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Jean Neely: Confusion and doubt are part of the spiritual journey
Our faith is sometimes better represented by the despair of Holy Saturday than the confidence of Easter Sunday, says a writer and Christ seeker.
Holy Week
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Visitors at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which, according to tradition, is the site of Jesus' empty tomb. Bigstock / Kirill4mula
Nathan Kirkpatrick: Why are we waiting?
In this sermon from an Easter Vigil, the author says the disciples gathered after the horrific events of Good Friday because they needed each other. And they needed to know what the God who had breathed life from dust might do next.
The UNC Tar Heels celebrate their NCAA national championship victory after defeating Gonzaga 71-65 on April 3, 2017. Daily Tar Heel photograph by Nathan Klima
Victoria Atkinson White: Basketball, redemption and resurrection
The UNC Tar Heels wanted to redeem their devastating 2016 NCAA men’s basketball championship loss. In winning this year, they accomplished their goal, but they did not change history, writes a managing director at Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.
The traditional elements of a Turkish bath include a bath bowl, soap and peshtamal. Bigstock / Uwphotographer
Rhonda Mawhood Lee: A Turkish bath and the vulnerability of footwashing
Footwashing makes us feel vulnerable, as vulnerable as an Episcopal priest felt on a visit to a ‘hamam’ in Istanbul. But maybe that’s the point, she writes -- vulnerability is the paradoxical source of Christians’ strength.
"Jesus Washes an Apostle's Feet" by Laurie Olson Lisonbee, 2006. Used with permission.
Alaina Kleinbeck: Foot washing is about love, not just servanthood
Jesus’ intimate moment with his disciples calls us to leadership that manifests and concretizes love, writes the director of Duke Youth Academy.
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Monica A. Coleman: Jesus is here, even for those silenced by depression
In Holy Week, a favorite gospel song reminds the author that God loves even those who cannot cry out in praise, those whom depression has left as silent as stones.
istock/laurha
Resources for Lent and Easter
We hope you find helpful these essays, sermons and stories for the Lenten and Easter seasons from Faith & Leadership.
Jason Byassee: Ask hard questions
Ask hard questions. God is ready for them, says a theologian and pastor.
Lisa G. Fischbeck: Liturgy in the public square
A North Carolina congregation takes Palm Sunday and Good Friday outdoors and discovers how it feels to publicly claim their identity as Christians.
Mark Ralls: In the creche and on the cross
Jesus begins and ends his life swaddled in strips of cloth -- a symbol in the ancient days of being cherished, writes a United Methodist pastor.