It is at once completely unsurprising, but also completely shocking. During Holy Week, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R.-Ga., was being interviewed after a rally she held in New York City to protest the arraignment of Donald Trump. In the…
Enduring lessons from Holy Week
The sanctuary is still and the lights are out. The afternoon sunlight filters in through the ample windows along each side of the church. Every few minutes someone enters quietly and begins the journey of these seven stations. This has…
The Barabbification of America
Across the world, many religious people shall regard this week as holy. Jews shall celebrate Passover, while Christians shall commemorate the Crucifixion. Christians shall soon celebrate the Resurrection, known to many as Easter. I’m watching a familiar phenomenon happening in…
Holy Week clean up
This morning, as I was drinking my second cup of hot, caffeine-flavored water on the back porch, Juan Pablo rounded the corner of my house, coming from the front yard with a large, black garden trash-bag. I was not surprised…
Holy Week cannot be about personal salvation and nothing more
They entered the city on March 24. Many came by foot. Some of them from the mount, not of Olives but the various mountains and hills that surround Nashville, Tenn. They came with modern palm branches — protest signs. The…
Holy Week 2023: When Golgotha came too early
For me, Palm Sunday didn’t work this year. In the liturgical calendar, Palm Sunday introduces Holy Week, a momentarily joyous prelude to the agony of Golgotha. Palm Sunday is supposed to give us hope that will strengthen us to walk…
10 life lessons from Holy Week
Our reflective Lenten journey is complete and our celebrative journey into Eastertide has begun. But before we leave Holy Week too quickly, there are a few takeaways from the stories we encountered we need to bookmark, a few lessons for…
Let’s consider the moral courage it takes for some to reconnect with church after the pandemic
Moral: the right thing to do, although it doesn’t feel right. Courage: doing the right thing anyway. This week, especially this week, there are people of faith in your community who are trying to work up the courage to reconnect…
Memory and mandate: A meditation on Maundy Thursday
Under the sway of Easter bunnies, chocolate binges and spring fashion sales, Holy Week and Resurrection Morning observances have shed almost all connections to the volatile political events in Jerusalem leading up to Jesus’ “triumphal entry” into the city. The…