If at some point in the past you have attended church during the month of December you may feel like you’ve heard the same talks over and over. We pastors tend to retread the same ground over and over each year. Angels, shepherds, wise men, Mary and Joseph and Christmas spirit/shopping/meaning. We may shuffle the deck a little or put a new spin on it here or there but it’s Christmas so we’re headed to Matthew 1-2, Luke 1-2, Isaiah 9 and Micah 5. We don’t intend to preach the same messages but it’s the end of the year and some pastors are already looking ahead to next year’s first series. And if you’re going to receycle a message December is a tempting month to do it with everything else going on. But we want to do everything in our power to avoid the above characterization.
Here are three reasons why pastors think it’s hard to preach in December:
It’s all been said before – This statement is not true but it’s how many people feel. What could possibly be said at this time of year that hasn’t already been said? When we come to December and to these familiar passages we need to look at them with fresh eyes. This is why no matter what we preach we don’t bring the topic to the text. The text determines the topic. When we turn to the familiar Christmas passages we need to let the text speak to us anew. We aren’t preaching about Mary or angels or shepherds. We’re preaching God’s inspired words about these real people and there is a reason he told us about them.
There are too many distractions – There are so many things happening in December that it’s difficult to focus on fresh thoughts about the manger. There are Christmas programs, shopping, events, parties. There’s also the music of Christmas. How does a pastor draw the attention of everyone who is coming into the church, their heads filled with silver bells and sugarplums, to the beauty, majesty and simplicity of Christ?
The message gets preached in so many different ways – Anyone paying attention can hear the story of the manger several times a day through the holiday songs, radio preachers and heartwarming Christmas movies. Often these other mediums can get the message across in much more entertaining and sophisticated ways. The preacher has to compete with all the other ways people are hearing about Jesus’ birth.
The bottom line is that during December, people are talking about and hearing about Jesus. As a pastor it can be easy to add pressure to the sermon prep, trying to find something fresh. Christmas is a time for tradition and nostalgia. Pastors may be making it too hard on themselves trying to preach something new when in reality people are ok hearing the same thing in December. When you go to church this month, whether it’s the same sermon as last year or something fresh, remember, it’s not the sermon, it’s the Scripture speaking to us anew about the amazing thing our God did to bring us salvation.
