Ready or not, here it comes! The first Sunday of advent is upon us. Whether you are following the RCL with its apocalyptic Advent 1, the Narrarive Lectionary with the lesser-known Habakkuk who somehow manages to speak right into current events, or a series of your own making, now is the time!
Bring your ideas, half-baked or otherwise, and join them to the snacks and ideas of your colleagues! I have Christmas Percy Pigs to share to get the creative juices flowing!
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Teri Peterson is a minister in the Church of Scotland, and she has spent her week alternately freaking out about the imminent arrival of advent and wondering whether to put white or coloured lights on the (as-yet-nonexistent) Christmas tree, which she hopes the cat will not think of as a new toy.
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I woke early this morning to work on sermon because it didn’t happen earlier this week. Habakkuk is habakkicking my butt at the moment.
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Afternoon here now on a very quiet day in the house. I had not realized how much I needed that.
Preaching slightly off lectionary all month (well, three weeks) so I can focus on preparation for my interim (ELCA) congregation which is chomping at the bit to call a new pastor. Tomorrow, Malachi and John the Baptist, 2nd reading — talking about openness, letting go, and hope. And each week I am introducing a spiritual practice for them to try during the week.
Tomorrow afternoon I get to preach the charge to the )PCUSA) congregation for a friend’s installation as associate pastor, and I am way excited about that!
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Robin, love the spiritual practices idea.
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I have abandoned the lectionaries because they werenāt working for me…but I had already told people about the NL reading prophets in advent, so I kept that at least, while constructing a series about God With Us. Tomorrow Iāll be pondering the bad and good shepherd of Ezekiel 34.
I have not actually gotten as far as writing a sermon, or even coming up with a plan for said sermon, other than that it canāt be too long (because the reading is lengthy), and it is a communion Sunday so I need to get there somehow…..
Naturally that means I spent my afternoon up in town at the Christmas market, which was mobbed! But the food was yummy, the things were pretty, and the atmosphere festive without being freezing or raining, so I think it was worth it. Now to just have some dinner (I confess to ordering a curry for delivery because I couldnāt be bothered to cook), watch Strictly Come Dancing, and then get to work! š¤£
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Teri, I’m so glad I’m not alone in my ability to procrastinate š
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Teri, I similarly (mostly) abandoned the lectionaries and constructed a series on Peace. Which seemed like a great idea a couple of weeks ago. So this week is the Micah text about the “one of peace” from Bethlehem, paired with John the Baptist in Luke 3. And that’s all I’ve got. Three days of jury duty this week threw me way off, and I have accomplished almost nothing today. I’m watching a football game as we speak. I think it’s going to be a late night here.
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I am back preaching after an 8 week hiatus. My last interim ended September 30 (preaching wise) and tomorrow is my first Sunday in this interim. I am using the Luke text and adding Luke 1: 1-4 to it and focusing on telling stories. That will allow me a place to share a little bit more than what they got in the bio and then I open it up for them to ask questions to me. That worked really well in the last interim and so I am hopeful. Last night we had a Hanging of the Greens and this afternoon a hospital call.
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i am preaching on Habakkuk. sermon is here
with an hour to leave home on Sunday morning for the first service, i have just had a new idea, sigh.
at the first service we are baptising, and both services is communion.
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Sticking with the rcl for Advent. What stood out for me was an invitation to transformation, so tomorrow is “New Vision:Staying Awake,” with the idea that Advent hope comes with a new way of seeing and heightened awareness. Next week is “New Hearts,” and I’m toying with an idea. A 30-year-old member had open heart surgery on Tuesday to correct several congenital defects. When her heart was restarted, she immediately felt the renewed strength, and realizes that what she assumed was normal up to now is utterly changed. I’m thinking of asking if she’d be willing to try a dialogue sermon without taxing her too much.
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What an awesome idea. I hope she feels up to doing a dialog because this is such as great way of looking at Advent.
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I am just about ready for bed… picking up on Rachel’s RCL post on Tuesday I saw afresh the parable of the fig tree in Luke showing us God’s Kingdom is now!
I have created a series from Advent 1 – Epiphany 2 with “Be…” as title each week. This week – Be Alert!
It is up on my blog here: https://julie-acountrygirl.blogspot.com/2018/12/be-alert.html
There will be visitors in the congregation tomorrow… and I expect it to be a little busier than usual – so definitely time for sleep now
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I was going to preach on the Jeremiah text, but reading your sermon and Rachel’s thoughts, like you I’m starting to see the Fig tree afresh…particularly when I feel like I’ve been reminding people a lot lately that God is still present with us in the midst of chaos. Hmmm…we shall see. It’s only 7 pm Sat local time, I still have 14 hours before I need to print my sermon and leave š
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Preaching a series based on a book of Advent services from F. Belton Joyner, Jr. All of the weeks focus on how unlikely our story is. This week: Jesus the Unlikely Image of God. Reading part of Genesis 1 and Colossians 1:11-20. How the creation story was so different from other ancient stories, how a baby Jesus being the image of God is so different from what people expected. How unlikely our story always sounds when compared to the current cultural point of view. Not entirely happy with it yet, but heck it’s only 6:30 and who knows what might happen as I noodle on it for a bit during dinner.
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Our first really good snowstorm started earlier today, and the predictions have it continuing through tomorrow afternoon. However, we only have 4 inches or so right now, so I’m guessing roads will be passable by morning and we can hold our Hanging of the Green as scheduled. There’s a potluck to follow, so my pumpkin bread pudding is in the oven.
We are following Marcia McFee’s “Calm and Bright” Advent series this year, tying each week to a verse from “Silent Night, Holy Night”. She jumbles up the traditional Advent themes a bit, to make them fit with the verses of the hymn. It will be interesting next week to celebrate Joy – I think we will light the rose colored candle and hear the Magnificat a week early!
Meanwhile, I am not preaching tomorrow, and that means I actually had a Saturday “off” – we set up the Advent wreath and the tree, and watched sports all afternoon. What a blessing to rest!
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It’s 11 p.m. here, and I’ve finally finished after wrestling mightily with the Jeremiah and Luke texts this week. Have mercy! Now to bed. Tomorrow morning will come early.
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