Happy New Year!
What a glorious way to begin each new year by immersing ourselves in the unfolding revelation of Jesus as God-in-the-Flesh!
Preparing those sermons will be a lot easier when you’re not starting from scratch but fit each into a narrative arc that carries through.
To help, I’ve created two themes for the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), Year C, and two for Narrative Lectionary (NL), Year 4.
They can be used as sermon series or as inspiration for stand-alone sermons.
Whether you preach every Sunday this Epiphany or less often, these ideas will give your preaching a big jump start, saving you time, effort, and energy.
The bonus?
If you preach from one (or no) lectionary, use the other for your personal devotions.
Pray the text and sermon idea throughout the week to help you grow closer to God in the spirit of the season.
Theme #1: Living our Baptism (RCL)
The First Sunday after the Epiphany is the Baptism of our Lord, so what better way to explore the season than our own beginnings as disciples?
By the end of this series your listeners will have a practical guide to living a life consistent with our baptisms.
However, these eight sermon ideas aren’t a warm-over of the baptismal promises recited at every baptism.
For example, the suggested focus text for the Second Sunday is 1 Cor. 12:7: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
The sermon idea is, “In a world of individualism run amok, baptism concerns itself with the common good. What is the common good? Why does God care? Why should we?”
The Sixth Sunday is Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. The sermon idea asks, “This is the fundamental and controversial roadmap of the baptismal life. Why did Jesus's audience find it controversial? Why do we? Why would we follow it?”
Theme #2: Living Fearlessly (RCL)
To be human is to be afraid. To know oneself as God’s beloved is to be fearless. Both are true at the same time.
By the end of this series listeners will be better able to hold the two in tension so they can serve God and their neighbors freely.
For example, the focus text for the First Sunday of Epiphany is based on Isaiah 43:5: “Do not fear, for I am with you.” The sermon asks listeners to consider what it means to be afraid while also living unafraid because we are redeemed?
The Seventh Sunday focuses on the texts from Genesis and Luke to suggest that we fearlessly foster the reputation to love and forgive those others say we shouldn't—because God already has.
Theme #3: To Be Transfigured (NL)
The gospel of John raises many paradoxes, this among them: to hope to be transfigured is to be transfigured already.
By the end of this series listeners will have experienced the transfiguration of Christ for themselves.
The Second Sunday (John 2:13-25) for example, suggests that John's gospel is the ultimate story-teller's "show, don't tell." Guide listeners to settle in to a long story that transforms through the experience of grace, and defies logical formulas, definitions, or pat endings.
The Fourth Sunday (John 4:1-42) suggests the sermon idea that to be transfigured is to have a greater desire to learn than to have one's pre-determined beliefs confirmed.
Theme #4: Abide in His Questions (NL)
To abide in Jesus is to dwell in him, and there’s no better way to do so than live in the questions the gospel raises.
By the end of this series listeners will have abided in Christ (Jesus’s greatest hope for us) by asking questions for which there are no simplistic answers. Simple, maybe, but not simplistic.
For instance, the suggestion for the Fourth Sunday (John 4:1-42), notes that Jesus had to go through Samaria for reasons other than geography. What were they? Where are the places we have to go through to know Jesus and share Christ's love with others
Transfiguration Sunday (John 9:1-42) focuses on the perennial question, “How can this be?” How can such glory exist alongside the world’s horrors and injustices?
Enrollment in The Collective/+ Will Open Soon!
You can be part of generating sermon ideas for the entire season when take part in Seasonal Sermon Prep as a member of The Collective+. Open enrollment is coming up.