On Good Friday, many of the white churches move quickly. They acknowledge the Cross, they sometimes name the injustice, and — almost instinctively — begin inching toward Easter, toward hope, toward resurrection, toward resolution. They quickly leave Friday and rush…
At White House, Trump lauded as suffering king like Jesus
Paula White and Franklin Graham added to their stacks of praise for President Donald Trump this week, with White comparing Trump to Jesus in Holy Week. Not to be outdone, Trump also compared himself to Jesus being called “king.” At…
Why Good Friday matters as much as Resurrection Sunday
Long ago, Liz was visiting a historic Roman Catholic church in Argentina when her companion paused in front of a carving of Christ on the Cross. “This is how we evangelicals are different from Catholics,” he said. “We don’t have…
My Jerusalem Holy Week remembrances
This Friday is Jumaa’ al Hazeeneh (Arabic for Good Friday), and to Palestinian Christians this phrase is pregnant with connotative nuances that commemorate the Passion of Christ. Sorrowful, grief-stricken, distressing, troubling, excruciatingly painful, agonizing, harrowing, laborious are just a few of…
Holy Week as a sacred symphony
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…
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…
‘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…
Let this cup pass: Gethsemane’s cry through Palestinian experience
In the darkness of night, after sharing the Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus led them to a garden called Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives. This was not just any garden. Its very name tells a…