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.”
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.
Day1 Articles
Margaret Marcuson: Four Practices to Carry You Through Advent
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?
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
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!
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
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
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
Day1 Video Feature
Peter Wallace Presents the Day1 Ministry and a Brief History of The Protestant Hour
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
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 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
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
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
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
Day1 Audio Feature
Bonus Day1 Sermon! The Rev. Jane Mitchell Weston: "What Will We Plant Together?" (Mark 4:26-34)
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
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
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
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
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
In this audio feature, the Rev. Gordon Stewart compares Thomas Aquinas' experience at Paris University with today's Liberty University.