Tag: christmas

  •  4th January 2026, 2nd Sunday after Christmas, Yr A

     John 1:(1-9), 10-18 God with us 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 1:2 He was in the beginning with God. 1:3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 1:4…

  • Preaching Paths, 28 December 2025, First Sunday after Christmas Yr A

    Sally A. Brown, Professor of Preaching and Worship Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary On the first Sunday after Christmas, the designers of the lectionary present us—rather awkwardly—with Matthew 2:13-23, the story of Herod’s slaughter of every baby boy in Bethlehem, aged two or younger. We learn, too, how Joseph is guided in dreams to take two…

  • 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…

  • Preaching Paths  31 December 2023

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Luke 2:21-40 opens with a brief narration of four rites that Mary and Joseph undertake after Jesus’ birth, as required by Jewish law.  Jesus is circumcised on the eighth day, and he is publicly named “Jesus” (as Gabriel had instructed Mary). After forty days, Mary undergoes post-partum…

  • Preaching Paths 24 December 2023

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary The visit of God’s heavenly emissary, Gabriel, to a young woman in insignificant Nazareth  (Luke1:26-38) is not Gabriel’s first birth-announcing errand in Luke. Some six months earlier, Gabriel visited the priest Zechariah to announce that his barren wife Elizabeth would give birth to a son, God’s appointed…

  • Third Sunday of Advent,17th December 2023

    N.B.  We have decided to focus this week on the Luke text suggested for Advent 3B as an alternative to the psalm, Luke 1:44b-55 (Mary’s Magnificat). The usual Gospel text for Advent 3B, John 1:6-8, 19-28, focuses, as did the Advent 2B text (Mark 1:1-8), on John the Baptist. Online resources for John 1 abound.…