The Season of Epiphany: Sermon Ideas and Series (RCL and NL)
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.
At-Home Christmas Retreat for Preachers (2021)
Thank you for bearing witness in your life to the perpetual presence of God-with-Us. With our gratitude, you are invited to download your free, at-home Christmas retreat to help refresh your spirit. Crafted to be flexible, you can choose to engage the retreat for 90 minutes, three hours, or six. I pray it cultivates your awareness of and gratitude for Joy-with-Us, this Christmastide and always.
A Sermon Message for Christmas and 2022
If you’re feeling at a loss about how to preach into this weary world, perhaps you can simply help listeners feel the problems we face together. Without denying any part of their pain and complexity. While also holding up the grace of God.
Christmas Quotes for Preaching and Reflection
You've heard the wisdom "When the student is ready, the teacher appears?" When our hearts and minds are noticing, seeking, yearning, and paying attention, the Spirit sees all that openness and provides just what we need to know, see, or understand. It's a moment that presents like serendipity, but there's too much grace behind it. The right word, insightful phrase, or vivid image leads to a face-palm moment of recognition: "There it is! That's the sermon!”
To that end, I’ve compiled for you a collection of quotes about Christmas in hopes that the teachings of others might spark an epiphany of your own. Request your free copy here.
BsP's Christmas Gift Guide for Preachers (2021 edition)
This year’s gift guide is intended to nudge the preacher’s creativity back to life—because creativity heals heart, mind, and soul.
Inspiration for Advent Preaching
As we anticipate, wait, and hope for Advent, I offer a selection of quotations for your preaching and personal reflections. You'll find wise, witty, and wonderful quotes from a variety of voices, from Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Ann Weems and Miles David to George Bernard Shaw, loosely organized into three themes:
Anticipation is the Music of Advent
Waiting is the Experience of Advent
Hope is the Fruit of Advent
I hope these bring as much joy to your spirit as they do to your preaching.
Preach about Real Saints: Human and Holy
Why do we ignore the saints’ flaws or apologize for them as something shameful, faults to be hidden and tucked away? Preaching the truth of their humanity frees us from examining the messenger to embrace their message: love God, and forgive and love self and neighbor. Saints are the embodiment of that invitation to transformation. They show us what is possible when we accept and dwell in the love of God—in the fullness of our messy humanity. I am persuaded that by allowing saints to be holy and perfectly human, we can be transformed to be more like Christ.
Getting Away from the Page: How to Preach from the Heart
For those who want to get away from the page but don’t know how to get started, and for those who fear “all the things” that can happen when not using a manuscript, Dr. Giver-Johnston’s book offers practical tools to move in that direction, step by small step.
4 Tips for Wedding Homilies
I just preached at the wedding of a dear friend’s eldest child. The preparations reminded me of a few important realities about this special event. I hope you find these tips helpful, and I would love to hear your thoughts as well.
Christianity: It’s not Personal?
Fires. Hurricanes. Famine. Flooding. There ought to be no such thing as acceptable collateral damage in the Christian’s world. Because if the Body of Christ is one thing, it’s personal. Fortunately, we preachers have a new resource to help us preach the gospel into the personal effects of climate change on those we are called to love.