Today I want to read a short article.

I've posted it before, posting it again for this Christmas.

It's aimed particularly at pastors.

Hopefully something here maybe would be helpful. It's aimed particularly at pastors. Hopefully something here maybe would be helpful.

It's entitled Pastor. Don't get cute this Christmas. I know the feeling. Christmas comes around

every year, the same songs, the same text, the same story. Most of the time, I love the familiar

rhythm of Advent and the comforting routine of tradition. But as a pastor, I love the familiar rhythm of Advent and the comforting routine of

tradition. But as a pastor, I also know that sense of desperation. How many more Christmas

sermons and holiday homilies can I possibly come up with? And I rarely do a full four-week Advent

series. The poor brother who does an Advent series every year for 40 years is going to preach

160 sermons on Christmas. I sympathize with the temptation to novelty. But don't do it,

pastor. Don't get cute at Christmas. Your people need regular meat and potatoes, not the newest

eggnog recipe. Stay away from props and video clips. Put to death a Star Wars

tie-in you've been really excited about or Mandalorian or whatever's out there right now. Don't worry

about preaching the same truths and the same themes. Do it. They don't remember last year's

sermon anyways. You hardly remember it. Go ahead and tell them the old, old story one more time.

That means the Christmas Eve service should not be about the evils of shopping or the dangers of busyness.

We can leave behind clever cliches like wise men still seek him or have yourself a Mary, M-A-R-Y, Christmas.

There's no need to focus for 40 minutes on what exactly was the star of Bethlehem.

If you're going to talk about the Magi, don't make it an academic lecture on Persian astrology.

Let's spare our people the usual harangue about how Protestants have ignored Mary for

too long, even though I've heard that sermon and read those articles every year since I was a kid,

...