Talitha Arnold to preach on ‘Day 1’
Minister of the United Church of Santa Fe, N.M.
The Rev. Talitha Arnold, minister of the United Church of Santa Fe, N.M., is the featured preacher December 4 and 11, the second and third Sundays of Advent, on “Day 1” with host Peter Wallace, the nationally broadcast ecumenical radio program also accessible online at Day1.org and by podcast.
“The Fire This Time,” her sermon for Dec. 4, is based on Matthew 3:1-12, verses that recount the coming of John the Baptist. “I did not want to deal with this scripture from Matthew,” she says. “Not three weeks before Christmas when churches will be filled with people wanting to hear the shepherds cooing over the baby Jesus, but are confronted instead with gaunt, fashion-challenged John the Baptist yelling at them to repent.”
“And the Desert Shall Bloom,” her sermon for Dec. 11, is drawn from Isaiah 35:1-10, joyous words of promise and life set in the midst of earlier and later chapters that speak of destruction and desolation. “The chapter sings of the joy God gives, which is usually where we would least expect it,” she says. “Not department stores or malls, but in more out-of-the-way places.”
Arnold has been minister of the United Church of Santa Fe since 1987 when it was a relatively new congregation of the United Church of Christ. Earlier she served as the interim associate chaplain for Yale and in congregations in Connecticut and Arizona.
Arnold is a graduate of Pomona College and earned her M.Div. at Yale Divinity School. She served on Santa Fe’s first Children and Youth Commission and helped start both the Christian-Jewish Dialogue and the Muslim-Christian Dialogue. She was a founding member of the National Alliance for Suicide Prevention. Her publications include “Worship for Vital Congregations” and other books, articles, and devotionals.
The programs include interviews with Arnold conducted by Wallace, who is also executive producer.
“Day 1” has been broadcast every week for 77 years, formerly as “The Protestant Hour.” Featuring outstanding preachers from the mainline denominations, “Day 1” is currently distributed to 200 radio stations across America and overseas. The program is produced by the Alliance for Christian Media, based in Atlanta, Ga. "Day 1"® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the Alliance for Christian Media, Inc. For more information, check the program’s website, http://day1.org.