Christmas Retreat for Preachers (2025)
The flurry of Christmas activity is over. Now it is time to rest—and rejoice! This free, downloadable Christmas Retreat is our gift to help you do just that. Whether you have ninety minutes, three hours, or a whole day, we’ve provided suggestions for flexible schedules so you truly go on retreat for as much time as you have available.
Rest. Tumble into grace and lay there for a good while. Give thanks. Rise refreshed. We'll preach the Good News in 2026 together.
Three (Merry) Christmas Sermon Themes
It is TOUGH this year! The cost of a Christmas turkey is sky-high, ICE agents will be patrolling churches on Christmas Eve, and the promise of another year of increasing chaos and dehumanization makes us want to stay in bed and not wake up to 2026.
And yet—this year, like every other year for the past 2025 of them—will still be a merry one. Why?
Today's blog offers three Christmas sermon themes that allow all of us to claim, from the bottom of our hearts, Merry Christmas, indeed.
Christmas Gifts for Preachers (2025)
Every year I compile a list of suggested gifts for preachers, perfect to send to Santa—or to drop hints for your loved ones! I have a blast perusing the internet to find gifts I know I'd enjoy and hope you would, too. In fact, there are a couple I might go ahead and splurge on myself!
Merry (Early) Christmas, Preacher!
Five Simple Steps So You Can Breathe Deeply Through Advent
As Christmas approaches, many stresses become more acute and frequent—like the pressure to produce high quality (though not-over-the-top-perfect) sermons, liturgies, and music; pastoral care needs; disagreements between church leaders; and the expectations of parishioners, your family, and, perhaps, even yourself.
Follow these five steps to have a season of calm, connection, and clarity.
Advent Quotes for your Sermons
The First Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of the new Church year, and what better way to welcome it than reflecting on quotes that will inspire our spirits and sermons for Advent and all year long.
These quotes focus on the ways God increases our faith during periods of uncertainty—kind of like now. Get your copy today.
On Preaching Advent: Forget What You Know
As we know, every year the cultural push of Christmas starts often before Thanksgiving, creating a stark disconnect between the celebration of Advent (it’s not the Christmas season yet!) and the Christmas atmosphere all around us in stores, personal preparations, and traditions.
But Advent is not a commemoration of Jesus’s birth millennia ago. It’s not yet time for the Nativity. Rather, Advent is a time of forward-looking anticipation with implications for today. Reorienting our advent preaching toward the future will help us preach with depth and meaning the messages we need right now.
A 4-Step Process to Connect Scripture to Your Listeners’ Lives
When the cultures and circumstances of Scripture seem irrelevant or unfamiliar, how do we help our listeners connect. How do we find the truth that transcends time and context? This 4-step process helps you look at the human condition beneath the circumstances to find the the ways God showed up then and continues to show up now.
Lectio on Life: Four Steps to Writing a Topical Sermon
Sometimes you just gotta say it.
Sometimes you just gotta address the topic of the day:
- a sudden turn of events for the congregation
- a tragedy
- social justice
- a natural disaster
- the "elephant in the room"
How do you preach a topical sermon and also rely on the lectionary like we're supposed to?
Risking Your Job to Preach The Gospel? Two Questions to Ask First
We often preach a message people already agree with, a message that reinforces what people already believe. When we preach to the choir, we probably don’t feel vulnerable about the anticipated reaction: we expect more kudos than pushback. But what happens when we preach against the choir?
3 Lessons Yoga Taught Me About Preaching
I am a yogi not because of the poses I can hold or the shapes I can twist my body into, but simply because I practice. And practicing yoga about three times a week for several years has taught me useful life lessons about my source, foundation, and mindset, many of which apply to preaching.