Tag: christianity

  • 13th April 2025, Liturgy of the Palms

    Luke 19:28-40 Entrance into the final days 19:28After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 19:29When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 19:30saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it…

  • Preaching Paths 13 April 2025

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary A careful, thoughtful public reading of the gospel text on Palm Sunday this year (Luke 19:28-40) may warrant a brief introduction. We can alert listeners that Luke’s presentation of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem omits details found in the other gospels. They will hear no mention of…

  • 6th April 2025, 5th Sunday in Lent

    John 12:1-8 Mary anoints Jesus for his burial 12:1Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 12:2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him. 12:3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of…

  • 30th March 2025, 4th Sunday in Lent

    Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 The parable of the forgiving father 15:1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 15:2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 15:3 So he told them this parable: 15:11b “There was a man…

  • Preaching Paths 2 March 2025  Feast of the Transfiguration, Year C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary On Transfiguration Sundays, whatever Synoptic gospel is featured in that lectionary year, many congregations can predict what the preacher will say: “We can’t cling to our mountaintop experiences, trying (like Peter) to freeze-frame the glory; we must engage trouble  in the valleys.” It is a reliable approach,…

  • Preaching Paths 23 February 2025 Epiphany 7, Year C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s text, Luke 6:27-38, begins with Jesus’ command, “Love your enemies.” Later, when Jesus teaches about love of neighbor, there will be questions; but apparently no one needed to ask, “Who is my enemy?”  Status-defining social, ethnic, religious, and economic divides and hierarchies set groups against one…

  • Preaching Paths 16 February 2025, 6th Epiphany Yr C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s gospel reading (Luke 6:17-26), the opening scene of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain,” includes beatitudes similar to those that open Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount” (Mt 5:1-11). Yet, these texts are markedly different. In Matthew, Jesus’ beatitudes are in the third person plural, addressed to his…

  • 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany, 26th January 2025

    Luke 4:14-21 Jesus reads the prophet Isaiah 4:14Then Jesus, in the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding region. 4:15He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 4:16When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to…

  • Preaching Paths 26 January 2025

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Jesus announces the scope and purpose of his mission in today’s reading (Luke 4:14-21). “Filled with the power of the Spirit” and “praised by everyone” (vv 14-15), he arrives in Nazareth with his Galilean teaching tour already well under way. On the Sabbath, Jesus goes to the…

  • Preaching Paths 5 January 2025  Second Sunday after Christmas Yr C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Through Advent, Christmas Day, and the first Sunday of Christmastide, the preacher’s task has been to bring to life Luke’s intimate scenes, each presenting men and women inspired to prophetic song by the holy wonder of God’s gift of the divine child.  This week, we turn to…