Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, when the Church remembers how Jesus arrived at the gates of Jerusalem just a few days before the Passover was due to be held.  He was the Messiah come to his own people in their capital city, and yet he came in humility, riding on a young donkey, not...

The events of Easter took place over a week, traditionally called Passion Week. It began on Palm Sunday. After all his teaching and healing, Jesus had built a following. On the Sunday before he was to die, Jesus and his followers arrived at Jerusalem. The city was crowded. Jewish people were arriving from to celebrate...

Maundy Thursday is famous for two things.  The first is one of the final acts that Jesus did before his death: the washing of his own disciples’ feet.  (see John 13)  Jesus washed his disciples’ feet for a purpose:  “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you...

Good Friday is the day on which Jesus died on the cross. He was crucified at 9am in the morning, and died six hours later, at 3pm.  It is the most solemn day in the Christian year, and is widely marked by the removal of all decorations from churches.  In Lutheran churches, the day was...

Luke’s account of the crucifixion (Luke 23:32-43) emphasises the mocking of the crowd, ‘If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself’ (35,37,39). In their view a Messiah does not hang on a cross and suffer. In considering the two men who was crucified with Jesus, we are also confronted with the issue of...

As the traditional Easter story is rehearsed again this month, you may notice that there is one name that frequently occurs. It is that of the ‘other’ Mary – not the mother of Jesus, but Mary of Magdalene, who stood by her at the cross and became the first human being actually to meet the...

Easter is the most joyful day of the year for Christians.  Christ has died for our sins. We are forgiven.   Christ has risen!  We are redeemed!   We can look forward to an eternity in His joy! Hallelujah! The Good News of Jesus Christ is a message so simple that you can explain it to someone...

Three years after the Russian Revolution of 1917, a great anti-God rally was arranged in Kiev.  The powerful orator Bukharin was sent from Moscow, and for an hour he demolished the Christian faith with argument, abuse and ridicule.  At the end there was silence. Then a man rose and asked to speak.  He was a...

The following list of witnesses may help you put all those references in order…. Mary Magdalene                                Mark 16:9-11; John 20:10-18 Other women at the tomb                Matthew 28:8-10 Peter in Jerusalem                             Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5 The two travellers on the road        Mark 16:12,13 10 disciples behind closed doors     Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-25 11...

How do you make sense of the Resurrection?  Dead men don’t rise, so why believe that this particular dead man did rise? At the end of St Luke’s Gospel we read that: “they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement” (Luke 24.4).  This is highly significant.  The Gospels do not show us...

Zeno of Verona (d. 371) should be the patron saint of all ministers who suspect that the more things change, the more they remain the same. For instance:  ethnic diversity…church-planting… teaching…. concern for the poor… women’s ministry in the church… sound like modern-day Christian concerns?   Not a bit of it – this was the life...

In the month of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice of Himself for us, the martyrdoms of Carpus, Papylus and Agathonice are well worth remembering.  What they said as they died could be said by the many thousands of Christians who are facing persecution all over the world today. Carpus, Papylus and Agathonice lived in Pergamum (Asia Minor)...