{"id":25448,"date":"2021-10-22T13:57:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T13:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/series\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/"},"modified":"2021-10-22T13:57:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T13:57:00","slug":"christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family","status":"publish","type":"podcasts","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Preaching and the Loneliness of the Holy Family"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How can you bring a fresh angle to your next Christmas sermon? In this episode, Matt Woodley explores that question with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1stchurch.net\/leadership\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Timothy Clarke<\/a>, senior pastor at First Church of God in Columbus, Ohio.<\/p>\n\n<p>Here are four people from the Biblical narrative, that you can encourage your listeners to empathize with:<\/p>\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\t<li>\n<strong>Zechariah and Elizabeth<\/strong>: The loneliness of disappointment, for her barrenness.<\/li>\n\n\t<li>\n<strong>Joseph<\/strong>: The loneliness he felt, trying to decide how to proceed with Mary, given the complex situation before them.<\/li>\n\n\t<li>\n<strong>Mary<\/strong>: The loneliness she felt, in miraculously conceiving the infant Jesus and being ostracized for it.<\/li>\n\n<\/ol>\n\n<p>&ldquo;The Incarnation says God became a human being!&rdquo; Clarke said. He indicated that the Incarnation alone is reason enough to be excited, and should offer plenty of material for Christmas preaching.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Show-Notes: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hymnary.org\/text\/hark_the_herald_angels_sing_glory_to\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">The hymn &ldquo;Hark! The Herald Angels Sing&rdquo;<\/a> written by Charles Wesley<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":25450,"template":"","tax_ctp_authors":[2469],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[164],"tax_ctp_podcast_series":[455],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3387,3497,3600,4153,4301,4383,4432],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-25448","podcasts","type-podcasts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-matt-woodley","tax_ctp_podcast_series-monday-morning-preacher","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-advent","tax_ctp_tags-birth-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-christmas","tax_ctp_tags-holidays","tax_ctp_tags-joseph-father-of-jesus","tax_ctp_tags-loneliness","tax_ctp_tags-mary-mother-of-jesus"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Christmas Preaching and the Loneliness of the Holy Family - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How can you bring a fresh angle to your next Christmas sermon? In this episode, Matt Woodley explores that question with Timothy Clarke, senior pastor at\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas Preaching and the Loneliness of the Holy Family - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How can you bring a fresh angle to your next Christmas sermon? In this episode, Matt Woodley explores that question with Timothy Clarke, senior pastor at\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/10\/126108.jpg?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/\",\"name\":\"Christmas Preaching and the Loneliness of the Holy Family - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/10\/126108.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-22T13:57:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-22T13:57:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"How can you bring a fresh angle to your next Christmas sermon? In this episode, Matt Woodley explores that question with Timothy Clarke, senior pastor at\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/10\/126108.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/10\/126108.jpg\",\"width\":3840,\"height\":2160},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Christmas Preaching and the Loneliness of the Holy Family\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Christmas Preaching and the Loneliness of the Holy Family - CT Pastors","description":"How can you bring a fresh angle to your next Christmas sermon? In this episode, Matt Woodley explores that question with Timothy Clarke, senior pastor at","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Christmas Preaching and the Loneliness of the Holy Family - CT Pastors","og_description":"How can you bring a fresh angle to your next Christmas sermon? In this episode, Matt Woodley explores that question with Timothy Clarke, senior pastor at","og_url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/","og_site_name":"CT Pastors","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/10\/126108.jpg?resize=1200,628","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@CTpastors","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/","name":"Christmas Preaching and the Loneliness of the Holy Family - CT Pastors","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/10\/126108.jpg","datePublished":"2021-10-22T13:57:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-22T13:57:00+00:00","description":"How can you bring a fresh angle to your next Christmas sermon? In this episode, Matt Woodley explores that question with Timothy Clarke, senior pastor at","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/10\/126108.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/10\/126108.jpg","width":3840,"height":2160},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Christmas Preaching and the Loneliness of the Holy Family"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/","name":"CT Pastors","description":"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization","name":"Christianity Today","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg","caption":"Christianity Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors","https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors"]}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Christmas Preaching and the Loneliness of the Holy Family","url":"http:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/podcasts\/monday-morning-preacher\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/10\/126108.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/10\/126108.jpg"},"articleSection":"Uncategorized","author":"Timothy Clarke","creator":"Timothy Clarke","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"CT Pastors","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2021-10-22T13:57:00Z","datePublished":"2021-10-22T13:57:00Z","dateModified":"2021-10-22T13:57:00Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Christmas Preaching and the Loneliness of the Holy Family\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.christianitytoday.com\\\/pastors\\\/podcasts\\\/monday-morning-preacher\\\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.christianitytoday.com\\\/pastors\\\/podcasts\\\/monday-morning-preacher\\\/christmas-preaching-and-loneliness-of-holy-family\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.christianitytoday.com\\\/pastors\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/19\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/126108.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.christianitytoday.com\\\/pastors\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/19\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/126108.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Uncategorized\",\"author\":\"Timothy Clarke\",\"creator\":\"Timothy Clarke\",\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[],\"dateCreated\":\"2021-10-22T13:57:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-22T13:57:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-22T13:57:00Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/christianitytoday.com\/p.js"},"podcast":null,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcasts\/25448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcasts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcasts"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcasts\/25448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25449,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcasts\/25448\/revisions\/25449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_authors?post=25448"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_categories?post=25448"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory?post=25448"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_field_guides","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_field_guides?post=25448"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_format?post=25448"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_podcast_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_podcast_series?post=25448"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_point_editor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_point_editor?post=25448"},{"taxonomy":"tax_publications","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_publications?post=25448"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_tags?post=25448"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_topics?post=25448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}