Tag: Holy Week
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The Table and Remembrance – A Sermon for Maundy Thursday
Think about a time when you gathered around the table in remembrance. Where was the table? Who was there? Who wasn’t there? What was the conversation about? What was your remembrance as you gathered around that table? Read more
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Hell Yeah! – A Holy Saturday Sermon on Matthew 27:57-66 and Job 14:1-14
Job 14:1-14 Matthew 27:57-66 “If mortals die, will they live again?” (Job 14:14) That’s Job’s question. It’s a Holy Saturday kind of question. It’s a question all of us ask on the Holy Saturdays of our lives. Jesus was crucified, killed, yesterday. His body was placed in a tomb. A great stone was placed over… Read more
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The Tearful Entry into Holy Week – A Palm Sunday Sermon on Luke 19:28-46
The Palm/Entry Narrative – Luke 18:28-40 (41-46) The Passion Narrative – Luke 22:14-23:56 As we do every year we began this day by taking our place in the triumphal entry, singing our hosannas, and carrying our palms. The triumphal entry, palms, and hosannas have in many ways come to characterize this day and the beginning… Read more
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Looking Around and Leaving Nothing Behind – A Palm Sunday Sermon on Mark 11:1-11
Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’ (From the Palm Sunday gospel, Mark 11:1-11) Every time I read, hear, or say those words I… Read more
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The Morning After – A Sermon for Holy Saturday
Jesus’ body has been taken down from the cross, received into the hands of his mother and friends. They have wrapped his body in their love and laid him in the tomb. The door of the tomb has been replaced by a great stone. (Matthew 27:57-66) This is not only a story about Jesus. It is… Read more
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Lamentations for Holy and Great Saturday
In a grave they laid Thee, O my life and my Christ; and the armies of the Angels were sore amazed, as they sang the praise of Thy submissive love. How, O Life, canst Thou die? Or abide in a grave? For Thou dost destroy the kingdom of death, O Lord, and Thou raisest up… Read more
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Hell Awaits – A Sermon for Good Friday, John 18:1-19:42
Last night we began taking our share with Jesus. We ate the last supper. We washed feet. We stripped the altar. We come here today much the same as we left here last night. The table of our last supper has been cleared and is empty. The water that washed our feet has dried and… Read more
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Taking our Share with Jesus – A Sermon for Maundy Thursday on John 13:1-17, 31-35
I’ve now been here at St. Philip’s long enough that you probably know one of the things I emphasize in my teaching, preaching, and our life together is the movement from thinking to experience, the practice of living out of our hearts rather than our heads. My focus on this is as much for me… Read more
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Life-giving Turmoil – A Sermon for the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday, Matthew 21:1-11
Today is known as the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday. (There are two gospel readings: Matthew 21:1-11 (the triumphal entry) and Matthew 27:11-54 (the passion)). I’ve been wondering and thinking though about a different name for this day. What if we renamed today “Turmoil Sunday?” Does that sound like the gospel to you? Did… Read more