Our Latest Program: Sunday December 03, 2023

What Keeps You Up At Night?

I remember being abruptly awakened at 2:00 a.m. on a bitterly cold night. It was my wife. She said, “Wake up! It’s time!” Her water had broken. Our first child was on the way. How I’d longed across the pregnancy to know who this child would be. What color hair? What gender? Would they look more like their mother, or more like me? And when they were old enough to cry after a bad dream, who would they cry out for first – mom or me? My imagination about this long-awaited child was about to become real life. But when that wakeup call came, I wasn’t afraid. I wasn’t terror stricken. I was elated. I was filled with adrenaline and joyful anticipation, as though someone had plugged me into a power grid and thrown the throttle-sized breaker from OFF to ON, and this great coming fulfillment of love made me “all flame.”

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Coming Up: Next Week's Sermon

Good News: God Is Coming to You

The best Christmas sermon I ever heard was from the preacher who stood up on Christmas Eve and simply said to his congregation. “Tonight, I have some breaking news.” Then he leaned into the microphone for good effect and said, “Good news. Tonight, the invasion has begun. We’re about to be liberated. God’s come for us.” He sat down and we sang Christmas carols like our lives depended upon it, which of course, they do. Sorry if you thought God was a projection of your fondest wishes and deepest desires, a technique for getting peace or justice or happiness or joy or whatever it is you think you just must have more than God. One comes to us; one whom we did not expect. Your world is about to be rocked. Don’t be surprised that you are surprised.

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Day1 Articles

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Margaret Marcuson: Four Practices to Carry You Through Advent

The Rev. Margaret Marcuson
American Baptist Churches USA

Advent is up on us! What practices do you have to get you through to Christmas? I’ve always found that doing at least a few things for myself through these weeks help me walk through them with less stress and more grace. Here are four practices I recommend:

The Slow Speed of Comfort?

The Rev. Dr. Walter Brueggemann
United Church of Christ

Church Anew
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Take time to be holy! Take time to be human! It is not an either/or; it is a both/and. Take time! Resist the way of the world in the daily frantic expenditure of time, energy, and attention. There will be little serious missional energy in the church unless and until we find practical ways to live apart from the societal requirements of scale and speed.

Frederick Buechner Sermon Illustration: Mark

The Rev. Frederick Buechner
Presbyterian Church (USA)

In our blog post every Monday we select a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday, and pair it with a Frederick  Buechner  reading on the same topic. Next Sunday, we will celebrate the First Sunday of Advent. Here is this week's reading from the gospel of Mark:

The Holiday is Pronounced THANKSgiving!

The Rev. Susan Sparks
American Baptist Churches USA

This is an important lesson as we begin this holiday season. While loving, joyful giving should be the focus of the coming weeks, giving usually turns into an exhausting act of duty. Like the conviction that you have to make two potato dishes—sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes—for the holiday dinner. Or the belief that you must fight the Black Friday crowds to get a generic scarf and mitten set for a great aunt twice-removed because she sent you a Whitman’s Sampler. This is not joyful giving. This is giving cause you gotta. And this type of giving rarely produces anything heartfelt. What it does produce is heartburn. It also generates stress, resentment, and the worse of all things: the martyr syndrome. To break from this pattern, we must put the emphasis on the “THANKS”—in the word for the holiday and in our lives.

Frederick Buechner Sermon Illustration: The Sheep From the Goats

The Rev. Frederick Buechner
Presbyterian Church (USA)

In our blog post every Monday we select a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday, and pair it with a Frederick  Buechner reading on the same topic. Next Sunday, we will celebrate the Reign of Christ. Here is this week's reading from the gospel of Matthew:

The Good Shepherd And The Bad Ones

The Rev. Dr. Walter Brueggemann
United Church of Christ

Church Anew
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

There is no exact cognate in our economic situation to the intervention of God. We may, however, imagine that the government might intervene on behalf of the vulnerable who are exposed to aggressive exploitation. Except, of course, the neoliberal ideology that justifies the exploitation has largely come to dominate government, so that it is quite unlikely that such an intervention may occur.

Day1 Video

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Day1 Video Feature

Peter Wallace Presents the Day1 Ministry and a Brief History of The Protestant Hour

The Rev. Peter M. Wallace
The Episcopal Church

Day1
n/a

Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta, home base of the Day1 ministry, invited producer and host Peter Wallace to share about the ministry. He also provides a brief history of great preaching on the Protestant Hour and Day1 with audio clips.

Day1 Video Feature

Day1 Event with the Most Rev. Michael Curry

The Most Rev. Michael Curry
The Episcopal Church

On March 21, 2023, at a Day1 Dinner Event in Atlanta, Episcopal Presiding Bishop Michael Curry offered an inspiring message of faith in today's world. Also participating in the evening's program were the Rev. Peter Wallace (host and producer of Day1), the Very Rev. Sam Candler (Dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip), the Rt. Rev. Robert C. Wright (Bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta), emcees Chris Chandler and Jared Yamamoto (of Day1's flagship station WSB 95.5), and others.

Day1 Video Feature

Day1 Zoom Webinar Celebrating the Life and Legacy of C. T. Vivian

Day1
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Day1 presents a challenging and timely conversation on the life and legacy of the late Civil Rights leader and powerful preacher, Dr. C. T. Vivian. CNN's Don Lemon moderates a panel with Dr. Bernice King, Ambassador Andrew Young, son Al Vivan, and Steve Fiffer.

Day1 Video Feature

Day1 Zoom Salon with Susan Sparks

The Rev. Susan Sparks
American Baptist Churches USA

Day1 host Peter Wallace has a fun and inspirational conversation with the Rev. Susan Sparks, stand-up comedian, Baptist pastor, and author of several books including her latest, "Love, a Tiara, and a Cupcake"...

Day1 Video Feature

Day1 Salon: Next Gen Preachers Roundtable

The Rev. Christopher Henry
Presbyterian Church (USA)

The Rev. Robert W. Lee IV
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

The Rev. Dr. Joshua Scott
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

The Rev. Palmer Cantler
United Methodist Church

Victoria Lawson
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

The Rev. Brandon Duke
The Episcopal Church

Six up-and-coming preachers and church leaders gather to share their authentic and inspiring thoughts about where we are now and where we're heading as the church in this new day. Watch our Day1 Zoom Salon here!

Day1 Video Feature

Day1 Book Launch Party Video

The Rev. Dr. Ozzie E. Smith, Jr.
United Church of Christ

The Rev. Dr. Joanna Adams
Presbyterian Church (USA)

The Rev. Dr. Charles Reeb
United Methodist Church

The Rev. Dr. Anna Carter Florence
Presbyterian Church (USA)

The Rev. Juan Carlos Huertas
United Methodist Church

The Rev. Peter M. Wallace
The Episcopal Church

The Rev. Dr. William E. Flippin, Jr.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Rev. Dr. Micah T. J. Jackson
The Episcopal Church

Day1 presents a video Book Launch Party for the new book, "Bread Enough for All: A Day1 Guide to Life," published by Church Publishing, Inc. Join Day1 host Peter Wallace and seven outstanding preachers/church leaders who share their sermon excerpts from the book and engage in conversation and Q&A: Joanna M. Adams, Anna Carter Florence, William Flippin Jr., Juan Carlos Huertas, Micah Jackson, Charley Reeb, and Ozzie Smith Jr.

Day1 Audio

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Day1 Audio Feature

Bonus Day1 Sermon! The Rev. Jane Mitchell Weston: "What Will We Plant Together?" (Mark 4:26-34)

The Rev. Jane Mitchell Weston
The Episcopal Church

In a special sermon for the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost, the Rev. Jane Mitchell Weston says the two parables in Mark 4 give us imagery of the kingdom of God starting as something tiny, almost imperceptible, and growing in mysterious and magnificent ways. Yet the growth in the parable is God’s doing, not ours--which can liberate us from the feeling that we have to do it all, that we’re in charge of the success of the Kingdom of God.

Day1 Audio Feature

Day1 Worship On the Way Podcast - Pilot

The Rev. Dr. Eric Barreto
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

Day1 Worship on the Way

Day1 is pleased to present a pilot for a potential new weekly podcast: Worship On the Way. Experience a half hour worship experience with hymns, songs, and prayers, along with a powerful sermon by an outstanding Day1 preacher.

Day1 Audio Feature

The Alban Conversation: Preaching Easter Online - Audio Version

The Rev. Peter M. Wallace
The Episcopal Church

The Rev. Nathan E. Kirkpatrick
The Episcopal Church

Here's the audio version of The Alban Conversation with Nathan Kirkpatrick, Day1's Peter Wallace, and Duke's Christine Parton Burkett on preaching Easter online--and anytime.

Day1 Audio Feature

The Rev. Dr. John Vannorsdall: "Come and Have Breakfast" - A Protestant Hour Easter Message

Day1
n/a

The Rev. Dr. John Vannorsdall, Lutheran pastor and chaplain at Yale University and Gettysburg Seminary, was the Protestant Hour's regular Lutheran preacher from 1976 until 1990. He passed away earlier this week. We remember him and his astounding impact on the church with a presentation of his Easter sermon originally airing April 6, 1980. May he rest in peace.

Day1 Audio Feature

Special Day1 Podcast with Peter Wallace - Love in the Time of Coronavirus

The Rev. Peter M. Wallace
The Episcopal Church

Get a sneak preview of a special Day1 program that will air on the radio on June 14, with the Rev. Peter Wallace offering a sermon entitled, "Love in the Time of Coronavirus." And gain ideas for how to share God's love in difficult times.

Day1 Audio Feature

Gordon Stewart: Two Universities: Paris and Liberty

The Rev. Gordon Stewart
Presbyterian Church (USA)

In this audio feature, the Rev. Gordon Stewart compares Thomas Aquinas' experience at Paris University with today's Liberty University.