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Orthodox Easter Sunday, 5th May 2024
My article (in the Greek edn of Huffpost): https://www.huffingtonpost.gr/entry/to-pascha-se-treis-praxeis-kai-parodies_gr_66312dc7e4b0849b2edd349c?utm_campaign=share_email&ncid=other_email_o63gt2jcad4
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Preaching Paths 19 May 2024 Pentecost Sunday
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Why, one might ask, would we preach from John when Luke’s dazzling Acts 2 account of the Spirit poured out is on the lectionary menu? We can preach from John without setting Acts aside. A celebrative presentation of Acts 2:1-21 is fitting every Pentecost Sunday. Overlapping readings…
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Seventh Sunday of Easter, 12th May 2024
John 17:6-1917:6 “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 17:7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; 17:8 for the words that you gave to me I…
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Preaching Paths 12 May 2024 Easter 7B
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary The Gospel reading today, John 17:6-19, is the middle section of Jesus’ intercessory prayer, the final chapter of the “Farewell Discourses” (John 13-17). Here, the one who is God’s Word embodied in the world communes with the divine Source, the one he calls “Father,” about his mission…
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Preaching Paths 5 May 2024 Easter 6B
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s lection, John 15:9-17, continues and completes the Vine discourse of 15:1-8. Today’s reading is best understood in relation to those verses. Two verbs tie the two sections together: “to abide” and “to bear fruit.” Yet, verses 9-17 introduce fresh language, most notably, “love.” Occurring 9 times…
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Fifth Sunday of Easter & Sixth Sunday of Easter, 28th April & 5th May 2024
John 15:1-1715:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 15:2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 15:3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 15:4 Abide in…
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Preaching Paths 28 April 2024 Easter 5B
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary The metaphor of the vine, its gardener, and its branches is a familiar one (John 15:1-8). Jesus clearly alludes to OT passages that envision Israel as God’s vine (sometimes lamentably fruitless). The text opens with the last of the “I am” statements (with predicate nominative) in John,…
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Fourth Sunday of Easter, 21st April 2024
John 10:11-1810:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 10:12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away–and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 10:13 The hired hand runs…
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Preaching Paths 21 April 2024 Easter 4B
Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s lection, John 10:11-16, presents metaphors familiar to many since childhood. Jesus identifies himself as “the gate” of the sheepfold and the “good shepherd” of the sheep. Most of us have heard (or preached!) feel-good sermons that romanticize this text as a pastoral “love song” of the…
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Third Sunday of Easter,14th April 2024
Acts 3:12-193:12 When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, “You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? 3:13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of…
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 