December 6, 2026 · Second Sunday of Advent · No sign-in needed
December 6 Sunday Sermon Passages — Advent 2: three voices calling the church to wait
All three readings put waiting at the center, but each asks something different of the people who wait. Isaiah comforts a weary people, Mark announces a messenger who disrupts, and 2 Peter presses on why Christ's return has taken so long. Skim the three options below, then read the one that fits where your people actually are this Advent.
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 1:1-8 A voice in the wilderness clearing a path
If you choose this passage, the sermon becomes a sermon about what it costs to get ready for someone greater than you.
The passage at a glance
- Mark opens with no birth story, only a messenger already at work in the wilderness.
- John preaches a baptism of repentance, and crowds travel out from the towns to reach him.
- He then points past himself to one who is coming, greater, whose sandals he is not fit to untie.
Ways the sermon can go
The messenger who stays in the wings
Preach John as a model of ministry that points away from itself; it costs you the chance to make him the hero of the sermon.
Repentance as a river, not a feeling
Trace what the crowds actually did — travel, confess, be washed — and ask what visible act repentance takes in your church; this costs you a purely inward reading.
Mark's missing beginning
Notice Mark skips the manger and starts with a grown man in the desert; preach on what that choice says about where this gospel starts, at the cost of the familiar Christmas frame.
Where sermons commonly slip
Turning John into a social critic
It's tempting to make him stand in for whatever prophetic cause your church wants to hear this year, past what the text supports.
Skipping past verse 1
Preachers often race to the camel hair and locusts and never ask what Mark means by calling this whole book 'gospel' in its first word.
Three things to check on the recording afterwards
- Did the sermon explain 'repentance' in concrete, visible terms, or did it stay abstract?
- How many times did the sermon name John's actual words or actions, versus describing him only in the preacher's own images?
- Did the sermon name the 'one who is coming' by a specific title, and if so, how many times?
One application for this week
Pick one person you owe an apology to, and call them before Saturday.
Epistle
2 Peter 3:8-15a Why the delay is not the same as absence
If you choose this passage, the sermon becomes a sermon about how to live well during a wait that has lasted far longer than anyone expected.
The passage at a glance
- Peter answers scoffers who say the promised day never comes by reframing God's patience, not God's slowness.
- He pictures a coming day that will expose and remake everything, using fire as his image of judgment.
- From that picture he draws a plain conclusion: live holy and at peace while you wait, because the wait itself is for your sake.
Ways the sermon can go
Patience as the point, not the delay
Preach verse 9 as the hinge — the wait exists because God wants more people to turn around; this costs you any simple 'the end is near' urgency.
What do you do with your hands while you wait
Move from the cosmic picture to verses 11 and 14 and ask what 'holy and blameless' looks like this week; this costs you the drama of the fire imagery if you never land it practically.
The scoffer in the room
Take seriously the voice in verse 4 that says nothing has changed, since some in your pews think exactly that; this costs you a tidy ending if the doubt is left standing.
Where sermons commonly slip
Preaching a timeline
The fire and dissolution language invites speculation about when and how, which pulls the sermon away from Peter's actual pastoral aim.
Scaring instead of steadying
Verses 10 to 12 can land as pure threat if the sermon never returns to verse 9's point that the delay is patience, not neglect.
Three things to check on the recording afterwards
- Did the sermon explain why the day is delayed, using verse 9, or only describe what the day will be like?
- How much time was spent on the cosmic or fire imagery compared to the practical instruction in verses 11 and 14?
- Did the sermon name a specific objection people actually voice, or address the doubt only in general terms?
One application for this week
Write down one promise of God you've stopped expecting to see kept, and tell one trusted friend about it this week.
Old Testament
Isaiah 40:1-11 Comfort spoken before the trouble ends
If you choose this passage, the sermon becomes a sermon about what it sounds like when God speaks tenderly into a situation that hasn't actually improved yet.
The passage at a glance
- God commands comfort for a people still in exile, before their circumstances change.
- A voice calls for a road to be cleared through the wilderness so God can come to them.
- The passage ends by naming the God who is coming: one with both the strength to rule and the gentleness to carry lambs.
Ways the sermon can go
Comfort as command, not feeling
Preach the double 'comfort, comfort' of verse 1 as something spoken to the preacher first, before it reaches the people; this costs you the comfort of staying vague about who exactly needs to hear it.
Clearing a road nobody else will build
Follow the highway image in verses 3 to 5 into what it means to prepare a way for God into a place that currently has none; this costs you if it becomes a self-improvement project instead of God's own initiative.
Shepherd and sovereign in one verse
Hold verses 10 and 11 together — the strong arm and the gentle carrying — and ask what happens when a congregation only ever hears one half; this costs you a tidier, one-note picture of God.
Where sermons commonly slip
Rushing past the grass
Verses 6 to 8 get read as filler before the 'real' promise, when they're doing real work contrasting human frailty with God's enduring word.
Making it only about Christmas
Because Mark quotes this passage, it's tempting to preach it purely as prophecy fulfilled and skip what it meant to the exiles who first heard it.
Three things to check on the recording afterwards
- Did the sermon name who originally received this comfort and in what situation, or move straight to a general application?
- How many times did the sermon return to the word 'comfort' itself, versus moving on to other themes?
- Did the sermon hold together both the strength and the gentleness of verses 10 and 11, or land on only one?
One application for this week
Think of one person in the church who is in a hard season, and write them a short note of comfort to send this week.
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