December 1 is the anniversary of this monumental series and a good day to start reading one sermon per day

... or six sermons per week (leaving out Sundays, if you want to be exact), which will take you to Christmas Eve. 

This December 1 is the 501st anniversary of the beginning of the preaching of the series, which was published in 1524. (So in terms of publication, it is still the 500th, if anyone else is keeping track.)

Here is the hardcover at B&NPress, here is the paperback at Amazon, here is the Kindle, and here is the playlist of introductions to the series. See previous post for the soundtrack to the videos.

This Friday, December 1, marks 500 years from the first sermon delivered in this pivotal series on 1John

 

  

Cloth w/ DJ                                      Kindle                                      Paperback

Friday, December 1, 2023, marks the 500th anniversary of the beginning of this sermon series of twenty-one sermons by Oecolampadius preached every evening during Advent in December 1523 (leaving out Sundays, but leading upon toe Christmas Eve). Though it was a weekday (evening) series, the lectio continua style of straightforward, comprehensive Bible teaching (1) represented an historic reclamation of patristic expository preaching, and (2) set the standard that would be implemented by ordinance in all the pulpits of Basel some five years after these sermons were published. Though Oecolampadius was gone by the time Calvin arrived in Basel, every church in town was ringing with the form of preaching offered here. There can be no doubt that Calvin will have had a copy of the series, which sold through several editions in multiple languages very quickly. Surely for this reason, among others, Oecolampadius can be called, and indeed he has been called, Calvin's "spiritual father." 

Not only are the sermons lively, accessible, and illuminating, Oecolampadius' selected book of the Bible, The First Epistle of John, proves a perfect focal point for this Advent series, for a fresh approach to the then-current debates over the doctrine of justification, and as he himself says, the book is a veritable "Handbook for the Christian Life." 

Here is the playlist of videos consisting of one 30-minute introduction to "The Reformation of Preaching" and 16 very short intros to the individual (or occasionally groups of) sermons:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZZ9pVHWq-xaT3XJ5qBOIwmzg55ZPLx4X

Kindle available at Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Sermons-First-Epistle-John-Christian-ebook/dp/B075WRG9CV/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1664564991&sr=1-1

Paperback available at Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Sermons-First-Epistle-John-Christian/dp/197589202X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1664564991&sr=1-1

Hardcover available at Barnes & Noble:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sermons-on-the-first-epistle-of-john-johannes-oecolampadius/1128121419?ean=9781668519998

What is a Christian to do in a time of runaway inflation?

Lower prices on Christian resources, of course!

No time to list them all. But check out my Amazon author page and you will see. 

Note the several Advent and Christmas selections, from the sublime ...

• Johannes Oecolampadius, Sermons on the First Epistle of John (A Handbook for the Christian Life), a groundbreaking Advent sermon series that turns 500 years old next year.
• Waste Not the Fragments: A Commentary for Year D (Advent)
• Waste Not the Fragments: A Commentary for Year D (Christmas) — BRAND NEW
• Greater Attention: Liturgical Elements for Reformed Worship (Year D)
• Lightning from the East: Liturgical Elements for Reformed Worship (Year A)

... to the childlike:

• A Phenomenal Llama: A Tall Christmas Tale for Children of All Ages
• A Coal Train Bound for Christmas — BRAND NEW

Lots more to explore and enrich your faith in the coming year. 

The Word in the Wind (2001)

UPDATE: Here is an excerpt from an older post I thought I would rerun, since the songs on this CD are based on the lectionary texts and themes of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Some additional info that may be of interest: I am not the first to set Thomas Hardy's poem, The Oxen, to music. Ralph Vaughan Williams did so before me, but my guitar-based arrangement (DADGAD) is obviously quite different from his choral anthem. Other tuning info, for anyone so inclined: Your Desert Snow (DADGAD), Strange Bedfellows and Living Bread (both standard tuning, Capo 2), Grace Upon Grace (standard, Capo 4).

EXCERPT: The Word in the Wind consists of mostly guitar-based songs and a few instrumental tracks (fourteen tracks in all), written in seminary and during my first pastorate, and recorded about ten years ago (2001). Several of the poems recently published in The Just, Quiet Wind are set to music here (see, e.g., Psalm 1, Living Bread, There is a Reason); the songs are inspired by texts from the Advent/Christmas/Epiphany cycle of the liturgical year, while their sequence reflects the progress from prophetic (Isaianic) expectation (Your Desert Snow, Strange Bedfellows) through the nativity (Grace Upon Grace, The Oxen, Christmas Joy, Innocents' Day) to the call to discipleship (Baptism at Nuweiba, The Response, There is a Reason, Deep Blue Heart, Believers Leap). Like its precursor, A Soundtrack for the Close of the Age (1991), The Word in the Wind may be only loosely described as a concept album, but here the concept, if it is discernible at all, will be most apparent to those who are accustomed to reading, telling, living, and rejoicing in the gospel of salvation according to the Christian year; in the case of instrumental tracks, however, even listeners who have this leg up will have little more than a title, a mode, and a mood, to go on. ...

Six weeks to Advent: A timely reminder to "Waste Not the Fragments"

Now is a good time to order this inexpensive new commentary on Year D's suggested texts for Advent. Enough fresh texts here for several adult Bible study or Sunday school sessions. Order one per student; put your own questions to text, commentary, and conversation partners.

Waste Not the Fragments: A Commentary for Year D (Advent)

A number of exegetical essays that have been residing here for some time, along with previously unpublished matter, all of it related to texts suggested for Advent, have just been published in the following commentary. Perhaps this Advent is the time to introduce your congregation, Bible study group, or adult Sunday school class to these rich texts, extend their scriptural foundations, and supplement their spiritual diet.

Spread the word!

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Numbers 14:1-25
Psalm 144
John 3:22-38
Hebrews 5:11—6:20

    

OPENING PRAYER [from GREATER ATTENTION: LERW, YEAR D]

O LORD of heaven, come down! Let your lightning flash and scatter the darkness! Send out your arrows and rout your enemies. Stretch out your hand from on high, and set this people free from those who speak lies and those who love violence. For you, O LORD, are above all and your testimony is true! Your Son, whom you have sent, has spoken the words he has heard from you, our heavenly Father. May he give to each of us, and to your church, your Holy Spirit without measure.

Third Sunday of Advent

Joshua 23:1-16

Psalm 81:(1) 2-9 (10-16) (OR Psalm 95)

Luke 3:23-38

Hebrews 4:1-11 (12-16)

      

DECLARATION OF FORGIVENESS [from GREATER ATTENTION: LERW, YEAR D]

It is the Lord your God who has fought on your behalf, keeping your foes and enemies at bay. It is Christ Jesus himself, the Son of God, who has done all things well, and fulfilled God’s promise of a Savior. Therefore, hold fast to the Lord your God, and be very steadfast to observe and do all that he has commanded you, for by the grace of Jesus Christ we are forgiven and saved.

Second Sunday of Advent

Numbers 12 OR 20:1-13 (14-21) 22-29

Psalm 106:(1) 7-18, 24-28 (43-48) (OR Psalm 95)

Luke 1:(57) 58-67 (68-79) 80

Hebrews 3:1-19


   

OPENING PRAYER [from GREATER ATTENTION: LERW, YEAR D]

You, O God, are the builder of the all things, and Christ Jesus, your Son, the faithful builder of your house, even as he serves as its head and cornerstone. Help us, O Lord, as partners with Christ, to be the house in which you dwell, that we may hold firm to faith and hope until the end, with boldness and unwavering confidence in you. Show your holiness, O God, to this assembly, among this people where your glory abides, in Jesus' name.

University of Dubuque's Christmas at Heritage (2016): Salvation Unto Us Has Come

It has been my honor and privilege to contribute the narrative for this lovely event for the last three years. Last night I also had the opportunity of reading as well. Thanks to President Jeffrey Bullock and his lovely wife Dana, and the good people of the Fine and Performing Arts Department and the Heritage Center for including me. The program begins at 18:00. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Here is a list of the narrative interludes between the musical numbers. 

I. DAVID'S PLEA: "Restore to me the joy of your salvation!"
II. JACOB'S SIGH: "I wait for your salvation, Lord." 

III. HABAKKUK'S ASSURANCE: "I will exult in the God of my salvation!"

IV. ISAIAH'S PROMISE: "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation."

V. MOSES' TESTIMONY: "The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."

VI. JEREMIAH'S COMFORT: "Truly in the Lord is our salvation."

VII. SIMEON'S DOXOLOGY: "Mine eyes have seen your salvation!"

VIII. A Hymn on the Nativity of My Saviour (Ben Jonson, 1572—1637)

First Sunday of Advent

Malachi 1:1-14

Psalm 18

Luke 1:1-25

Hebrews 1:13—2:4


  

PRAYER OF CONFESSION [Elements from GREATER ATTENTION: LERW, YEAR D]

O LORD our God, we confess that we have been slow to believe your promises, and quick to drift away from you. We have paid far too little attention to your word, to your testimony, to your miraculous signs and wonders, and far too much attention to selfish concerns. We have held back from you our very best, even though you gladly and graciously sent us your beloved and only begotten Son. Forgive us, O God, for our sinful thoughtlessness! Let us never again neglect so great a salvation as you have provided for us in Jesus Christ!

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

The LORD shows himself loyal to those who show themselves loyal, but with the crooked he shows himself perverse. The way of God is perfect. The promise of the LORD proves true. He is a rock for all who take refuge in him. You who have confessed and cried out to the LORD, know that you are delivered and forgiven, and be at peace.


FEATURES OF NOTE:
On this very First Sunday of Advent, you will soon notice a peculiar feature of Year D. Some of the selections are quite long, and therefore you need to plan ahead if you wish to shorten the readings. 

Psalm 18, for example, is a rich and wonderful psalm with many unique spiritual and historical insights, but it is also much longer than the usual Psalm selection for a Sunday service. It falls to you to either make room for such a long psalm and cue the congregation that it will be a lengthy, or to make a shorter selection of key verses that you wish to accentuate. In this instance, Year D "narrows" the selection, but does not make the final cut for you. You must do this yourself. 

The Assurance above, for instance, makes use of the provocative, but intriguing language of Psalm 18:25-26, which contains (I suspect) an important perspective on the human experience of evil and a clue to the mysterious and troublesome doctrine of theodicy. These words will no doubt strike some as controversial, but to others, they issue a summons to self-examination and personal responsibility. The one undeniable thing is this: there they are ... in Scripture! 

May the Spirit inspire your study and planning!

TMS

First Sunday of Advent (Year C)

OPENING PRAYER [from THE JOYFUL FEAST: LERW, YEAR C] 

God of truth and righteousness, we turn to you in anticipation of your coming to bring justice and peace into our world. Strengthen our hearts in holiness, unite us with our neighbors in love, direct our way along your righteous paths and among your righteous people of every time and place, that we may be found blameless at your return.

Second Sunday of Advent (Year B)

IN PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP [from WHEN HEAVEN STANDS OPEN: LERW, YEAR B]
We wait for you, little knowing that you wait for us to reach out.
We call to you, heedless of your voice in our ears.
We approach you, making no forward progress, but turning around,
we discover you have been with us all along.

First Sunday of Advent (Year B)

    

For those opting for Year B this year ...

Isaiah 64:1-9

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Mark 13:24-37

CALL TO WORSHIP

God is faithful!  Come together and wait for the advent of the Lord.

We lack nothing for the vigil.  We keep watch and wait.

Stay awake!  For you do not know when the Lord will return.

With signs in the heavens,

with power and glory, Christ will come.

Take heart!  By the grace of God you have been blessed.

We will endure to the end, that we may be found blameless

when Jesus Christ comes again.

OPENING PRAYER

Eternal God, who comes to us in different forms and at different times,

we await your coming again: Let the heavens be opened!

Let every creature on earth behold your grandeur and your glory!

We anticipate your arrival with worship in our hearts,

with eager, expectant eyes, and with lives ready to be changed

by your holy presence among us.

For the rest of this liturgy, see When Heaven Stands Open.

The lectionary and the liturgical year can lend shape to all kinds of things

With Year B fast approaching, allow me to reiterate, yea, demonstrate, that I have long found the Revised Common Lectionary a very helpful, valuable, and inspiring tool, not just for preaching, liturgy, and prayer.

But I encourage you to compare the Table of Contents and the titles here with the Sunday lections in Year B:

... and the track list here to the Sundays of the Christmas cycle (Advent through Transfiguration).