Gentle, Invitational, and Robust Approaches to Preaching Advent 1, Year A

Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade

The Gospel for the First Sunday of Advent in Year A is Matthew 24:36-44, Jesus’s apocalyptic warning about his second coming. Writing for a church that had suffered through the cataclysmic event of the Temple’s destruction, Matthew urged his followers to pivot away from predicting the time of Jesus’ second coming and instead to prepare for ministry in a time of uncertainty and upheaval. The coming of the Son of Man will be unexpected and sudden, likened to the time of Noah, where people were going about their normal lives until the flood suddenly swept them away. Speculation about the timing of the end is useless, but the certainty of Christ’s eventual arrival requires engaging in faithful ministry.

This and other apocalyptic passages have been weaponized and used for theological manipulation by extremists and those who cash in on end-time frenzies. However, this passage has contemporary relevance when considering the turmoil of issues such as the climate crisis, federal agents kidnapping and imprisoning U.S. residents, the use of military forces in U.S. cities, and threats to arrest leaders and perceived political enemies.  Preachers discerning how to address such controversial issues biblically and theologically will want to consider what approach would be most fitting for their preaching context. 

In my book, Preaching and Social Issues: Tools and Tactics for Empowering Your Prophetic Voice (Bloomsbury/Rowman & Littlefield/Alban, 2025), I suggest three ways to preach to a sermon addressing a contemporary topic: Gentle, Invitational, and Robust. These are based on the preacher’s vulnerability, characteristics of the congregation, and the quality of relationships between and among the congregation and preacher.  To help ministers decide what approach to take, I developed this 5-minute Assessment Tool for Ministry and Social Issues which you can take here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AssessmentMinistrySocialIssues. 

The Gentle approach is used for a low-trust, high-stress context. Focusing on naming emotions and framing them biblically and theologically can help the congregation process inwardly so that they can take tentative steps outward. The Invitational approach is used for a moderate-trust, moderately-stressed context where the preacher has more flexibility and freedom to stretch the congregation with a challenging message. This approach focuses on moving beyond self-protection to listening to others, building bridges, finding common ground, and imagining possible next steps.  The Robust approach is used for a high-trust context.  When the preacher and congregation have a healthy sense of their identity as children of God, they are less defensive and are able to be humble and spiritually flexible.  This approach focuses on creative and concrete ways to be transformed by the gospel and make a difference in the world.        

Applying these approaches to Matthew 24:36-44 offers numerous possibilities for preaching.  A Gentle approach would use the tactic of naming contemporary issues and framing them biblically.  For example, the preacher might begin by talking about the recent false alarm of the “Rapture” happening in September 2025. The sermon would explain that an apocalypse is happening but in the biblical sense of an unveiling of systems and forces that have been previously hidden or unexamined, rather than as a blockbuster doomsday movie.  The preacher could ask the congregation to consider what kind of church they should be given the ways in which injustice and inequities are being unveiled and what their community’s needs are today.

An Invitational approach could use the tactic of telling stories to create empathy.  Perhaps highlight a recent natural disaster and how the church or denominational agencies helped communities recover. The preacher could invite the congregation to discuss ways in which they can prepare for the next disaster. What would it mean for us to see our neighbors as kin rather than mere labels based on their race, immigration status, or gender identity?

For a Robust approach, the preacher could jump right into encouraging preparation for ministry amid threats against the most vulnerable. Who in our community is at risk? Undocumented people? Children? International university students? The preacher can challenge the congregation to prepare on a moment’s notice so that they can respond with immediate assistance, advocacy, and activism.  What are examples of churches that are serving as an “ark,” and what can we learn from them?

These are just a few possibilities for preaching about social issues informed by careful exegesis of the Bible and one’s congregation and community.  I suggest a total of nine different strategies in Preaching and Social Issues that can be adapted for any ministry context. Attending to these contemporary topics through preaching is a way to give homiletical accompaniment to a congregation’s discernment and ministry during this precarious time. 

The Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade is the Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship at Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky.  An ordained Lutheran minister (ELCA) for twenty-five years, she has pastored congregations in suburban, urban, and rural contexts. Dr. Schade has written seven books including Creation-Crisis Preaching, Preaching in the Purple Zone, and Introduction to Preaching. Her most recent book is Preaching and Social Issues, published by Alban Books/Rowman & Littlefield in 2025. She served as President of the Academy of Homiletics in 2024 and is the director the Lilly Endowment-funded project, “Compelling Preaching for a Climate-Changed World” with Lexington Theological Seminary, The BTS Center, and Creation Justice Ministries.