You stare at your planning calendar for fall and winter. Suddenly it dawns on you that the Advent season is just around the corner. "Let's see, there are four Sundays until Christmas, then there is the special Christmas Eve Service, the ecumenical service with the neighborhood congregations you have been invited to preach for, and ..." It's no wonder preachers become anxious during the Advent season. You might have to preach over 25 sermons in a one month span from a seemingly limited menu.

Suddenly your mind plays tricks on you. You reach into the file cabinet and pull out the old Christmas sermons. You become overwhelmed (again) at the thought of squeezing out another round of sermons that will inspire, motivate, and emote your congregation into a new awareness of the humble beginnings of the gospel story. You think of cribbing someone else's Christmas sermons. "What was that sermon I heard on cable last year when I stayed up late to put the bike together?"

As Gabriel commanded Mary, "Do not be afraid." The Advent season can be a time of creative preaching if you take a little time to plan ahead. Here are some ways to wrap up the old and familiar Christmas story in new and exciting colors and ribbons.

One idea is so simple it is easily overlooked. Change the sermon wrapping. Preachers generally use the same method of preparation and delivery. While this may be a tried and true -- not to mention comfortable -- technique, Christmas is a unique season of the year. Think about it, what kind of gift do you prefer to receive for Christmas, the same old thing or something new and different?

Doesn't Christmas sermon preparation deserve a different approach? For example, if you preach expository sermons, try narrative sermons. Telling a story, especially during the holiday season, can often move the congregation in ways that exposition and exhortation do not. On the other hand, a congregation used to narrative sermons might enjoy some "real preachin'" from the pulpit for a change. Just the effect of a new and different delivery of a sermon might be all you need to spice up the holiday homilies.

Changing your approach in sermon preparation will change your perceptions of the biblical text, and this in itself will open up new ways of seeing and hearing the text. If you approach the Advent Season with a here-we-go-again attitude, your sermons will most likely leave the parishioner with the same feeling. Look for new ways to approach the Christmas story. For example, ask different questions. Who isn't in the traditional Christmas story? Why? What if I take this angle instead of that one? Did Christmas mean anything to the innkeeper? What would the animals in the manger say?

Using this approach, take the various characters in the traditional Christmas story and preach from their perspective. What was Zechariah thinking when he couldn't talk during the time before John the Baptist was born? What was Herod's motive in trying to kill Jesus? What did the angel Gabriel think when he was assigned the task to visit and announce to Mary that she was the chosen one? Were the wise men disappointed when they found out the new born babe lived in a humble dwelling? What did the townspeople think when they saw the betrothed Mary great with child?