Language 1.8.2026

    My goal as we start 2026 is to spend a little time “under the engine” of writing. Most of us need occasional reminders, in various areas of our lives, to keep us focused. For example, those of us who are married likely hear words all the time like “Pay attention!” “Please get the trash.” Or “What are you doing?” 

    This is not just a reality at home or in our personal lives. There are times we simply become comfortable with inattention or an unfocused approach to our work. Ministry requires concentration in all its aspects. I will get to specifics regarding writing and preaching shortly but let me also remind you that words are a currency you spend outside of sermons and lessons. We are always communicating. Most preachers are not shy or withdrawn. We meet people in our communities. People come to us for pastoral care and counseling. We write cards and letters—often addressed to people we don’t even know. People will make judgements about us based on whether the words we use match our high calling. 

    It is reflexive to think “What does it matter?” I am befuddled by those who do not want to do well at all aspects of their chosen profession. A short conversation at the gas station or dollar store may have eternal consequences and your ability to be articulate, friendly, and unthreatening is in fact, a part of the task. No one wants to be accused of being a boor or a bore. Be neither. Speak well. Don’t be a know it all but also don’t be a closeted ignoramus. You don’t engage in conversation in public to create conflict or to draw inordinate attention to yourself. You are there as an ambassador for Jesus. Ambassadors must work in contexts that they might not personally choose, engage with people that they would not personally seek out, and interact in situations that make them feel personally uncomfortable. If you are never in any of those contexts, how are you showing the character of Jesus or telling His story? How are you doing your job?

    If you have read the title of this essay, you might be wondering when I will get “off the soapbox” and say a few things about language. First, I have been taking about language. Secondly, Let me now move on to the context(s) of writing and/or speaking. 

    Every time you speak you are either communicating or not. There is a connection or a disconnection. That is reality. So, all those ambassadorial opportunities outside of pulpit, classroom, or study should are a part of your work and can help you as a speaker and writer. Regardless of context or even content there are at least two criteria for what we write or speak.

Clarity

    Clarity speaks to the quality of our communications. Do people understand us? Are we able to make concepts simpler or more complicated depending on evolving circumstances? Do we offload the work of understanding on our reader/auditor, or do we do the hard work on our side of the conversation? 

    If you struggle with these issues, I have good news and bad news. First the bad news. If you recognize this is an issue, it is worse than you think. Many bad communicators don’t even know. So, kudos to you! You have made the first step toward improvement. 

    Now the good news. You can improve how you communicate by paying attention to your language. Step number 1; Read. A lot. Read lots of different kinds of books, periodicals, and online materials. If you want to be a good writer which is the first prerequisite for being a good speaker you need to find a variety of good models and that means reading. 

    Some might advise to read lots of sermons. I do not agree. Rather, I would recommend you Read history, biography, and contemporary fiction. I would say your local paper…good luck with that. What we must understand is that language is a system—or rather a series of systems depending on the contexts in which we communicate. And each of us moves in and out of different systemic circumstances. Many of our problems with language come from not seeking clarity where we are immediately embedded. How I speak in the pulpit and how I speak at the gas station, senior citizen center, or dollar store are not the same. How does one move seamlessly across the different contexts?

    Well, to begin with you need to listen closely. Pay attention. That’s the first step. In fact, many of our latent communication problems are actually listening problems. Beyond that, always try to be clear. Ask clarifying questions. Own the issue of clarity (Not, “do you understand?”  but rather, “have I made myself clear?”) Too many preachers and teachers place too much of the burden for clarity on those who are listening. It is not the job of the listener or reader to “understand” a sermon or essay. It is the job of the writer or speaker to be clear. We should expect that a congregation or reading audience comes with a basic set of skills. Then, it is our job is to “serve the ball into their court.” To offload the basic work of understanding on our audience is unfair, antagonizing, and boring. This is nothing more than intellectual bullying. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, it has no place in the communication toolbox of a preacher.  The person who inflicts that sort of hubris on reader or auditor is rightly called a boor. Don’t be that person. 

Applicability

    Applicability speaks to the context of our communications. Learn to read the room. Learn how to watch and listen. Develop a good eye and ear and allow those guides to help you choose your language. Not every true thing needs to be said all the time. In fact, true things which are not applicable or timely will be soon forgotten and your words wasted. Learning to choose one’s words carefully is essential to the work of ministry. That often requires knowing what words to omit. Making the right, proper, applicable choice comes down to empathetic listening not just hearing with our ears. 

    Appropriate, accessible, applicable speech requires learning about people. This takes time and it takes an understanding of social space. We often hear that people in the past were more polite, while others think of many lost social mores as backward or reticent. One of the things that we have clearly lost is an appreciation for what speech forms are applicable in given circumstances and how to discern the shape of those circumstances before we are embedded in them. 

    Much of contemporary informality is just impolite. It breaks down barriers before we even know if it is actually appropriate to breach them. Applicable speech uses words that “look people in the eye” with an authenticity born of shared human experience. In a word, relationship. When you meet me for the first time, I will introduce myself as Bob, but I will address you as Mr., Mrs., Miss., Ma’am, or even Rev., if you prefer. Why? Intimacy is to be earned not expected. When we show respect for people and earn their trust we will be invited into that space where virtually anything we say is appropriate. When we rush in uninvited, we risk being shut out, shut, down, or told to shut-up. 

     Clarity and propriety do not make words truer. They are guides for discerning how effective they will be in context. We have grown accustomed to the idea that saying what needs to be said is never out of place. This is not only wrong it can be singularly unhelpful—even hostile in come contexts. Saying the right thing at the wrong time is just as pointless as saying the wrong thing at the wrong time…we just don’t feel as bad about it because we have grown accustomed to an impolite cultural norm. Once again don’t be a boor! Don’t use your words as weapons. Don’t speak in such a way that Jesus would be unable to work through your words to change people’s lives. We should speak and write in the right way, at the right time, with the right attitude. Or as our mentor Paul would put it

“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

(Colossians 4:6 ESV)

Fresh Sheet of Paper on the Platen of life. 1.1.2026

     You youngsters might not know what a “platen” is. Those of us who learned our typing skills on actual typewriters learned about the platen early on. The platen is the technical name for the roller or other surface upon which the paper rests so that whatever form of keys your particular typewriter has can strike the paper and leave the impression of a letter. This analogy is simple, basic, and helpful. I’ll try and not mess it up. 

    Your life—all your skills, abilities, avocations, interests, gifts, and desire--is the platen. You are writing the essay of your life in faithful obedience (or rebellion) to Jesus. Each new year (every day really, but we’re focusing on the yearly picture) you get to roll a fresh new piece of paper onto the platen, plop down the guide, set your margins, crack your knuckles and get to work. 

    While the end of year hustle and bustle of the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Years matrix leaves many of us worn out and worn down, there is not really time to waste. The new year is coming and before you know it, we will be substituting the walk to the manger for the walk of discipleship, following Jesus to the cross. It is tempting to spend a couple of weeks kind of coasting—many of us will be encountering bad weather—and just wait until late January or even early February to really get in the groove. You’ve only got 52 weeks. Why waste any of them? Surely there is something you can do to prepare for the coming work in the dawning new year!

Sloth

    My desk is a mess. Before the end of this week, I will straighten it out and make the unsightly unseen. Some of the items on my desktop will prove unnecessary and will be dealt with accordingly. It seems inevitable during busy weeks to allow the crud to accumulate. I don’t like it any better than Denise S. (Our custodian), but when long days begin and end in the dark keeping those files organized is more of a chore than it should be. So, some of this stuff will be stowed. Papers will be reviewed, filed, or flung out. 

    Sloth may be an unfair or even pejorative term for what has led to this low estate.  Inertia works. The Second law of Thermodynamics seems a bit much for explaining extra paperwork on my desk. Yet, the reality is that a year’s worth of preaching, teaching, pastoral care, administrative planning, and other ministry duties comprise a lot of work. Ministry is diverse. There are many kinds of tasks. Amid the typical work week there are things set aside that need to be taken back up and sometimes this requires more time than we have at our disposal. Maybe we need to take an hour or so before 1.1.2026 and use the process to clear our minds as well as our desks?   

Systems

    We also need to make sure that our work-product systems and procedures are prepared for the coming year. A new year means new work. New sermon calendar, new Sunday School lessons. New opportunities. 

    Here’s a scenario—you come up with a great idea for a new Sunday School series, type up a preliminary outline, go to save it…and you don’t have any place prepared for filing that new work. And this first, preliminary outline is just a start. You’ll need to do some preliminary Bible study. You will need to determine how long the series of lessons should go and whether it should dovetail with other teaching that is on deck for the foreseeable future. And then, after you’ve made some directional progress, you will need to prepare for the deeper exegesis and study that will go into producing actual lessons. All that work, notes, schedules, comparative tables, exegesis and composition will need to be properly filed. 

    You will have a big document for preparing first drafts of each lesson—set up to compare how each week’s material builds upon the next weeks and facilitating a bird’s eye view of the whole. You will also accumulate illustrative documents, visuals, and other supplementary materials that should be kept together for the series as a whole. 

    How about this week we take some time to do some system’s tweaking and checking to make sure that we have our computers, files, and other tools ready to accomplish our work. Yes, it is busy work. But as much as we might complain about—it is still work. Work that needs to be done. Failing to put those systems in place now means interrupting your chain of thought when you are doing the more important tasks of exegeting and interpreting scripture or doing the actual writing. These systemic tasks seems irrelevant when time is tight, but the outcome is worse in a couple of months when a quick transition gets bogged down because you need to get into the Finder (I’m a Mac Guy) or you need to label sets of Manilla folders (for you analog folks) just to prepare a new series of Youth Group lessons or a new Sunday School series. It only seems mundane. These activities actually save time. 

Summary

    This is platen work. You won’t be getting necessary tasks “done”. You are, however, making sure that you are ready to roll January 2, 2026.Your tools will be ready. Your work area will be waiting. Your body will be (hopefully) rested. You’ll be ready to look the new year in the eye, roll a new sheet into the machine and get to work.

Pretty Much a Wrap 12.25.2025

    My blog publishing day is Thursday. This week Thursday is Christmas Day. Next week Thursday will be…next year. So, in this space this is the last word for the year. If you are a regular reader of this blog, thank you. If you are a regular reader that also indicates, that, for all intents and purposes, I harass you with content. I hope that you benefit from these words. 

    Most of what I write is specifically intended for preachers. There are other issues that come up during the year, but my central purpose is to encourage good habits of study, writing, and review for those who are engaged in the weekly preaching and teaching of Scripture. I think everyone can benefit from the knowledge that there are some of us who take this task seriously enough to encourage others to do it well, to improve, to do the hard work, and to trust God to use our humble words to lift up the risen Christ. 

    I write many words during the course of a week. Sermons, lessons, these blog essays, Newsletter content, and continuing drafting on my next book. Everything I write is an extension of my local preaching ministry at the Grayville First Christian Church. I am a firm believer in the ongoing work of the Body of Christ. The church. We outsource far too much of our preaching, teaching, and other instruction to para-church organizations. This reliance on bodies which are not anchored in local worshipping communities is a part of the broader weakening of the Church—which is local and catholic (universal) by design. Jesus called disciples to literally follow Him, in the flesh, not via Social Media or through external neutral organizations. Jesus whole ministry from the birth we celebrate this week to the cross we will consider at Easter—all of it reminds us that Jesus, literally had skin in the game. 

There is no better job description than what Paul wrote to the Ephesian and Colossian believers:

“To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,” (Ephesians 3:8 ESV)

“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” (Colossians 1:28 ESV)

Thank you for letting me minister to you through the written word. If you’re ever in Grayville, we’d be tickled to have you worship with us. You do need to know that whilst you are here, we will just go ahead and treat you like family. That is what the Church does. Jesus didn’t have any enemies—only neighbors. If you are our neighbor—as we must consider you—then you will be loved, accepted, and told the truth. That’s how you treat family. 

    And that’s the point of this ongoing barrage of information. A part of my pastoral task is to help preachers, particularly those who are young, learning, and growing to improve their preaching as they serve in local churches. Again, thank you for allowing me to share with you as I address the issues confronting the contemporary pulpit. And never forget; every believer has some call of ministry on their life. If you are set-apart to preach, the equipment is the call, and it is your responsibility to develop that gift. I will do everything I can to teach, guide, and encourage you in the coming year. But as for 2025? That’s a wrap.

Walking the Risky Road to the Manger 12.18.2025

    Just about everyone regardless of their faith commitment—whether secular or Christian—thinks of Christmas as a safe time of year. Whether you are more focused on the Biblical nativity stories and their descriptions of Jesus’ birth, or on your Christmas tree and fancy wrapping paper, you likely consider it joyful or at least happy. 

    It is true that some will enter this festive time of year with heavy hearts weighed down by loss or general sadness. Even for them the expectation of happiness, albeit violated, forms part of their angst. No one associates this time of year nor the Child whom we celebrate with any real, tangible, noteworthy risk. In this thinking virtually everyone is wrong. Let me explain why.

    If Jesus is who He claims to be, if these stories are God’s word for us as the historic Church has claimed, if in them we encounter a revelation of God unlike any that we could have imagined or expected, if Jesus is—in fact God in Flesh—then accepting or rejecting, believing or disbelieving, celebrating or dismissing the Christ Child is a very grave matter indeed. 

    Before the Great Church began to celebrate the feast of Christmas it observed the fast of Advent. In the structured anticipation of the coming of Christ there is a tangible recognition that His Advent changes everything. And when everything is being challenged, changed, and chosen anew there is risk. Real risk that we acknowledge every year at Christmas by making this perilous, risky, winding walk to the manger. 

    It has become a cultural expectation. Thanks to Chuck Dickens and a few other hearty souls who recognized the benefits of risky faith it has become embedded in our broader culture in such a way that virtually all unbelievers of any stripe feel oddly comfortable singing Joy to the World, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King!  I’m pretty sure our adversary never saw that one coming. Yet, in his sniveling, conniving way he has managed to twist this beautiful story into a silly caricature of the humble self-giving of the Word. 

    John did not include a nativity story in his Gospel. His story concerns the entry—invasion really of God’s own indomitable Word into human history, our muddled mess of time and space, of evil, worry, and disgrace. He did, in another place, tell the same story in a graphic, symbolic, terrifying fashion. In Revelation 12 the nativity of our memories is envisioned as a vicious dragon stalking a pregnant woman, seeking to destroy the child she carried. When Christians who already knew the story of Jesus’ birth read what John wrote in Revelation 12, it was not very hard to identify the characters. They knew the woman as Mary. They knew the dragon under many names, Rome, Caesar, Herod. And they had long worshipped the Child, the little Lord Jesus—not asleep on the hay but fleeing for His life. 

    God risked everything. Ev-er-y thing. Every single thing, to rescue us from our sin. If you think that you can sidle up to the cradle of the Christ Child and not even risk a splinter, you have not been following the story very closely. 

    Now we’re all in that wilderness. Either we pledge our allegiance to Jesus, or we pledge it to something or someone else. Each of us makes that choice. We either follow and suffer with Him, or we are a part of the dragon horde that began to hound Him in infancy, rejected Him in adulthood, cried for His crucifixion, and then maligned His body the Church. Risk? The term works, but it hardly covers the complexity, the depth, the pathos that faces the contemporary Christian. We are called to sacrificial discipleship. We are called to follow the crucified and risen Christ. Truthfully, there are many who are perfectly satisfied to bow their heads and shed their tears at the manger who will forget all about this Jesus in a few short weeks. So why even brave this walk to the manger if you choose not to follow the one who lay there? 

    The risk is not Santa Claus, the grinch, commercialism, secularism, or even sheer greed. The real risk is apathy. If you care enough to come to Bethlehem and see, if you are brave enough to traverse field and fountain, moor, and mountain—if you ring the bells and join the angels in singing Joy to the World…then for pity’s sake risk a faithful life. The snow’s going to melt. The seasons will change. The manger will be stowed away for another year. Jesus will still be Lord. And you are still going to have to decide. Will you take the risk of faith and continue to walk with the one who was in that Manger? Merry Ho, Ho, Ho, and all that. 

Leaning into the Legend 12.11.2025

    People like a good legend. Sometimes the legends are even (partly) true. Many other legends are grounded in realities which have been in some way been magnified to make a moral point, explain a difficult historical reality, or highlight heroic behaviors. This Sunday I will be using Father Christmas or as we call him in the US Santa Claus, to illustrate my message. This legendary figure is of course grounded in the historic life of Nicolas of Myra—St. Nicolas. 

    It’s easy to complain about focusing on the wrong thing during Christmas. Presents, and trees, and decorations, and cookies and all the other seasonal traditions which define a 21st century Christmas. There was a time that I felt the need to correct, browbeat, cajole, and enlighten everyone about the “true meaning” of this tradition or that. What a silly, pointless, graceless way to behave! If I ever engaged in this behavior with you, I am sorry, please forgive me. 

    I think it is far better to lean into the legends and leverage them for Kingdom purposes. Yes, red-suited Coca Cola Santa is a far cry from the real Nicolas sneaking around at night tossing bags of dowry-gold through the open widows of impoverished families. Yet that spirit of giving informed the evolution of the legendary Santa Claus whose presence (and presents) will be ubiquitous during the holiday season. 

    When we lean into the legends of Christmas, whether Santa, Rudolph, Ralphie, or Frosty we are not compromising our principles but inhabiting our cultural moment. Or perhaps I should say incarnating our cultural moment. That is really the issue. When we participate in all the hall-decking holiday cheer we have a seat at the table and can peel back the opaque wrapping of legend helping people discover the truths we really celebrate at Christmas. When we are gruff and humorless, when we allow our approach to these legendary accouterments of Christmas to be Grinch-driven rather than grace-driven we risk being thought of as cranks and scolds rather than warm and welcoming. During Christmas we don’t want to be the one who slams the door on Santa any more than we would slam to door to the inn on Jesus. To be blunt—no one has a Herod in their Nativity. 

How do we, then, lean into these legends. A couple of thoughts.

Childlike Wonder

    It took me several years to convince my custodial staff to leave the Christmas tree always illuminated in our Church sanctuary during the Christmas season. There is nothing I like more than walking in at 6.50 a.m. On a cold, dark December morning and being greeted by the twinkling lights of the season falling upon the greenery and the faces of the figures in the Nativity. Even at 63 years of age the sights, sounds, and smells of Christmas fill me with joy. 

    When we approach Santa and Rudolph with childlike wonder and lean into the legend, we make connections with those whose hearts sincerely long for something more, something better, something different from the painful realities of life. 

    The legends (fictions if you must) of Christmas can be steppingstones allowing us to broach deeper, spiritual subjects with those who feel discarded and abused by our society. They may not be ready for the truth until they have moved past their pain. The joyful wonder of our holiday celebrations may be the next, necessary step for hurting hearts to find the very real redeeming love of Jesus. 

Choose Whimsy

    I have a Peanuts illuminated sweatshirt my daughter gave me a few Christmases ago. I wore it last Sunday, will likely wear it this Sunday. I can, and mostly do, wear a Christmas tie every day from Thanksgiving to Orthodox Christmas (January 6). I’ve already watched the story of George Bailey, heard Linus Van Pelt recite the Christmas story, and viewed Rudolph. Are these life-changing, destiny defining, character forming toeholds for preaching? Nope. I like these whimsical things, and I choose to do them if only for whimsy’s sake.

    Maybe you like to Christmas Carol or Sled or decorate the exterior of your house. Go for it! Hiding from Christmas and pretending like it’s beneath us or some culturally compromising theological assault on our collective pride doesn’t sound much like Jesus. He was famous for attending wedding feasts and contributing to the catering. 

    Keep it personal, light, friendly, and real. People will be drawn to your Church because you will help them to feel like they are a part of something special. Something that comforts them amid the decay of culture. There will be some people who only sing Christmas Carols at your worship services. Some will only smile this Christmas season because someone at your Church makes them feel warm, welcomed, and loved. Let our Churches be the place that people laugh at Christmas. As people attend your church, become more regular, and start asking questions you can go beyond whimsy and wonder and begin to deal with serious, Biblical and Theological issues. But you cannot have conversations with people who are not there or who have left because you’re simply not approachable. 

Chase Wow

    Parties. Festivities. Hall-decking, Holly-jollies, Ho-Ho-Ho-ing, and wassailing. Go for it. The pattern of evolving Christianity was fasting and feasting. We don’t really practice the former and we misunderstand the purpose of the latter. Chase wow! Not exclusively—not instead of Biblical focus, but as a part of what it means for Christians to celebrate a significant part of the year. 

    Yes, there are limits. There are some things which are inappropriate with respect to time or place, but we need divine distractions to drag us away from the digital delusions that confuse clicks, likes, and followers with the actual wow of life-affirming human experiences. 

    Let’s make the Church the place where people connect. It may be a cookie, a cup of coffee, a carol shared in a darkened sanctuary, or a meal of celebration. Make chasing the wow a part of your Christmas season…or maybe stop using words like “festive.”

Conclusion

    Jesus is not less God because we let children have their pictures taken with Santa Claus or have a family movie night and watch Elf. If your Gospel is that fragile you probably never take it out for a spin anyway. A message that can be harmed by a child’s joy is of itself, quite likely harmless. Therapeutic Deism is as much a threat to the redeemed as it is to the reprobate. 

    When we lean into the legends, we can use them as springboards to impactful, Biblical messaging. It can be a heavy lift if every spiritual or biblical conversation, begins wholly untethered from actual human experience.  We human beings live our fallen lives within, and a part of the otherwise good world created by God. The stuff of earth is not all that there is—but it does matter. Some of the high horses that we insist on riding are actually Trojan horses for our own pride and prejudice. 

    Finally, If Christmas cheer during the month of December confuses the people in your community with respect to the Lordship of Christ, the Authority of Scripture, or the role of your Church—Santa Claus isn’t your problem. 

    

Preaching the Obvious 12.4.2025

Every person coming to Church this Sunday expects that you will be at least sneaking up on Christmas. You may not make it central to your message 21 days out, but you won’t ignore it either. There is a good chance that your building is already, or will soon be, decorated, plans have been set, parties scheduled and people’s minds are fixed on Christmas. 

    Our liturgical brethren will have begun the methodical march to Christmas with the first Sunday in Advent—last Sunday. Others will be considering big programs and promotional opportunities. I hope that you, as a preacher, have already begun to consider your approach and even compose your thoughts, if not your messages. 

    Christmas should not surprise us. In Post Modern U.S. Culture, it is a signal time of year both socially and economically. It is a great opportunity for ministry in general and preaching in particular because during the month of December people in our communities, who never otherwise darken the door of the Church, who have only a passing concern for Church, and barely a conception of what is taught in Scripture will, nonetheless sing songs that describe the birth of Jesus and all of the attendant highlights. 

    For that reason, Christmas preaching is exhilarating and challenging. The exhilaration comes from knowing that individuals who come only from some lingering sense of duty, may, by the intervention of God’s Holy Spirit, move through the season toward becoming genuinely interested in the claims of Christ. The challenge comes from preaching texts so familiar that virtually every auditor has some idea of how they could/should be handled. I describe this phenomenon as Preaching the Obvious.

    I want to consider a couple of risks that come from regularly approaching familiar texts as well as a couple of rewards that come from working diligently to come up with creative and refreshing approaches to this common material. The risks are Boredom and Triviality, and the rewards are Insight and Inclusion. First, we will look at the risks. 

Boredom

    There is nothing worse than a preacher who is so bored with his text and the task of telling the story that his/her boredom is evident. Don’t be that preacher. I will admit that familiarity with these texts can make it more difficult. But when we work through our own ennui and consider the good to be accomplished by faithful, prayerful, humble work we give God the space He needs to move. 

    In very real sense we can think of the Bible as a “Closed Corpus”. It’s already fully written. Our words of proclamation neither add to nor detract from the words of Scripture. We are explaining and clarifying. If we wanted to be petulant and childish any preacher with more than ten years of experience could be bored with virtually any text in the Bible. Our Christmas text(s) are only obvious because the Great Church has chosen to seasonally focus on the birth of Jesus at this time of year. 

    There are 162 games in a baseball season. The World Series always comes at the end. It is the most widely watched part of the whole year. Boredom tends not to be an issue. The game play may be at a different level than a July Thursday afternoon, but it is the same game. These 3 or 4 Sundays are more like the other 48 or 49 than they are different. Either you choose to be focused, excited, invested, and prepared or you don’t. If you get bored with the Christmas stories maybe there is a deeper problem that you need to address. 

Triviality

    The second risk is that we treat the material preached during Christmas as less important, even trivial compared to other texts or topics dealt with during the other seasons of the year. The seed of triviality like boredom is sown in familiarity. We know Luke’s Nativity. We know Matthew’s Nativity. We mix them. We confuse them. We misunderstand them. One thing we should never do is minimize them. There is no cross without the cradle. There is no Jerusalem noon darkness without the light in the stable. 

    We must take these well-worn, oft-told stories seriously as scripture. As well as we know them, they are God’s word to us addressed to our sinful condition. 

Insight

    Boredom with and trivializing of Christmas are problems for the preacher to solve in the Study and central to resolving those struggles is the understanding that what our hearers know, think, understand, and accept about the text is more important than our struggles. So, these two rewards need to be kept fully in mind during our study and preparation. 

    You have the chance to help believers develop greater insight into the life of Jesus, the clarity of scripture, and the real point of Christmas through your preaching. It’s not all about me (us). Those who listen have a stake in the preaching moment. Young Christians need insight into the long road of discipleship. They need to think of themselves like Mary and Jospeh walking an unknown path hand in hand with the Father. Other, more mature Christians need to know that their work—like Simeon or Anna’s is still valid and important to the Church. 

    You will have others that come to Church with unseen spiritual struggles. Some of your words will give the Holy Spirit purchase in their lives. Insight can very rarely be found when it is something we seek. It sneaks up on us when in the quietness of our heart the Word of God brings clarity. 

Inclusion

    Another reward accrues when people come to Church, maybe hurting or hopeless and they find that this story of Jesus can truly be their story. It is not just for holier-than-thou types, or people who grew up in Church. Christmas is a reminder that the story is about Peace for everyone who finds favor before God through faith in Christ. Christmas is a reminder that there is nothing exclusive about the Christian faith. Everyone is a prospective “whosoever” whose believing faith finds favor before God. 

    There is no more inclusive time in the Christian community than the Christmas season. Virtually every congregation expects and prepares for visitors. The real trick is to treat them, not as tourists but as family. Not as outsiders but as insiders who have not yet discovered the favor available to them as children of God. Peace on earth…goodwill to men is a good motto and a better mission. 

Conclusion

    The truths we discuss during the Christmas season are strangely familiar to our flailing culture amid a fallen world. Once upon a time they were well-understood. They were often rejected or romanticized by those who had decided that they had culturally outgrown all but the social dimensions of Christmas—but even the most ardent Scrooge’s knew what it was they were humbugging. Things have somewhat changed. 

    We can no longer assume that people who make their way to the Church house during Christmas season have any pre-understanding about what the Gospel nativity stories mean when they describe annunciation, incarnation, or angelic celebration. In a sense the preacher in 2025 has a blank canvass upon which to paint a picture of Christmas that provides space and time for the Holy Spirit to move in the lives of both believers and unbelievers to either deepen or provoke faith. 

    What a joyful task given us during this significant season! The task itself is no different, but the context—how it has changed. And the time is short. It is an abbreviated season of opportunity that we must seize before it passes and is merged into the typical, mundane concerns of a new year. 

    Preaching the obvious gives each of us the opportunity to explore again some of the founding ideas of the Christian faith. The incarnation. The love of God. The realization of God’s plan of redemption throughout the Old Testament as it finally comes to fruition in Jesus. It is only obvious because we know the end of the story. You will have people come to hear you preach who are wholly unfamiliar with the story, or who are confused about the story, or who only have heard hints about the story. Creatively and courageously preaching the obvious is gives us the chance to let God do something extraordinary with the ordinary.

Review and Preview 11.27.2025

    As I write this essay, I am winding down my “fiscal” preaching year of 2025. I will spend time this week continuing to focus on the practical, administrative, necessities for researching, writing, storing, and preaching 2026. That will include weekly messages, Sunday School lessons, Blog essays, Newsletter essays, Book manuscripts, Camp lessons, incidental outside preaching (Revivals), and other unplanned (funerals) preaching. None of those variables of circumstance and “deliverables” even take into account that all these writing products are outcome of intensive study. Often the arc of study requires months and weeks of intense research, note taking, writing, editing, and thinking. I find this work both invigorating and exciting. The old joke that “Preachers only work one day a week” is only true if the preacher does not work. Clearly it is not the case if you and I are diligent, committed, and enthusiastic about the task. 

    You will have noticed that I did not post an essay last week. Not going to apologize. I had 31 words written towards an essay during a busy week of external work. Sometimes a person must decide that enough is enough. I was afraid that there was no amount of editing that was going to save a draft that looked like it was written by a tired guy during a long week. I wanted to end my 2025 blog writing on a high note with a reminder that you can do this and that it is worthwhile. It’s better to under promise and over deliver. 

    I’ve been listening to Autumn music and have even slipped in some early Christmas music. Christmas is coming and Grayville First Christian Church is excited for the season. I hope that you have given thought to what you will preach and why. Christmas can be challenging because there are only so many texts which are thought “relevant”.  You can only preach Matthew and Luke’s accounts of the nativity so many times before you begin to get stale. I know I’ve been there myself. It’s always a challenge. One thing I often do is take these smaller, time-determined series, and compose all the messages as a whole. I have completed first drafts of all my Christmas sermons awaiting final week of preaching tweaking to be complete preaching manuscripts. Working this way allows for a single overarching theme to tie tother all the messages from Sunday morning December 7 to Christmas Eve Candlelight on December 24. 

    I saw a story last week that reminds me of why it is necessary to work both hard and smart. Peter Wollny is a scholar of the music of the Bach family. In 1992 he discovered two manuscripts which struck him as having been written by the greatest Bach of all: Johann Sebastian. Since that time, he has been working on verifying the provenance of these manuscripts to finally determine authorship. It was a background project in a long career filled with other scholarly endeavors. Like most tasks of this nature the task required both serendipity and synergy to bear fruit. Over the years he followed the trail of hints and clues that led to a student of Bach’s named Salomon Günther John. The manuscripts in question were clearly Bach’s music, but also clearly in John’s hand. Manuscript and author were correctly delineated and on November 17, 2025, Ciacona in D minor, BWV 1178, and Ciacona in G minor, BWV 1179 were debuted at St. Thomas Church Leipzig (One of the old Bach’s old haunts). 

    How did that happen? Work. Serendipity. Synergy. Be stubborn. Be resolute. Be determined. Be committed. It took 33 years for Wollny to successfully determine that the two manuscripts he had in hand should be added to the official catalog of Bach’s work. There were times that this project was on the back burner. There were times that he relied on the work of others. There were, I’m sure times of frustration. 

    Whilst music and theology are not the same thing (Though Bach himself taught both Theology and Latin to his Choristers), we need the same kind of patient endeavor to succeed. You will not always feel like doing the hardest task which needs to be done on the next sermon. I am sure you have other tasks that need your attention. Like any intellectual work there are things to file, notes to organize, and papers to (ouch) discard. Sometimes the busywork keeps us sane until we are ready to do the heavy lifting. 

    Anyhoo, I hope that you take advantage of some down time this week. Give thanks. Get ready for Christmas. Sneak off and do a little work. Spend time in prayer, review, reflection, and preparation. As the weather gets cooler, things are going to heat up.