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The four Sundays before Christmas day are the Sundays of Advent.
The season of Advent (name derived from the Latin advenire—to come to,
and adventus—an arrival) is that time (between 21-28 days) when the church
prepares the faithful to celebrate Christ’s coming into the world. Traditionally
the focus has been twofold, both on his first coming—with rejoicing,
and in his expected second coming—with repentance.
This series of sermons will seek to address the Advent themes
by means of a study of the first fourteen verses of the prologue of the Gospel
of John (John 1:1-18). It will then address the themes of Epiphany through
verses 15 to 18 of the prologue along with chapters one to four of the Gospel.
I will treat “listening to the text” as brief exegetical
notes on lexical or theological issues deemed significant to a proper understanding
of the text. In treating “engaging the text” I will attempt to indicate
the hermeneutical considerations that would be helpful in arriving at the
sermon from the text. My treatment of “preaching the text” will
simply indicate briefly what would be the desired focus of the sermon and
the function that the sermon is expected to perform.
These sermons are presented by Sam Vassel. Dr. Vassel is pastor of the Bronx Bethany Church of the Nazarene in New York City.
Because the seven Sundays of Epiphany are between Christmas
and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, we have the temptation of letting
it be a “down” season for the church. This is a great opportunity
for the pastor to grasp the imagination of their congregation and to lead
them through the anticipation of the coming seasons of Lent and Easter. In
most traditions, the Epiphany season was a teaching tool in the church. It
began with the teaching of the worship of the Magi and moved through the baptism
of Christ and his transformation to the various aspects of showing Jesus as
Savior of all people.
This is a season when the preacher can emphasize divine revelation.
The ultimate disclosure of God came in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. John
1:18 tells us that no one had ever seen the invisible God until God, the uniquely
begotten, was revealed in the Word become flesh. This incarnation of God as
a human is fully disclosed in the holy and great God event of the cross. There
is no true knowledge of God except through his disclosure to us and that is
fully seen in the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord. This is the message
of Epiphany.
These sermons are presented by Gary Henecke. Dr. Henecke is pastor of the First Church of the Nazarene in Nashville, Tennessee.