Christmas. This needs to be handled with care or it can come across as
self-serving, but if something has happenedto you that has brought home some part of Christian truth, tell people what it was. Here I don't mean as an illustration within a sermon, but as the sermon itself.
Make a gripping narrative of how grace has worked in someone else's life. It's best if you use a person you have actually known (made properly anonymous) and present the story in an extemporary style. For example, I've often spoken of a
woman who rang a youth group with scant support on an economically deprived estate. She stuck at it because she herself as a youngster had been rescued from a bad situation by a caring stranger. She became the one adult a particularly
difficult lad turned to in crisis.
Address the unspoken question. For example, Matthew 1.23 'the virgin shall conceive' really demands to be
preached on:
"Sex came as a shock to me. As a youngster I knew there was a difference between boys and girls but I had no idea why. My school best mate Andrew had a little sister, but I can't remember wondering why she was a girl and we were boys.
Physical origins weren't of vital interest to me. The physical origin of Jesus has been a vital concern of the Church from its
earliest days. According to the Council of Ephesus in 431 Mary is Theotokos - mother of God. She bore God; gave birth,
suckled, comforted, and nurtured. How can this be? …"
Begin with a contemporary issue upon which the incarnation has direct bearing or correlation:
On Luke 1.27 - "Too many 'virgins' conceive, that's the problem. Teenage conceptions in the UK have been running at 95,000 a year - the highest rate in Western Europe. …"
Use what is common cultural currency at this time of the year. For example, perfume advertisements are everywhere and the sales of fragrances and toiletries are vast. Trademarks and advertising slogans are a good way into the smells of
Christmas, and then to the scriptures:
"The shepherds were living in the fields, Luke tells us. Carrying sheep, untangling sheep,milking sheep, nursing
sheep, birthing sheep, and sleeping amongst the droppings of sheep. These good working folk stank of sheep - and probably goats too! A deep and lasting stench that went with them everywhere. This is where the glory of the Lord shone –
amidst the stink and labour of working folk whose lives are absolutely dependent on their closeness to their animals – in every sense. To them the good news comes – this is very specific – to you this born this day a Saviour. Not Givenchy but
greasy wool and grime. Not Estee Lauder but essence of muck and mess. nd will the stable be any sweeter? Of course not. You mix together eau de cow, donkey, and horse – don’t forget the camels outside. This is Cawblymie not Armani! And in the middle of it all a baby in trough from which theanimals fed. A baby in a manger. Do you get
it?…"
Don't forget the saints. For example, consideration of Saint Stephen gives a jolt to an overly sentimentalized celebration. Stephen is also a character who can be utilized alongside Wenceslas. Telling the two stories together I ended:
"…We celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace - let's dare to take the title literally - Jesus takes the inevitability out of human corruption and harm. Things don't have to be like this; there is another way - a Jesus shaped way that
says harm shall end here, death and despair is not all that awaits us, we can reconfigure this world and our own existence in the Jesus shape. We remember Stephen who didn't let anger have the last say.
But what of that other young man stabbed to death in a church doorway? The victim of power's abuse, jealousy's rage, and a family's dysfunction? A story too despairing to register even a faint protest at humanity's corruption. A story like a million
others. The sordid death of yet another youngster. Too squalid to allow us anything but a despairing shudder? NO, don't believe it. His memory lives on. His urge for the good, his care, his determined will to reconciliation, lives on. Spite and rage and violence did not have the last word in that blood stained doorway. You know his name. In English we call him Wenceslas. Like Stephen, Wenceslas lived the Jesus shaped way - he lived the blessing of the Prince of Peace. Shall we ourselves not find blessing?
'Tomorrow is cancelled due to lack of interest.'"
The sermon went on to consider sloth/apathy as a psychological ruin out of which God calls his people (Isaiah 52.7-10):-
"… It is easy to look into the world and point out the sins that hold it in their power. It is no hard task to
condemn violence, rampant greed, dire poverty, the abuse of power and privilege. These things are the works of darkness, and they are there for all to see. But the Advent collect prays that WE may have the grace to cast away the
works of darkness. In the season of Advent we look to our own sins first. We are the ones who must rid ourselves of the works of darkness and in courage put on Christ's armour of light. Tomorrow won't do, it has got to be NOW - 'now in
the time of this mortal life.' I picked on sloth/apathy as a sin that besets us because we appear so half-hearted, so little aware of what the Gospel demands, so lacking in trust of the Gospel promises. But couldn't I have chosen any other of the so called sevendeadly sins? - the covetousness that refuses to be generous in goods or spirit, the pride that puts things or personal loyalties before God, the lust that breeds jealousy and ill will, the envy that cannot give place to anyone else, thegreed that confines the gifts and the talents that God gives solely to myself, the anger that turns aside God's
forgiveness and festers so that it threatens to destroy the soul. In this season of penitence let's look at ourselves - the ruins of our lives. It is from within the ruins that the prophet calls on the exiles to lift their eyes to the approaching herald of good news. In ruins lay their lives, but God has not abandoned his people - they should shout together in triumph, for out of the ashes God will deliver them to a new and rich life. Out of the ruins God can act. …"
Preach on some of Advent antiphons [Ecclesiasticus 24.3-9; Exodus 3.1-6; Isaiah 11.1-4a; Isaiah 22.21-23; Numbers 24.15b-17; Jeremiah 30.7-11a; Isaiah 7.14 and conclude with 'O come, O come, Emmanuel.' This is particularly effective if the texts are preached on but no explanation of their association is given prior to the singing of the hymn.
Recast the story say, of John the Baptist from the perspective of someone who knew him as a child - "Look what's happened to young Johnny …" Or again, might a shepherd boy have encountered the adult Jesus thirty years later? Such
extrapolations need to clearly earth one of the great themes of Christian theology.
Use symbolic explanations from past ages. For example, Ignatius of Antioch (c37-107) interpreted the
Epiphany story as the defeat of the powers of magic, fatalism and death. Myrrh = fatalism of death; gold = economic and political power; incense = intuition and all the things that go beyond words. This easily translates into some critical
contemporary issues.
Pair things in different ways. For example, fear and faith(Matthew 1.18-25); counting and chaos (Luke 2.1-14);
wilderness and vision (Advent 3 in Year A); dreams and terror (Christmas 1 Year A). Notice how often pairing is
used in the media to intrigue and entice the audience.
What's in a name? Jesus is the obvious prime target (Matthew 1.21) with its associations with wideness, opening
things out, spaciousness and liberation.
Use the analysis of a painting as a way into the text. The Web Gallery of Art http://www.wga.hu/ is a great place to find paintings dated from about 1100 up to 1850. The Text this Week http://www.textweek.com/ also has lots of links.
Provide each worshipper with a credit card sized reproduction (if reproduction is permitted and with acknowledgment) that can be kept for inspiration during the whole season.
Identify the metaphor and extend it. When Isaiah (40.3-4) describes a highway being built for God in the desert isn't the image that of the sapper? How may we be sappers for God; how is John the Baptist such a figure; and what saps does
God build to overcome our fortifications? See the Advent 2C script on this site.
Begin with what people are actually doing now. Who in the Biblical stories is actually ready for what happens? Arguably no one! Perhaps our more mundane struggles to get ready for our celebrations offers a way to understanding something of that first Christmas. It's much better to go for 'Christ comes, ready or not' than yet another condemnation of the commercialisation of the season.
Begin with what has actually happened to you at Christmas. This needs to be handled with care or it can come across as
self-serving, but if something has happenedto you that has brought home some part of Christian truth, tell people what it was. Here I don't mean as an illustration within a sermon, but as the sermon itself.
Make a gripping narrative of how grace has worked in someone else's life. It's best if you use a person you have actually known (made properly anonymous) and present the story in an extemporary style. For example, I've often spoken of a
woman who rang a youth group with scant support on an economically deprived estate. She stuck at it because she herself as a youngster had been rescued from a bad situation by a caring stranger. She became the one adult a particularly
difficult lad turned to in crisis.
Address the unspoken question. For example, Matthew 1.23 'the virgin shall conceive' really demands to be
preached on:
"Sex came as a shock to me. As a youngster I knew there was a difference between boys and girls but I had no idea why. My school best mate Andrew had a little sister, but I can't remember wondering why she was a girl and we were boys.
Physical origins weren't of vital interest to me. The physical origin of Jesus has been a vital concern of the Church from its
earliest days. According to the Council of Ephesus in 431 Mary is Theotokos - mother of God. She bore God; gave birth,
suckled, comforted, and nurtured. How can this be? …"
Begin with a contemporary issue upon which the incarnation has direct bearing or correlation:
On Luke 1.27 - "Too many 'virgins' conceive, that's the problem. Teenage conceptions in the UK have been running at 95,000 a year - the highest rate in Western Europe. …"
Use what is common cultural currency at this time of the year. For example, perfume advertisements are everywhere and the sales of fragrances and toiletries are vast. Trademarks and advertising slogans are a good way into the smells of
Christmas, and then to the scriptures:
"The shepherds were living in the fields, Luke tells us. Carrying sheep, untangling sheep,milking sheep, nursing
sheep, birthing sheep, and sleeping amongst the droppings of sheep. These good working folk stank of sheep - and probably goats too! A deep and lasting stench that went with them everywhere. This is where the glory of the Lord shone –
amidst the stink and labour of working folk whose lives are absolutely dependent on their closeness to their animals – in every sense. To them the good news comes – this is very specific – to you this born this day a Saviour. Not Givenchy but
greasy wool and grime. Not Estee Lauder but essence of muck and mess. nd will the stable be any sweeter? Of course not. You mix together eau de cow, donkey, and horse – don’t forget the camels outside. This is Cawblymie not Armani! And in the middle of it all a baby in trough from which theanimals fed. A baby in a manger. Do you get
it?…"
Don't forget the saints. For example, consideration of Saint Stephen gives a jolt to an overly sentimentalized celebration. Stephen is also a character who can be utilized alongside Wenceslas. Telling the two stories together I ended:
"…We celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace - let's dare to take the title literally - Jesus takes the inevitability out of human corruption and harm. Things don't have to be like this; there is another way - a Jesus shaped way that
says harm shall end here, death and despair is not all that awaits us, we can reconfigure this world and our own existence in the Jesus shape. We remember Stephen who didn't let anger have the last say.
But what of that other young man stabbed to death in a church doorway? The victim of power's abuse, jealousy's rage, and a family's dysfunction? A story too despairing to register even a faint protest at humanity's corruption. A story like a million
others. The sordid death of yet another youngster. Too squalid to allow us anything but a despairing shudder? NO, don't believe it. His memory lives on. His urge for the good, his care, his determined will to reconciliation, lives on. Spite and rage and violence did not have the last word in that blood stained doorway. You know his name. In English we call him Wenceslas. Like Stephen, Wenceslas lived the Jesus shaped way - he lived the blessing of the Prince of Peace. Shall we ourselves not find blessing?