Preaching Christmas

Does anyone else have a challenging time coming up with a fresh approach to Christmas in your preaching?  It’s a most amazing event, the incarnation of God, but a combination of the awesomeness and the familiarity of the theme seems to psyche me out sometimes when it comes to preaching.  I find it helpful to “prime the pump” with reading short pieces by others about Christmas, but I usually want my themes for the Christmas sermons before those inspirational writings come around.

What do you do to keep Christmas fresh?  Share your thoughts, please.

I have come to realize that it helps if I keep from taking a primarily “professional” view of Christmas — the logistics of getting our church through this season and delivering Christmas messages.  I’m challenged to be open to letting the message of the incarnation fall afresh on me.  If Christmas is, once again, a delight for me then I’ll be less likely to see the season as a duty to get through.  That’s my goal, anyway.

What are your thoughts???

(By the way, you may use or share the image in this post.  I created it from a picture of our grandson a few years ago.  Click on the image to get the full size to copy)