Each year, Christians around the world walk through the sacred rhythms of Holy Week, revisiting the final days of Jesus’ earthly journey before the Cross and the resurrection. Why is observing Holy Week important to our preparation for Easter? The…
An Easter message from Jennifer, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia
My heart, like many of yours, is heavy, weighed down by the unrelenting attacks on the foundations of a pluralistic democracy and American values coming out of the Donald Trump administration. The weight has felt even heavier during this time…
Abolishing the death penalty in the spirit of Easter and Passover
As we move through the sacred calendar of spring — when Jews celebrate Passover and Christians observe Easter — we are reminded of profound spiritual truths: Liberation from bondage, triumph over death, the sacredness of life. These holy days invite…
The holy work of Holy Week
For Christians all over the world, this week is Holy Week, not just because of what God did in antiquity. It is holy because of what God is doing today. By divine providence, there is a consecrated convergence of Holy…
The Salvador
God gives us Scripture and calls us to read imaginatively, realizing we are all part of God’s story. Christians seem to be most intentional about this during Holy Week, reading with eyes wide open and straining to hear our own…
America chose Barabbas
All four Gospels share a version of the story of a tradition that had arisen during the Festival of Passover when the Roman governor, Pilate, would release a prisoner of the crowd’s choosing. Barabbas was an insurrectionist and a murderer,…
A Holy Week choice between two parades
Some years ago, I led an adult formation (Baptists, read “Sunday school”) series for the good people of Calvary Episcopal in Bastrop, Texas, on The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’s Final Days in Jerusalem, a book…
From Facebook to churches: The dangers of NDAs
Like many folks, I recently read the explosive memoir Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams. Her title is borrowed from a line in The Great Gatsby where Tom and Daisy are called careless people who let others clean up the messes…
It’s time to name and prosecute Trump’s minions
Even though the U.S. Supreme Court has — wrongly and dangerously — granted President Donald Trump broad immunity for illegal acts he commits as president, it has not afforded the same luxury to the many minions who do his bidding….
A Holy Week plea: Do not let Kilmar Abrego Garcia be crucified
It is Holy Week. Jesus has entered Jerusalem, and these are to be his final days. Meanwhile, the likes of us pastors bustle to place the finishing touches on our services and sermons, preparing for the coming of the “C&E”…
Justice for Victor: A world where difference is not punished with violence
This April, a month meant to honor and uplift the voices of autistic individuals, the community in Pocatello, Idaho, finds itself grieving the tragic and preventable death of 17-year-old Victor Perez. Victor, a nonverbal autistic teen with cerebral palsy, was…
‘Not of this world’: Jesus, Caesar and Holy Week
In Luke’s Gospel, the Jesus story begins with these words: “And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.” The Gospel of John describes a…