10 Ways to Preach the Advent Sunday Sermon
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Collect for the First Sunday in Advent, Book of Common Prayer (2019)
The first of the four Sundays in Advent is also the beginning of the Church Year. While the culture ramps up the Christmas Machine, the Church has a countercultural offer: slow down and anticipate Christmas with hope, not dread. Against the whirl of consumerism, adopt the steady rhythm of Advent. Enjoy the waiting game. Watch.
Here, I offer ten sermon prompts for the first Sunday of Advent, or Advent Sunday, which can also apply to the following three Sundays of Advent. This is the perfect season for a brief sermon series, a unified set of sermons unfolding over four Sundays.
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1. Isaiah the Christmas Prophet
Isaiah is the most important book during the season of Advent because Isaiah is the prophet who anticipates Christmas.
Seven hundred years before the coming of Christ, he paints a portrait of the awaited Messiah. Some of it is vivid, and parts are hazy. But all of it—the Child born, the Son given, the Government promised, the young Virgin, Emmanuel, and even the Suffering Servant—are astonishing visions or premonitions written seven centuries before the events they portray. When strung together like Christmas lights, Isaiah’s prophecies give ample opportunity to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
What’s more, you can show the power of Isaiah by focusing on the story of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-36). We are all like the Ethiopian who read Isaiah and wanted to know who it was about. Preacher, you take the role of Philip and explain that these passages tell the story of Jesus.
2. Four Types of Government
Isaiah 9:6 offers an easy structure for a four-week sermon series. Here’s the verse (emphasis mine):
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Each of these titles carries a deep meaning and application for our lives.
- The “Wonderful Counselor” speaks to the wisdom and guidance available to those who believe.
- “Mighty God” reflects God’s omnipotence and strength.
- “Everlasting Father” reminds us of the eternal nature of God’s care and constant presence.
- Lastly, “Prince of Peace” offers a promise of reconciliation and harmony, which is the hope of the world.
Together, these sermons would not only explore the character of the divine but also offer practical insights into living a life anchored by these truths.
3. The Second Coming
As a season of waiting, Advent also looks forward to the second coming of Christ. In fact, the traditional readings for the first Sunday of Advent often include Jesus’ apocalyptic teaching from Matthew 24, Mark 13, or Luke 21.
The key idea here is the certainty that Christ will come again, a truth we repeat in our liturgies and creeds. Jesus reveals some of the dramatic details of the end times, which can fascinate both the preacher and the congregation.
Of course, if you are like everyone who has ever lived, you will probably agree that we are getting closer and closer to the end! But remember, we must join with Jesus to emphasize that “concerning that day and hour no one knows” (Matthew 24:36).
4. The Greatest Man in the World
Another traditional figure for the season of Advent is John the Baptist.
John often gets short shrift in a lot of our preaching. I think he would have it that way. He was the forerunner for the Lord and was always willing to take a backseat to his cousin, Jesus. But surely, he deserves a sermon or two. Remember what Jesus thought about John? He said, “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John” (Luke 7:28).
A provocative sermon will ask why Jesus saw John as the greatest. The answer is John’s emphasis on repentance in preparation for the messiah’s coming. John understood the deep sinfulness of the human condition, which is why he called everyone to baptism. This sermon will call the congregation to keep Advent a holy season of repentance and messianic preparation.
5. Of Confidence and Conviction
Or consider another angle on John the Baptist. John is one of the most confident figures in the Bible. He lived his own way, preached a controversial message, and called even the religious and political leaders to repentance. He had one moment of doubt in prison, but that was the exception to prove the rule.
What accounts for John’s confidence?
John the Baptist knew who he was most powerfully and boldly because he clearly knew who Jesus was. He had that rare combination of assurance of his calling and the humility to serve others.
This is a transferable lesson for us. Our assurance and confidence in our life calling emerge from a clear conviction about who Jesus is. If we “get” right with him, we can “get” right with ourselves.
6. The Advent Wreath
There are many traditions around the Advent Wreath: the never-ending circle, the evergreen leaves, and the weekly lighting of a candle. I recommend that your church provide a written explanation of how you understand this annual practice and encourage each family to have a home version of the Advent Wreath. It would make a nice “tie-in” to a sermon series on hope, peace, joy, and love.
- First Candle: Hope: Romans 15:13; Jeremiah 29:11
- Second Candle: Peace: Philippians 4:6-7; Isaiah 26:3
- Third Candle: Joy: Psalm 16:11; James 1:2-3
- Fourth Candle: Love: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7; John 3:16
Going deeper into the tradition of the Advent Wreath, the lighting of the candles Sunday by Sunday reflects the anticipation of the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s a visual journey from prophecy to fulfillment. Furthermore, the culmination of the Advent Wreath tradition on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, when all four candles are lit, and the central candle known as the Christ Candle is lit, serves as a reminder of the light Christ brings into the world.
Some preachers may ask what Gospel reading should be read each week. My suggestion is to read the same Gospel text each week. My choice would be Luke 2:1-6.
7. Mary’s Faith & Determination
Mary is an obvious Advent figure; her experience of waiting for Jesus was the most personal of all.
This sermon focuses on Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary, detailed in Luke 1. The story here is Mary’s remarkable faith when confronted with an unexpected and miraculous pregnancy. By following God’s word, she accepts the world’s judgment, an equation that eventually confronts all Christian believers.
Sadly, I had an anti-Mary bias throughout much of my ministry because of the history of the Church and my Protestant sensibilities. But in the last few years, I have put aside anti-Mary things as childish. She has become an example of amazing strength, courage, and determination. I think Mary can still move us all.
8. All About Mary
Taking a new look at Mary, an Advent sermon series would be a spectacular way of introducing Jesus’ mother. Here are four sermon starters:
Week One: Jesus’ Ancestry of Women
This sermon would explain why Matthew’s genealogy cites four women, while the other side would have focused only on men. What is Matthew getting at? Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba (although she is not listed by name, only as the wife of Uriah) show us that the line of our Lord’s ancestry is complicated and colorful. While he was sinless, his ancestors were not. It also shows us that the women who would have been outcasts in their own day are some of the most important leaves in Jesus’ family tree.
Week Two: Mary, Did You Know?
This sermon would answer the ten questions posed in the popular contemporary Christmas song written by Mark Lowry in 1984. Your congregation knows the piece; it has been covered over 400 times by Christian and cross-over recording artists. The lyrics are a series of (nine) questions that would allow you to tell the story of Jesus uniquely and memorably—and the song’s climax (and your sermon) is the Cross.
Week Three: The Magnificat
Many in your congregation would be amazed at the revolutionary posture of the Song of Mary. Her sweet and shy reputation does not align with some of the insurrectionist and revolutionary ideas in the Canticle. A detailed study of the Magnificat could also address some of the Christian nationalist questions in our own day. It is a powerful point to make: God reverses people’s fortune seemingly overnight; there is no need to be proud of who you are because it all could come to naught.
Week Four: Let it Be
There is a Joan of Arc quality to Mary that could be the focus of a final sermon on Mary. Her courage, commitment, trust, and confidence are inspiring. Joan’s famous lines “I am not afraid… I was born to do this” and “Go forward bravely. Fear nothing. Trust in God: All will be well” seem like Mary’s courage first inspired them. I think a sermon like this could be offered during the season of Advent and then repeated on Mother’s Day. It can’t be said too often: the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Thank God for Mary (And mothers)!
9. The Bidding Prayer
The tradition of Lessons & Carols is one of the delights of the Advent and Christmas seasons. One of its most beautiful elements is its opening prayer, the “Bidding Prayer.” Whether in a sermon or elsewhere in your service, don’t miss the opportunity to share this with your congregation:
Beloved in Christ, in this season of Advent, let it be our care and delight to prepare ourselves to hear again the message of the Angels, and in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem, to see the Babe lying in a manger. Let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious Redemption brought us by his holy Child, and let us look forward to the yearly remembrance of his birth with hymns and songs of praise.
But first, let us pray for the needs of his whole world, for peace and goodwill over all the earth, for the mission and unity of the Church for which he died, and especially in this country and within this city. And because this of all things would rejoice his heart, let us at this time remember in his name the poor and the helpless; the hungry and the oppressed; the sick and those who mourn; the lonely and the unloved; the aged and the little children; and all those who know not the Lord Jesus, or who love him not, or who by sin have grieved his heart of love.
Lastly, let us remember before God his pure and lowly Mother, and all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore and in a greater light, that multitude which no one can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom, in this Lord Jesus, we for evermore are one.
10. The Carols of Christmas
Consider using the carols of Advent and Christmas as the launching point for an Advent sermon or series. I would never encourage a preacher to preach without a biblical text, but many of these Carols are jam-packed with Scripture and the story of the Incarnation.
For example, when you read the lyrics of “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” you see far more than a sweet children’s song. Set aside the music and read the text only. It is a deep and powerful poem with a powerful backstory.
The Carol was written by Philips Brooks, the Rector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. Brooks was a towering preacher of his day. The nation looked to him to make sense of the awful Civil War and to advocate for its end. His church was packed with families, but most of them had lost brothers, fathers, and husbands in the war. It was a hard time for the spiritual leader. It was 1860.
When the war ended, there was a glimmer of hope for peace, only to be destroyed by the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The nation again looked to Brooks to preach the sermon at the dead President’s memorial service. It all caught up to him—he was near burnout and exhaustion—and he was granted a leave of absence to travel Europe and the Middle East. Brooks rode on horseback in the Holy Land from Jerusalem to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. While he wrote the hymn a few years later as a children’s song (Holy Trinity had 1,000 children in their Sunday School!), the hymn reflects the hope he rediscovered on the streets of Bethlehem on that starry night.
Notice this line: “Yet in thy dark street shineth, the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” This carol may first read like an ode to a small town, but it provides incredible insight into our need for a savior and his holy birth among us. That’s the whole point of Advent.
Conclusion: Wake Them Up
A final rubric about the Season of Advent: I think most churches encourage their members to slow down and avoid the Christmas expense, extravagance, and extremes of consumerism. To underscore this idea, the order of service in Advent should be shockingly different. It should jar people awake. Move things around. Place the confession at the start of the service. As mentioned, use the Bidding Prayer instead of whatever prayer time is standard practice. Read the same short Gospel reading every week. Replace a song with a unison reading of the Magnificat one week and the Benedictus the next. Then, repeat for weeks three and four.
Enjoy these suggestions? Check out David Roseberry’s new book, 10 Ways to Preach the Church Year, for more suggestions on preaching the significant days of the Church Calendar. Get it exclusively at Amazon!
Photo by EyeEm Mobile GmbH from Stock. Digital editing by Jacob Davis.
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