Luke 13.1-9

A long, long time ago in a church far, far away – well, in Clapham actually – I used as a basis for my talk on Christmas Day morning the well-known slogan from the charity The Dogs Trust:
A dog is for life, not just for Christmas

And I used that to go on to talk about Jesus is for life, not just for Christmas.

My talk went down really well with one young man. After the service he came rushing up to me.

“I really enjoyed your talk,” he said. Every preacher, of course, is really please when a sermon has had an effect. But before I had time to ask him what exactly about my talk had really spoken to him, he went on, “It was my advertising agency that came up with that phrase!”

Every advertising executive’s dream, of course, to come up with a phrase that becomes as embedded in the public consciousness as that one.

I thought then, and since, that lots of well-known advertising slogans could form the basis of a sermon by adapting them as necessary:

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