More Urgent Season

This book of eight sermons offers many directions. One sermon tells the tale of the angel Gabriel’s skeptical cousin, Hector. Another is a “once upon a time” story set in a land called Cornucopia. Yet another draws a radically prophetic vision of Christmas through the eyes of two biblical women. Others range from a discussion of pregnancy to a discussion of peace.

A pastoral prayer and brief children’s lesson accompany each sermon. Sermon texts include the Psalms, 1 Samuel, Isaiah, Matthew, Luke, and Ephesians.

White challenges preachers to tell the familiar Christmas story in new and interesting ways. He maintains that “to remain fresh through succeeding Advent seasons, preachers must stretch themselves in as many directions as possible.” He states that part of the preacher’s annual challenge is to “fearlessly illuminate the oft-neglected social dimension of Advent, to enlist Christian energies in the struggle for what is just, pure, and true, and to anticipate the day when Christ shall return to redeem this sorely afflicted world in the fullness of time.”