Gospel Lesson Plans
The school year began months ago; New Year’s Day is over a month away. Yet here we are, beginning our new Church year with the First Sunday of Advent. Advent invites us to risk pushing on through the world’s weariness to expectant hope. Something’s coming we proclaim! Immanuel: God With Us in the form of an infant. We celebrate what happened 2000 years ago while we look to the promise that Jesus will come again. We are also called, as we live in this parenthesis time, to look for messages God continues to send: what has happened, and will happen again, is also happening now: right here.
Old Testament Lesson Plans
Advent begins with darkness. In the days of the prophets, the Israelites looked to God for hope and promise. The prophets began to speak of the hope and light that would be coming to the people of God. Today we continue to share the stories of the prophets to remind us that we have been given this hope and light through the birth of Jesus Christ. During this time in the calendar year our days are getting shorter, and we wait for the light of Christ to shatter this darkness. In Advent we are encouraged to stop and listen and hear what the prophets are saying.
| Year A | Date | Scripture | Old Testament Lesson Plan | Gospel Lesson Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Sunday of Advent | Sunday between November 27 and December 3 | Isaiah 2:1-5 Matthew 24:36-44 | Come Let us Walk in the Light | Be Ready for Messages |
| Second Sunday of Advent | Sunday between December 4 and December 10 | Isaiah 11:1-10 Matthew 3:1-12 | A Branch Will Grow | I Will, With God’s Help |
| Third Sunday of Advent | Sunday between December 11 and December 17 | Isaiah 35:1-10 Matthew 11:2-11 | Everlasting Joy | Are You the One? |
| Fourth Sunday of Advent | Sunday between December 18 and December 24 | Isaiah 7:10-16 Matthew 1:18-25 | A Child Will be Born | God is With Us |