Michael Milton

Michael Milton and Faith for Living, Inc.

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October 31, 2019

There is No Time like the Time Being: Get Ready for Preaching through Advent

The glory of “God with us” shines brightest when lit beneath the things most seemingly God-abandoned.

That is why I love Advent. Advent has the power to turn over the inconceivable to discover the unimaginable. I especially love preaching Advent. No literary work explains my passion for preaching Advent like W.H. Auden’s For the Time Being. A New York Times reporter captured the aim of the great poet in his review:

“[Auden’s] verses undercut grandiloquence with the mundane and the conversational. In ‘For the Time Being’ he brought this gift to the Christmas theme of the Incarnation, God’s taking on the humblest of forms, power and vulnerability fused, the sacredness of the mundane.”— “Beliefs,” By Peter Steinfels (New York Times, Dec. 22, 1990).

Auden’s insights help me to look for clues to the Incarnation in the most unlikely places And this is precisely what I want to accomplish for the flock of Jesus before me. I have always felt that those who have grown tired of Christmas are those most in need of the Preacher’s art.

Pastors, it’s time now to begin preparations for Advent and Christmas . . . 2020!

That’s right. Your sermon and service planning should be done with the year before. But it is time, now, for sermon preparation for this year. Remember:

  • Sermon Planning is an essential pastoral duty wth a long-term viewer (e.g., the coming year, a three-year period, I.e., lectionary selections);
  • Sermon Preparation is an essential pastoral duty with a more immediate view (e.g., the coming week).

Here is a great resource for Advent planning: https://www.teloscollective.com/s3e2-advent-with-mission-in-mind-with-scot-mcknight/

There is no greater time for you as a pastor:

  • To teach the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures in their prophetic accuracy;
  • To preach the glory of Christ anticipated in the Old Testament;
  • To reach hearts with the compelling Story of stories;
  • To preach through the doctrines of Christ’s Person and Work;
  • To preach on how common things (livestock, innkeepers, shepherds or laborers, stars, or nobility) become uncommon instruments to bring Christ to others;
  • To preach the reason that Jesus came; and
  • To preach on His Second Coming.
  • Shine this Advent. Shine with joy, love, and an eagerness to bring Jesus Christ to your community in Word—preached, prayed, sung—Sacrament, and Prayer.
  • There is no time like the time being.

Pick up a copy of “For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio” (1942), which can be read in full in W.H. Auden: Collected Poems.

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What is Faith For Living?

Faith for Living is the 501c3 North Carolina non-profit ministry of the Rev. Michael A. Milton, Ph.D. that exists to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible, through every means available, so that there will be a multitude caught up to be with Jesus Christ when He comes again. Faith for Living reaches out to support individuals, the Church, and other non-profits through communication, discipleship, and education.

Featured Music of Michael Milton

“Jesus Came” words & music by Michael Anthony Milton
© 1999, 2012, 2020 Bethesda Music (a div. of Faith for Living, Inc.) | BMI

Featured Book

“When your heart is broken, when your spirit is so crushed that you wonder if you will live again; when your life is in a total blackout; then, this book will give you the light and strength you need to carry on.”

—Russell, Amazon Reviews.

Songs in the Night is available in paperback and Kindle. Songs in the Night: How God Transforms Our Pain to Praise is NOW AVAILABLE in  Audiobook on AUDIBLE. Click here to purchase now.

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