Tag: advent

  • Preaching Paths 21 December 2025

    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.…

  • Sunday, 28th, 21st, & 14th December 2025 Yr A

    1st Sunday after Christmas 2025, Yr A 28th December 2025 Matthew 2:13-23 The slaughter of innocent children 2:13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you,…

  • Preaching Paths 7 December 2025 Advent 2 Year A

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Once again, as is customary on the Second Sunday of Advent, John the Baptist strides into our December landscapes of twinkling, colored lights like an unwelcome guest at a party. He is dressed in the shaggy pelt of a camel. He prefers locusts to Christmas sweets (Mt…

  • Preaching Paths 30 November 2025 Advent 1 Yr A

    Sally A Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Every year, the lectionary opens Advent with a Gospel text replete with eschatological visions and warnings. In Year A, the year devoted to Matthew’s gospel, Advent 1 lands us squarely in the gospel’s fifth discourse, sometimes called “the Eschatological Discourse.” This includes all of Matthew chs 24…

  • 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…