November 29, 2026 · First Sunday of Advent · No sign-in needed
November 29 Sunday Sermon Passages — Advent 1: three ways to wait
All three readings share Advent's posture of waiting for God to act, though each imagines the wait differently. Isaiah and Mark picture it as unnerving - God silent, then coming without warning - while Paul writes from inside a church already gifted but still unfinished. Skim the three pitches below, then read the one that fits your people this week.
Which passage will you preach this Sunday?
These are passages a sermon can take on this Sunday. The order is not a ranking — read the introductions, then tap the one that draws you and it opens below.
Passages follow the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL); “Occasion” passages are options we add for the season. If your church follows its own calendar or preaches through a book, carry on as you were.
Gospel
Mark 13:24-37 Stay Awake, You Don't Know the Hour
If you choose this passage, the sermon becomes a sermon about staying alert for Christ's return when you have no idea when it's coming.
The passage at a glance
- Jesus describes cosmic upheaval - sun, moon, and stars shaken - and the Son of Man coming with power and glory.
- He points to the fig tree: when you see the signs, you know the season is near, though the exact day stays hidden even from the Son.
- He closes with a short parable of a servant left in charge of a house, told simply to stay alert because the master could return at any hour.
Ways the sermon can go
Alert, not anxious
Preach watchfulness as calm readiness rather than fear. It costs you some of the drama - this reading is quieter than the cosmic imagery invites.
No one knows the day
Preach epistemic humility against date-setting and end-times timetables. It costs you the chance to make verses 24-27 feel as vivid as they sound.
The absent master
Focus on the servants left in charge of the house while the owner is away, and what faithful work looks like in the meantime. It costs you having to address verse 32, where even the Son doesn't know the day.
Where sermons commonly slip
Turning signs into a checklist
Mapping a current war, disaster, or headline onto verses 24-25 as proof the end is near. The passage itself resists this, since it insists the timing stays hidden.
Skipping the hard verse
Quietly passing over verse 32, where Jesus says even the Son doesn't know the day. Hearers who notice it will wonder why the sermon avoided it.
Three things to check on the recording afterwards
- Did the sermon name a current event - war, disaster, headline - as a sign of the end?
- Did the sermon address verse 32, about the Son not knowing the day, or move past it without comment?
- How many times did the sermon use the word watch or stay awake compared to the word fear?
One application for this week
Pick one evening this week, turn off your phone for an hour, and sit by a window watching as if waiting for someone to arrive.
Recent research on this passage
Elton L. Hollon (2023). Unsound and Informally Fallacious Preterist Arguments for Mark 13:24‐27. The Heythrop Journal. Read the article
According to the abstract, this article argues that popular preterist readings of verses 24-27 rest on a weak argument and a false dilemma, and that futurist readings remain the more defensible option.
Does your sermon assume these verses describe events already fulfilled in the past or ones still to come, and have you told the congregation that this is actually disputed?
Desti Samarenna (2023). Deskripsi Tentang Kedatangan Anak Manusia: Perumpamaan Tentang Pohon Ara Dalam Markus 13: 24-32. HARVESTER Jurnal Teologi dan Kepemimpinan Kristen. Read the article
This article reads verses 24-32 as a word of hope for people living through ongoing disaster and hardship, rather than as a timetable to decode.
Does the sermon land as comfort for people currently suffering, or mainly as an alarm about the future?
Epistle
1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Grace Already Given to a Church Not Yet Finished
If you choose this passage, the sermon becomes a sermon about trusting God's faithfulness to finish a church that is nowhere near finished yet.
The passage at a glance
- Paul opens with grace and peace, then thanks God for the grace already given to this church.
- He points to real gifts among them - speech and knowledge - as evidence that Christ's testimony took root there.
- He turns their eyes forward, to waiting for Christ to be revealed and to God's own faithfulness to keep them steady until that day.
Ways the sermon can go
Gifted but immature
Hold this thanksgiving next to the chaos Paul describes later in the letter. It costs you having to look ahead in 1 Corinthians, and it risks feeling like a bait and switch if you're not careful.
God's faithfulness as the anchor
Preach verse 9 - God is faithful - as the ground of assurance no matter how the church is currently behaving. It costs you some edge, since it can tip into cheap reassurance without real accountability alongside it.
Waiting for Christ's revealing
Use verse 7 to build an Advent sermon on waiting that doesn't depend on predicting future events. It costs you textual material - it's a thin phrase to carry a whole sermon.
Where sermons commonly slip
Praising the wrong thing
Treating this passage as evidence Corinth was a model church, when Paul is about to spend the next several chapters correcting them.
Flattening it into generic thanksgiving
Preaching it as a plain be thankful for your church message, missing the real tension between the gift already given and the maturity still being worked out.
Three things to check on the recording afterwards
- Did the sermon mention anything from later in 1 Corinthians - division, lawsuits, immorality - or treat the church as simply healthy?
- Did the sermon separate the gift already given from the faithfulness still being worked out, or blur the two together?
- How many sentences did the sermon spend on verse 9, God is faithful, compared to the rest of the passage?
One application for this week
This week, write down one specific way you've seen God at work in someone at your church who is still clearly a work in progress, and tell them in person before Sunday.
Recent research on this passage
Hyun Jung Oh (2024). The Future Bodily Resurrection Implied in Paul’s Eschatological Language in 1 Corinthians 1-4. 신약논단. Read the article
According to the abstract, this article argues that Paul's eschatological language in chapters 1 through 4 - including the language of waiting and that day - assumes the future bodily resurrection he spells out later in chapter 15.
When you preach waiting for Christ to be revealed in verse 7, do you tie it to any larger hope of bodily resurrection, or leave it vague?
Old Testament
Isaiah 64:1-9 A Prayer for God to Finally Show Up
If you choose this passage, the sermon becomes a sermon about crying out for God to act after a long silence, while also owning how we've drifted during the wait.
The passage at a glance
- The prayer opens by begging God to tear the heavens and come down the way he did at Sinai, so the nations would tremble.
- It admits that God's people drifted and sinned while they waited, and compares their righteousness to a garment gone unclean.
- It ends by appealing to God as father and potter, asking him not to stay angry forever but to remember whose people they still are.
Ways the sermon can go
Honest lament as prayer
Preach this as a model for praying boldly when God feels absent, including naming real disappointment. It costs you some comfort - it can feel risky to a congregation used to tidier prayers.
We also are unclean
Preach the confession in verses 5-7, including the hard image in verse 6, as the needed counterweight to blaming God alone for the silence. It costs you balance - it's easy to overcorrect into shame.
Potter and clay
Preach verse 8 as identity before performance - we belong to God before we've earned anything. It costs you depth on its own; it works best alongside the lament rather than replacing it.
Where sermons commonly slip
Turning lament into complaint only
Preaching the opening cry for God to act without ever reaching the confession later in the passage, making God the only one who needs to change.
Over-translating verse 6
Leaning on the filthy rags image to declare that all human effort is worthless, when the verse names a specific failure rather than a blanket verdict on every ethical act.
Three things to check on the recording afterwards
- Did the sermon include both the cry for God to act in verses 1-3 and the confession of sin in verses 5-7, or only one half?
- How many times did the sermon use the word filthy or rags from verse 6, and did it explain what the image refers to?
- Did the sermon name a specific, current situation where this prayer could honestly be prayed, or stay general?
One application for this week
This week, set aside ten minutes alone in a quiet room and write God one honest sentence about what still feels broken, the way this prayer does.
Recent research on this passage
Andreas Kongres Pardingotan Simbolon, Ade Widi Christian, Alnodus Jamsenjos Indirwan Ziliwu (2024). Kesalehan atau Kebenaran: Analisis Terjemahan כל־צדקתינו (kol-ṣiḏqōtếnû) dalam Yesaya 64:6. Angelion Jurnal Teologi dan Pendidikan Kristen. Read the article
According to the abstract, this article studies how to translate all our righteousness in verse 6 and argues that human righteousness, understood as humility and repentance, has a necessary part to play in salvation.
When you preach verse 6, do you treat human righteousness and repentance as worthless, or as a necessary step that still leads toward grace?
From recent (2023 onward) scholarly articles we chose only those likely to help a preacher read this passage. Citations come from OpenAlex and Crossref and each DOI was checked; summaries paraphrase the abstract alone. A paraphrased abstract cannot stand in for the argument. Read the article itself before you use it in a sermon. We did not check journal rank or the rigor of peer review — articles were chosen only for relevance to the passage.
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