Tag: mary

  • 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.…

  • Preaching Paths 6 April 2025 Lent 6C

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Anointing honored guests as a sign of hospitality and respect is found in ancient Egyptian and Greek sources, as well as the New Testament. Each of the four gospels includes a scene in which a woman anoints Jesus with scented oil at a dinner where he is…

  • 2nd February 2025, Presentation of the Lord

    Luke 2:22-40 The presentationof the child 2:22When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 2:23(as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), 2:24and they offered…

  • 2nd Sunday after Epiphany, 19th January 2025 Year C

    John 2:1-11 The wedding at Cana 2:1On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2:2Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 2:3When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 2:4And Jesus said…

  • 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…