Category: Uncategorized

  • 29th December 2024

    Luke 2:41-52 Jesus increased in favor with all 2:41Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 2:42And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 2:43When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but…

  • Preaching Paths 29 December 2024 First Sunday after Christmas, Year C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Implicit in today’s Gospel text, Luke 2:41-52, is a richly textured tapestry of sound. We begin in Jerusalem’s narrow streets, filled with Passover pilgrims. Shouted greetings to friends not seen for twelve months mix with congenial haggling in the market stalls. At dusk, the intoned chanting of…

  • 4th Sunday of Advent, 22nd December 2024

    Luke 1:39-56 Blessed are you among women 1:39In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 1:40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 1:41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 1:42and…

  • Preaching Paths 22 December 2024

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Preaching possibilities abound in today’s Gospel reading (Lk 1:39-56). Two unlikely expectant mothers—one long considered barren, the other young and unmarried—join in Spirit-inspired celebration of God’s surprising ways. After the angel Gabriel’s life-changing visit, Mary travels to the far Judean hills to visit her older cousin, Elizabeth.…

  • 3rd Week of Advent, 15th December 2024

    Luke 3:7-18 One more powerful is coming 3:7John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 3:8Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell…

  • Preaching Paths 15 December 2024 Advent 3 Yr C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Only in Advent Year C do we spend two weeks in the company of John the Baptist. Last week’s Gospel reading, which began with Luke’s roll call of earthly power brokers, announced that the world-shaking Word of God came not to the mighty but to a prophet…

  • Year C, 2nd Sunday of Advent, 8th December 2024

    Luke 3:1-6 Prepare the way of the Lord 3:1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 3:2during the high priesthood of Annas and…

  • Preaching Paths 8 December 2024 Advent 2 Yr C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary No Gospel writer devotes more attention to the figure of John the Baptist than Luke. Matthew, Mark and John bring John the Baptizer onto the scene abruptly, without preamble. He appears in the wilderness along the Jordan River, preaching the imminent coming of the reign of God…

  • 1st December 2024, First Sunday of Advent, Year C

    Luke 21:25-36 Watch for the coming of the Son of Man 21:25″There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 21:26People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for…

  • Preaching Paths 1 December 2024  Advent 1 Year C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Advent opens every year, not with choirs of angels, but with some version of what is known as the “Synoptic apocalypse,” found in Mt 24, Mk 13, and Luke 21. In these parallel texts, Jesus predicts the destruction of Jerusalem, including its magnificent Temple. He foretells persecution…