After scouring the Internet for sermon and worship helps, here are some links and excerpts from some of the best resources I found. Click on the links to read more. Also, check out the following sites for further materials for your use:
Sermons and Liturgies – Richard J. Fairchild
Laughing Bird Liturgical Resources
Resources: Based on the Revised Common Lectionary
THE TEXTS
| Roman Catholic | Revised Common | Episcopal | |
| PSALM | Psalm 122 | Psalm 122 | Psalm 122 |
| LESSON 1 | Isaiah 2:1-5 | Isaiah 2:1-5 | Isaiah 2:1-5 |
| LESSON 2 | Romans 13:11-14 | Romans 13:11-14 | Romans 13:8-14 |
| GOSPEL | Matthew 24:37-44 | Matthew 24:36-44 | Matthew 24:36-44 |
The Book of Common Prayer Lectionary
Roman Catholic Lectionary Readings
IMAGES
Swords into Plowshares (Black and White)
Noah Building Ark (Black and White)
The Rapture (The painting that was hung in the church of my childhood)
The Rapture (Comic picture)
Picture based on Matthew 24:36-44 (Black and White)
Free bulletin covers primarily featuring the artwork of Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld for Year A (Black and White, Word Documents)
Free bulletin covers featuring the art of Sharon Geiser, a member of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church of Emmett, Idaho for Year A (Black and White, Word Documents)
Bulletin cover for Sunday, December 2, 2007. First Sunday in Advent, year A. Based on Matthew 24:42. (Black and White)
SERMON PREPARATION
“Bringing Heaven to Earth Here and Now,” Joan Roughgarden, Journey with Jesus Foundation.
The readings for the first Sunday in Advent are especially provocative to someone like me whose life work lies in ecology and evolutionary biology. The readings in both the Hebrew and Christian Testaments develop a vision of life in heaven, and of our prospects for ever going to heaven. My calling lies in how to make our present life, and the earth we live in day to day, as much like heaven as possible. And so the readings for this Sunday lead me to ponder why life on this earth seems so far removed from the conditions described for our life hereafter.
Kyle A. Keefer at The Good Word, a Blog on Scripture and Preaching
The Left Behind series actually derives its title from this week’s gospel passage, Matthew 24:37-44. In verses 41-42, Jesus describes two pairs of people, in which one person is taken and one is left behind. Matthew 24-25 comprise a long eschatological discourse that Jesus delivers just before his crucifixion. He compares the “coming of the Son of Man” (v.39) to the “days of Noah” (v.37), with the implication that his return will prove to be a surprise to all humanity and that many (most?) people will be morally unprepared for it. Clearly this passage, along with the three parables of chapter 25, emphasizes the judgment that will take place at the parousia, the second coming of Christ.
Sarah Dylan Breuer at Dylan’s Lectionary Blog:
This is not the second coming of Christ. We call that one “Easter.” It’s not the third coming we’re looking for either. Wherever two or three have gathered in Jesus’ name since Easter, Jesus has come among them, so we must be on about the ummpteen kajillionth coming. The coming, or “advent,” we look forward to in this season is, in a sense, as mundane and as special as all of those other “advents” have been. It’s all of those other “advents,” all comings of Christ from the Incarnation up to this Sunday morning, that informs us about what the final Advent, the coming of Christ we look forward to during this liturgical season, really means.
Peter W. Marty, “Wake-Up Call,” at The Christian Century
It may be our reluctance to pursue God’s way that gives Advent its greatest potency. If all of us had the least bit of passion for Isaiah’s vision, and were less hung up with protecting our little fiefdoms, we wouldn’t have to wake up for Advent. We could skip all its dire texts. We could ignore the whole season and pleasantly go about our daily routines, stacking firewood out by the garage and kneading dough in the kitchen.
But Jesus interrupts our routines and says to us, “Keep awake. You have no idea when your Lord is coming.” This seems to be his way of reminding us that life is far too precious to allow us to put up with business as usual. Even good-sounding legislation and sensible justice are not enough. Just ask the mothers of young children caught in the crossfire of gun battles on the streets of the nation’s capital. There is a more godly way of life available. Take Isaiah’s words to heart. Yearn for real peace. Wake up, for goodness’ sake, lest you squander your days on the wrong things.
Tod O. L. Mundo, The Saturday Night Theologian
According to Jesus, the coming of the Son of Man will be . . . sudden and unexpected (by most), and it will affect ordinary people who are at work in the fields and at the grindstone. Jesus says that one will be taken and the other left. Those who believe in the doctrine of the rapture point to this passage as proof of their beliefs. However, those in the field and at the mill who are taken are not taken to paradise; they are taken away in judgment, as the context demonstrates (cf. v. 39). There are two key ideas in this passage. The first is that no one, not even the Son, knows the exact time of Christ’s return. The second is the simple command, “Keep awake!”
Ruth A. Myers, “Live Into Hope,” The Christian Century
The day of the Lord is near, and though we cannot know the day or the hour, we must be ready.
Isaiah gives us a vivid image of that day. People are streaming to a holy mountain from every corner of the earth. They carry with them the weapons of war, and as they climb the mountain, they cast swords and spears into the furnace. A blacksmith stands by with a hammer, patiently pounding weapons into tools for cultivation. The din of the forge grows louder, hammer clangs on anvil as more and more people arrive weary of war, drawn by the light, ready for a new day of peace.
“Imagine,” John Lennon sings. In a world weary of war, it is difficult to imagine. Palestinians and Israelis take a few halting steps toward peace, only to have violence flare anew and hopes dashed once more. Hatred simmers between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. Combatants cling to their weapons, and do not trust one other enough to yield to peace. When terrorists turn planes into bombs, the United States and Britain respond by turning their weapons on a country they claim harbors the terrorists. How, indeed, are we to imagine a world of peace?
FULL SERMONS
My Sermon “The Days of Noah”
Now I don’t want us to get too caught up in the particulars of Jesus’ return.
I won’t outline for you a time-line of prophetic events,
nor will I give you ten easy ways to determine the day Jesus will return.
I’m not even going to talk about the Left Behind series of books that have become best sellers.
Besides, it seems to me that these verses from Matthew go a long way to dispute the kind of thinking seen in these things anyway.In fact, in this passage Jesus doesn’t tell us when he is going to come back at all,
and instead he tells us how we should be living when he does return.
And it is here that Jesus tells us that his coming among us,
whether for the first time or the second time, or any time,
will be as it was in the days of Noah.Matthew writes:
For as the days of Noah were,
so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,
until the day Noah entered the ark,
and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.Now, notice something about these verses:
in them Jesus does not accuse the people of Noah’s day of doing anything wrong.
He does not go into detail and draw up a long list of their crimes and misdemeanors,
and neither does he condemn the people in the days of Noah for their great sins.All Jesus says is:
They were eating and drinking and getting married.
Now there is nothing wrong with that.
Everyone needs food and water,
and most everyone needs companionship.
These are not sinful activities.The problem, we find out,
is not what the people were doing.
No, the problem was what they failed to do.
What time is it? by David Beswick
What time is it? Its late! Its time to wake up! Paul said to the Romans … you know what time it is. Well, do we know `the time’; do we really know what time it is? And do you know what sort of time he was talking about? There is a simple answer given directly by Paul: It is time to wake up! Was it only a special time for the Roman Christians he was writing to in the middle of the first century, or is the question addressed to all Christians, always? Is it always time for all people to wake up? Is it a special word for us here today? Do we, especially we here in this congregation now, need to wake from sleep? The answer for the Romans, and for all Christians, and for us here today, is the same, “Yes, now is a special time; and it is time for us to wake up because it is a special time.”
Jonathan at “Madpriest’s Advent Sermon: The End of the World and Stuff,”
When I was a lad, which was quite awhile ago now, there was a famous Christian singer called Larry Norman. He was a strange bloke. Long hair, very hippyish, but also, a right fundamentalist and more than a bit creepy.
He wrote a song that became very popular – it got covered by all the local Christian rock bands and singers. It was called, “I Wish We’d All Been Ready.” As I said he was a right fundamentalist Christian and he obviously believed in the Rapture which is the name given to the event that some Christians believe will happen in the future when all the true believers will just disappear off the face of the earth up into heaven, whilst the rest of humankind is left on earth to slug it out with the Antichrist.
“Life was filled with guns and war
And everyone got trampled on the floor.
I wish we’d all been ready.
Children died, the days grew cold,
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold.
I wish we’d all been ready.
There’s no time to change your mind,
The Son has come and you’ve been left behind.“A man and wife asleep in bed,
She hears a noise, she turns her head, he’s gone!
I wish we’d all been ready.
Two men walking up a hill,
One disappears and one’s left standing still.
I wish we’d all been ready.
There’s no time to change your mind,
The Son has come and you’ve been left behind.”It used to scare the living daylights out of me, that song. It still makes me pause for thought. Of course, it’s based on our reading this morning:
“Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.”
This could be the way the world ends but I somehow doubt it. Jesus used various different images for the coming of his Father’s kingdom. In the case of the rich man and Lazurus, heaven is an immediate thing which exists at the same time as normal life, and you go to it, hopefully, immediately after you die. On other occasions Jesus talked about the Kingdom arriving in a big explosion of magnificence and judgement, and then there’s this image from Matthew’s gospel. It would seem to me that the only way you can explain all these different accounts of the Kingdom is if you accept that Jesus was using the images as metaphor to impress upon his listeners a deeper truth about the Kingdom of God and how they should relate to it. The deeper truth being that we know very little about what the Kingdom of God will be like and we have no idea, at all, when it will arrive in its full glory. And don’t forget, nor did Jesus, he had no idea either. So his advice was very simple. You better prepare yourselves now because you don’t want to be caught like one of those foolish young women who hadn’t got their lamps trimmed when the bridegroom turned up.
So how do we prepare for the end of the world?
“It’s Coming!” Walter W. Harms at Göttinger Predigten im Internet
It’s coming, alright! And I don’t mean Christmas. I mean the “advent,” the Latin word for coming-the coming of the Son of Man. He came once, about as lowly as you can get-a helpless infant with no prospects of having any kind of meaningful life. When he comes again, it will be entirely different. Trumpets, shouts of praise, angels filling the sky, the dead being raised all around us. He will return in majesty, honor, glory and power to take to eternal life in heaven all those who are prepared for his coming, his second advent.
So we take time at the beginning of each new “church” year to remind ourselves not that he came once in Bethlehem’s stable, not that he comes to us every time we hear the Good News of his rescuing us from sin and in the Blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood, but that he quite literally is coming back.
There will be an end to all this, all that you see. Every physical and material possession will in an instant become meaningless. It won’t make any difference whether you ever got an education or left high school for whatever reason. All the “toys” we treasure-the car, the boat, the house, the portfolio, the investments, the good retirement we have-won’t have any meaning, any worth, any attraction ever again.
Anne Le Bas at St. Peter and Paul on Isaiah 2:1-5
Seven hundred years or so before the birth of Christ a man sat looking around him at the world he lived in, ancient Judah, part of what we would now call the nation of Israel. It was a brutal world and a brutal time. The Assyrians, a mighty nation, ruled across most of the Middle East from their strongholds in what is now Iraq. It was an empire like none that had been seen before. Their armies had swept across the whole region and they held it in an iron grip. They were infamous for their cruelty. They destroyed without mercy, scattering defeated populations as slaves across their empire, plundering and looting to fund the huge military machine that kept the empire growing. A little nation like Judah stood no chance against them. The Assyrians were at their gates, or perhaps even within them already, bringing death and despair. All was lost.
I imagine most people in that situation would have either given up hope, or retreated into bitterness and fury, scrabbling for whatever safety they could find for themselves. But this man didn’t. Instead he wrote the words we heard in our first reading. “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Things wouldn’t always be as they were now, he said. One day God would create from this wasteland a new world, in which the nations would not learn war, but instead create peace between themselves.
It’s important that we know the background to these familiar words from the prophet Isaiah because I think it is easy for us to be misled by their beauty and to suppose that they were written by someone who really didn’t understand how wicked and hopeless the world can be. They can sound like unrealistic dreams, dreamt by someone who lived in an ivory tower, protected and safe. But it wasn’t like that. Far from it. They were written in the thick of appalling devastation, by someone who was utterly powerless to do anything about it.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
Free Resources from Cokesbury
Some excellent worship resources for Advent 1A can be found at Cokesbury’s Worship Connection site, including Calls to Worship, Prayers and Litanies. A couple of samples are below:
Call to Worship #1:
L: The Lord is getting us ready to receive a gift of great joy.
P: Watch for this gift!
L: Be vigilant and ready. For the gift is about to come.
P: The promise of God is faithful and trustworthy.
L: Watch, wait. The Gift is coming into the world!
P: Praise be to God for such lavish love. AMEN.Opening Prayer
O Lord, our lives are so filled with chaos and tribulation. Help us be ready to receive your message and gift of love, that we might grow into faithful disciples, serving you by serving others with hope and compassion. In Christ’s Name, we pray. AMENThe Lighting of the Advent Candle: The Candle of Patience: Watch! Wait!
Reader 1:
In the days to come, the Lord shall establish God’s house upon earth!
Reader 2:
Watch! Wait! For God will do something special, something very unexpected.
Reader 3:
Do not be hesitant. Place your trust in God’s promise.
Reader 4:
Today we light this first candle, a special candle, lighted in darkness, shedding its meager light into our world. [The first candle on the left of the center riser is lighted.]
Reader 1:
Come, see the light. Let its brightness fill you.
Reader 2:
Come, feel the warmth of the light. Let it give you comfort.
Reader 3:
Come, draw near to the light, for it is God’s way of breaking through to you.
Reader 4:
Come, rejoice in the light, for God is with us!
These resources were all written by the Rev. Nancy Townley, Abingdon author.
A Hymn for Advent by David Beswick (Click on link to see the hymn in its entirety).
[Tune: St Olave, 66 66 66. AHB 154; or Laudes Domini 666D AHB 151 TIS 227]
The Lord’s Messiah comes;
God’s kingdom to announce.
He calls us to repent,
and all our sins renounce.
His conquest over sin
now gives us peace within.Copyright 1997, David Beswick
Prayer for the First Sunday of Advent by Stephen Brown at A Place for Prayer.
Matthew 24: 42″Therefore keep watch, because
you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
We do not know when you are coming.We gaze into our sky with anticipation
with fear…with trepidation.We do not know when you are coming.
We wonder if you will.The skies appear clear, but our vision is blurred.
The air is choked with smoke and flame
a poison in the air.Would we see you coming, Lord?
Could we see you coming, Lord?We do not know when you are coming.
We wonder if you will.Our wounded litter battlefields around the globe.
They lie in the streets in Kirkut and Kabul.
They starve in the camps Darfur, cower in Beijing, and tremble in Rangoon.
We do not know them… we do not see them.
You do see them… you do know them.We do not know when you are coming.
We wonder if you will.(for more, click on link above)
A Short Litany for Advent by David Beswick
O Morning Star, splendour of light eternal and bright Sun of righteousness:
come and enlighten all who dwell in darkness and in the shadow.
Lord Jesus, come soon!
O King of the nations, you alone can fulfil their desires:
Cornerstone, you make opposing nations one:
come and save the creature you fashioned from clay.
Lord Jesus, come soon!
O Emmanuel, hope of the nations and their Saviour:
come and save us, Lord our God.
Lord Jesus, come soon!
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