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The Scandal of Holy Week
The challenge of keeping Holy Week is that there’s way more than we can fit into a couple of days. But we’re not doing ourselves any favors by not even trying. I grew up with Holy Week. As a life-long Episcopalian, Holy Week was a natural part of my upbringing. Just as all the seasons…
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Who They Can’t Forgive
This moment in John 12:20-33 is the tipping point. Time’s up. Make your decision. And Jesus is surrounded by people who don’t understand that forgiveness is everything. Even after resurrection, we refuse to forgive what we don’t understand. Lent 5B | John 12:20-33 There’s a scene before this one. Before these Greeks come looking for…
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Mocking Jesus
Jesus gets mocked. A lot. I’ve always known that people mock Jesus in each telling of the Passion. But I am struck by how the gospel we call Luke uses the mocking of Jesus as a recurring theme. [bctt tweet=”The mockery is an active participant, a character in the story.” username=”revdrewdowns” nofollow=”yes”] For Luke, the…
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On the Other Side Of the Wall
GOD wants that perfect community and we go “But that’s too hard. Give us a tyrant who can just tell us what to do. A good one, not a bad one.” And GOD says there’s no such thing. The reign of Christ and the end of fear Proper 29B | John 18:33-37 The Leadership of…
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Exposing Beauty
The ugliness is the brutality, not the day itself: it isn’t ugly. Not the sacrifice. Not what Jesus does in showing off the destructiveness of our obsession with power. Walking to his death defiantly humble, leaving Jerusalem displaying the same character with which he entered.
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Abuse of the Cross
a Sermon for Good Friday Text: John 18:1-19:42 Reading the Passion narrative from the gospel we know as John provides the postmodern hearer with two challenges (besides the obvious, of course): dealing with John’s use of the phrase “The Jews” and the need to repent for the cross. The writers of John use the phrase…
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The Palm Gospel as Unpredictable Danger
a Sermon for Passion Sunday Text: Mark 11:1-11 & Mark 14:1-15:47 must we choose? We’re challenged with two gospels today. They are a natural juxtaposition. One is happy and the other is sad. One declares victory, the other demonstrates earthly defeat. We processed in joyously and we’re likely to walk out depressed. My natural inclination…