April 9, 2025 • 16 mins
In this episode of Next Door Gospel, host Peggy Griffith provides a heartfelt exploration of Holy Week, the pivotal days leading up to Easter Sunday. Starting with Palm Sunday and ending with the joyous celebration of Easter, Peggy dives into the emotional and spiritual significance of each day. She shares the traditions and personal experiences from her home church, First Church Tosa, highlighting events like Maundy Thursday's Last Supper reenactment and the somber observance of Good Friday. Through her vivid storytelling, Peggy emphasizes the importance of experiencing the full emotional journey of Holy Week to truly appreciate the resurrection joy of Easter. Links to participate in First Church Tosa's services will be available in the episode notes and on social media.
For more information about Easter services at First Church Tosa, please visit www.firstchurchtosa.org.
You can also subscribe to our Live Stream at https://www.youtube.com/@FirstChurchTosa/streams.
00:00 Welcome to Next Door Gospel
00:29 Introduction to Holy Week
02:44 Palm Sunday: A Day of Hope
06:38 Maundy Thursday: A New Commandment
10:11 Good Friday: The Day of Suffering
13:41 Holy Saturday: A Day of Waiting
14:08 Easter Sunday: The Joy of Resurrection
15:16 Living the Holy Week Journey
16:16 Conclusion and Blessings
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Peggy Griffith (00:13):
And we are back with Nextdoor Gospel.
I'm Peggy Griffith and I am soglad to be hanging out with you
today.
A few weeks ago, I did a shortbonus episode to talk about Ash
Wednesday and the season ofLent.
Today I wanna talk about aspecial journey that we have
coming up in the next week thatculminates in our festive Easter
(00:37):
Sunday celebration on April20th.
Now, depending on how close youare to church traditions and
calendars, and it is okay ifyou're not, that's why we're
here to talk about these things.
You may have heard what'scommonly referred to as Holy
Week.
You see in order to get to thecelebration of Easter, the
(00:58):
beautiful dresses, decoratedeggs and candy.
My personal favorite is theCadbury cream egg.
Yep.
Sugar upon sugar upon sugar istotally my jam.
Someday I'll devote an entireepisode to my love of circus
peanuts too.
But I digress.
(01:19):
But in order to get to thatpoint of celebration, there is a
path to get there.
And when you embark on thatjourney, it truly makes the
celebration of Easter mean somuch more.
If you can imagine a week thatcondenses the full spectrum of
human emotion into one sacredjourney, it's holy week.
(01:45):
So today I wanna walk alongsideyou through the significant days
of Holy Week.
That includes Palm Sunday, MondyThursday, good Friday and Easter
Sunday.
But I wanna talk about them notjust as historical events, but
as a profoundly emotionalexperience.
(02:08):
And one that continues toresonate in our hearts today
because when we truly enter intothe story, we find that it's our
story too.
Now you may get to experiencethis week with your own
congregation or maybe you don'thave a church home.
(02:29):
And if that's the case for you,I'll post some links in this
episode notes and on theNextdoor Gospel, Facebook and
Instagram pages where you canexperience some of these
services online with me at FirstChurch tosa.
So let's start where Holy Weekbegins, and that's Palm Sunday,
and that is coming up thisweekend on Sunday, April 13th.
(02:53):
So let's set the stage, shallwe?
I would like to evoke my bestimitation of Sophia from the old
sitcom called Golden Girls.
She always liked to tell storiesof growing up in Sicily, and she
would always say, picture it,Sicily 1902.
I say picture it Jerusalem 33ad, but the air is electric with
(03:21):
anticipation.
The Jewish Festival of Passoveris about to begin and Jerusalem
is crowded with people and, andthere have been rumors about
this teacher.
Jesus of Nazareth who heals thesick.
He speaks with remarkableauthority, and some have even
(03:43):
spread this rumor that he raiseda man named Lazarus from the
dead.
So you've come to try andcapture a glimpse of this larger
than life person that you'veheard about.
Is he the king that was spokenabout through the prophets?
And you expect to see him ridinginto Jerusalem on a, on a large
(04:08):
warhorse, maybe wearing a crownof jewels in a coat of armor.
But to your surprise, here comesthis man riding on a humble
donkey.
And although that's not quitewhat you expected, the crowd
erupts in pure joy and peopleare spreading their cloaks on
(04:28):
the ground before him.
And they're praising Hosanna.
Blessed is he who comes in thename of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Hosanna is a shout of joy andadoration and the emotional of
Palm Sunday is hope, infectious,exuberant hope.
(04:52):
It's the kind that makes yourheart race and brings you tears
to your eyes.
The people believed that theirlong awaited Messiah had finally
arrived to overthrow their Romanoppressors and restore Israel to
glory.
(05:13):
Now our worship service at FirstChurch Toa is one of jubilation
we celebrate with palm branches.
Those same palm branches thatwill be used to create the ashes
for next year's Ash Wednesday.
Ah.
You see that connection now?
(05:33):
And one of the celebratorytraditions that we have at our
church is that the men of thechurch wake up bright and early
on Sunday morning and they makehot cross buns for the
congregation.
And let me tell you that walkinginto First Church on Palm
Sunday, you are greeted with themost amazing scent of those
freshly baked goods just waftingfrom the kitchen upstairs.
(05:58):
But there's a bittersweetness toPalm Sunday for us as modern
believers isn't there because wehave the knowledge of history
through the scriptures, we knowwhat's coming.
We know that many of these samevoices shouting, Hosanna, will
(06:18):
soon be crying, crucify him.
So we experience that tension.
That builds between celebrationand apprehension, but we go on
our merry way, hot cross buns,digested and all.
We go to work on Monday like wealways do, but now we move
(06:43):
forward to Thursday of Holy Weekand it's what we call Maundy
Thursday.
The word maundy comes from theLatin mandatum, which means
commandment.
Mandate referencing Jesus wordsat the Last Supper where he
said, A new commandment I giveto you that you love one
another.
(07:04):
So at First Church, we prepare asimple supper in our own upper
room, which is our upstairssocial hall.
And we remember that night whenJesus was in the upper room with
his disciples.
The Passover meal is prepared.
And there's an undercurrent oftension because Jesus has been
(07:28):
speaking more frequently abouthis coming death, but yet those
in the room don't fullyunderstand it yet, and then
something unexpected happens.
Jesus, their teacher, theirLord, he rises from the table,
wraps a towel around his waist,and begins to wash their feet.
(07:51):
That's a task that is so out oftradition and usually reserved
for lowest servants.
I mean, can you feel theconfusion and discomfort, the
profound humility of Jesus as heserves those who quite frankly
should be serving him and thentaking bread and wine?
(08:17):
Jesus gives them and us aprecious gift of remembrance.
This is my body given for you.
This cup is the new promise inmy blood and for me, the
experience of a simple suppershared with my neighbors and
(08:38):
friends.
It comes with some emotionalpoignancy.
There's a sweetness andtenderness to this meal, to
being reminded that above allelse, we should love one
another.
But again, we have the historyof knowing that this meal is the
(08:59):
last peaceful moment before thestorm.
And we've all kind ofexperienced meals like this,
haven't we?
Bittersweet gatherings where.
Love is expressed most deeplybecause of an impending
separation.
Maybe it's a last dinner out,uh, with pizza before a child
(09:24):
leaves for college, a holidaycelebration with an aging
parent.
These moments where time seem toslow down because we want to
treasure them every second.
And then after the meal, Jesustakes his disciples to the
Garden of Gethsemane, where heexperiences such anguish that
(09:46):
Luke tells us his sweat felllike drops of blood, and Jesus
prayed.
Father, if you are willing, takethis cup from me, yet not my
will, but yours be done.
And we go home.
Our belly's full.
We sleep in our warm beds and weawaken to Friday.
(10:11):
Good Friday, and many peoplequestion why It's called Good
Friday.
There seems to be nothing goodabout it at first Church.
This is probably the mostemotional, and even though I
know what's going to happen, I'mcaught off guard by it every
year for the past few years.
(10:32):
Again, this year we start ourservice with a vocal performance
of Gethsemane from Jesus ChristSuperstar.
Now, I know that might soundstrange, but I would invite you
to look up those lyrics becausein Gethsemane, we witness Jesus
experiencing profound emotionaldistress, fear, anxiety, sorrow.
(10:55):
Yet in his humanness, he showsus what perfect surrender looks
like.
And we read from the gospelstory of Jesus's suffering, and
with each reading extinguishinga candle that gradually darkens
the room we're in.
(11:19):
The emotional landscape of thisservice is harsh and it's
jagged.
I mean, we have the shock andconfusion of Jesus arrest.
The bitter sting of betrayal.
Peter denies even knowing Jesus.
Not once but three times, andthere's a grotesque mockery of
(11:41):
justice.
There's a fickle crowd shoutingat him and the horror of the
crucifixion itself.
It is painful and humiliatingand.
It confronts us with sufferingin its rawest form.
(12:01):
Jesus literally bore theabsolute worst that humanity had
to offer, and I think that's thepart that affects me the most.
It forces me to sit withdiscomfort.
I'm a positive rose coloredglasses kind of person.
(12:22):
But it just, it always takes mybreath away to recognize the
brokenness in this world.
And then silence.
Jesus is dead.
His breath is last.
(12:43):
His body is taken down, and it'splaced in a borrowed tomb.
Followers scatter, hiding infear.
Overwhelmed with grief anddisillusionment over what just
happened, and I'll never forgetthe first time I attended Good
Friday at First Church, afterall the readings, when the
(13:05):
candles are extinguished anddarkness fills the room, the
choir, I'm not quite sure whatthey do, but they take the
hymnals and they just loud crackagainst the pews.
And it makes this loud,startling noise.
The tomb is closed and we walkout of the church to our cars in
(13:30):
silence.
I mean, John and I hardly say aword to each other on the drive
home.
It is just so powerful that wehave to process it.
And Saturday, what we sometimescall Holy Saturday.
It's often overlooked in holyweek observances.
But it's important I think, tosit with this day of silence,
(13:51):
this day of waiting, because youknow, we all have our Holy
Saturdays, those periods ofwaiting, not knowing if or how
things are gonna turn out.
But then Sunday Dawns.
Easter Sunday, early in themorning, women come to the tomb
(14:14):
and they find the stone rolledaway and an empty tomb.
He's not here.
He has risen, just as he said.
And the emotion of Easter Sundayis joy, but it's not just any
joy because you see, if you havetraveled this season of Lent.
(14:35):
And the emotional rollercoasterthat is holy week.
It is a joy that has traveledthrough grief, a joy that has
overcome despair, joy, that ismingled with astonishment and
wonder, and maybe even a touchof holy fear that is
(14:56):
resurrection joy.
This is the miracle.
And the mystery of Holy Week,and it takes us through the
entire emotional spectrum of thehuman experience in one week.
(15:16):
So friends, as we walk throughour Holy Weeks, whether it's in
a, in the church calendar, ormaybe it's in the season of our
lives, I invite you to feel itdeeply.
Don't rush past theuncomfortable emotions.
Don't skip from Palm Sundaystraight to Easter because
(15:36):
there's grace to be found inevery part of the journey
because this is not just a storythat we remember.
It's a reality that we live.
The one who rode into Jerusalem,who washed feet, who died, and
rose again walks with us stilltoday.
(15:59):
And nothing, not betrayal, notsuffering, not even death itself
can separate us from that love.
So may we live as Easter peoplein a good Friday world.
Thank you so much for joining meon Nextdoor Gospel today.
(16:20):
May this holy week be a time ofrich spiritual connection and
renewal for each of you.
And again, I'll post some linkson how you can participate in
Holy Week at First Church Toa ifyou'd like to join me in person
or online.
And until then, may the Lordbless you and keep you.
(16:42):
The Lord make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord turn his face towardyou and bring you peace.
Amen.
And we are back with Nextdoor Gospel.
I'm Peggy Griffith and I am soglad to be hanging out with you
today.
A few weeks ago, I did a shortbonus episode to talk about Ash
Wednesday and the season ofLent.
Today I wanna talk about aspecial journey that we have
coming up in the next week thatculminates in our festive Easter
(00:37):
Sunday celebration on April20th.
Now, depending on how close youare to church traditions and
calendars, and it is okay ifyou're not, that's why we're
here to talk about these things.
You may have heard what'scommonly referred to as Holy
Week.
You see in order to get to thecelebration of Easter, the
(00:58):
beautiful dresses, decoratedeggs and candy.
My personal favorite is theCadbury cream egg.
Yep.
Sugar upon sugar upon sugar istotally my jam.
Someday I'll devote an entireepisode to my love of circus
peanuts too.
But I digress.
(01:19):
But in order to get to thatpoint of celebration, there is a
path to get there.
And when you embark on thatjourney, it truly makes the
celebration of Easter mean somuch more.
If you can imagine a week thatcondenses the full spectrum of
human emotion into one sacredjourney, it's holy week.
(01:45):
So today I wanna walk alongsideyou through the significant days
of Holy Week.
That includes Palm Sunday, MondyThursday, good Friday and Easter
Sunday.
But I wanna talk about them notjust as historical events, but
as a profoundly emotionalexperience.
(02:08):
And one that continues toresonate in our hearts today
because when we truly enter intothe story, we find that it's our
story too.
Now you may get to experiencethis week with your own
congregation or maybe you don'thave a church home.
(02:29):
And if that's the case for you,I'll post some links in this
episode notes and on theNextdoor Gospel, Facebook and
Instagram pages where you canexperience some of these
services online with me at FirstChurch tosa.
So let's start where Holy Weekbegins, and that's Palm Sunday,
and that is coming up thisweekend on Sunday, April 13th.
(02:53):
So let's set the stage, shallwe?
I would like to evoke my bestimitation of Sophia from the old
sitcom called Golden Girls.
She always liked to tell storiesof growing up in Sicily, and she
would always say, picture it,Sicily 1902.
I say picture it Jerusalem 33ad, but the air is electric with
(03:21):
anticipation.
The Jewish Festival of Passoveris about to begin and Jerusalem
is crowded with people and, andthere have been rumors about
this teacher.
Jesus of Nazareth who heals thesick.
He speaks with remarkableauthority, and some have even
(03:43):
spread this rumor that he raiseda man named Lazarus from the
dead.
So you've come to try andcapture a glimpse of this larger
than life person that you'veheard about.
Is he the king that was spokenabout through the prophets?
And you expect to see him ridinginto Jerusalem on a, on a large
(04:08):
warhorse, maybe wearing a crownof jewels in a coat of armor.
But to your surprise, here comesthis man riding on a humble
donkey.
And although that's not quitewhat you expected, the crowd
erupts in pure joy and peopleare spreading their cloaks on
(04:28):
the ground before him.
And they're praising Hosanna.
Blessed is he who comes in thename of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Hosanna is a shout of joy andadoration and the emotional of
Palm Sunday is hope, infectious,exuberant hope.
(04:52):
It's the kind that makes yourheart race and brings you tears
to your eyes.
The people believed that theirlong awaited Messiah had finally
arrived to overthrow their Romanoppressors and restore Israel to
glory.
(05:13):
Now our worship service at FirstChurch Toa is one of jubilation
we celebrate with palm branches.
Those same palm branches thatwill be used to create the ashes
for next year's Ash Wednesday.
Ah.
You see that connection now?
(05:33):
And one of the celebratorytraditions that we have at our
church is that the men of thechurch wake up bright and early
on Sunday morning and they makehot cross buns for the
congregation.
And let me tell you that walkinginto First Church on Palm
Sunday, you are greeted with themost amazing scent of those
freshly baked goods just waftingfrom the kitchen upstairs.
(05:58):
But there's a bittersweetness toPalm Sunday for us as modern
believers isn't there because wehave the knowledge of history
through the scriptures, we knowwhat's coming.
We know that many of these samevoices shouting, Hosanna, will
(06:18):
soon be crying, crucify him.
So we experience that tension.
That builds between celebrationand apprehension, but we go on
our merry way, hot cross buns,digested and all.
We go to work on Monday like wealways do, but now we move
(06:43):
forward to Thursday of Holy Weekand it's what we call Maundy
Thursday.
The word maundy comes from theLatin mandatum, which means
commandment.
Mandate referencing Jesus wordsat the Last Supper where he
said, A new commandment I giveto you that you love one
another.
(07:04):
So at First Church, we prepare asimple supper in our own upper
room, which is our upstairssocial hall.
And we remember that night whenJesus was in the upper room with
his disciples.
The Passover meal is prepared.
And there's an undercurrent oftension because Jesus has been
(07:28):
speaking more frequently abouthis coming death, but yet those
in the room don't fullyunderstand it yet, and then
something unexpected happens.
Jesus, their teacher, theirLord, he rises from the table,
wraps a towel around his waist,and begins to wash their feet.
(07:51):
That's a task that is so out oftradition and usually reserved
for lowest servants.
I mean, can you feel theconfusion and discomfort, the
profound humility of Jesus as heserves those who quite frankly
should be serving him and thentaking bread and wine?
(08:17):
Jesus gives them and us aprecious gift of remembrance.
This is my body given for you.
This cup is the new promise inmy blood and for me, the
experience of a simple suppershared with my neighbors and
(08:38):
friends.
It comes with some emotionalpoignancy.
There's a sweetness andtenderness to this meal, to
being reminded that above allelse, we should love one
another.
But again, we have the historyof knowing that this meal is the
(08:59):
last peaceful moment before thestorm.
And we've all kind ofexperienced meals like this,
haven't we?
Bittersweet gatherings where.
Love is expressed most deeplybecause of an impending
separation.
Maybe it's a last dinner out,uh, with pizza before a child
(09:24):
leaves for college, a holidaycelebration with an aging
parent.
These moments where time seem toslow down because we want to
treasure them every second.
And then after the meal, Jesustakes his disciples to the
Garden of Gethsemane, where heexperiences such anguish that
(09:46):
Luke tells us his sweat felllike drops of blood, and Jesus
prayed.
Father, if you are willing, takethis cup from me, yet not my
will, but yours be done.
And we go home.
Our belly's full.
We sleep in our warm beds and weawaken to Friday.
(10:11):
Good Friday, and many peoplequestion why It's called Good
Friday.
There seems to be nothing goodabout it at first Church.
This is probably the mostemotional, and even though I
know what's going to happen, I'mcaught off guard by it every
year for the past few years.
(10:32):
Again, this year we start ourservice with a vocal performance
of Gethsemane from Jesus ChristSuperstar.
Now, I know that might soundstrange, but I would invite you
to look up those lyrics becausein Gethsemane, we witness Jesus
experiencing profound emotionaldistress, fear, anxiety, sorrow.
(10:55):
Yet in his humanness, he showsus what perfect surrender looks
like.
And we read from the gospelstory of Jesus's suffering, and
with each reading extinguishinga candle that gradually darkens
the room we're in.
(11:19):
The emotional landscape of thisservice is harsh and it's
jagged.
I mean, we have the shock andconfusion of Jesus arrest.
The bitter sting of betrayal.
Peter denies even knowing Jesus.
Not once but three times, andthere's a grotesque mockery of
(11:41):
justice.
There's a fickle crowd shoutingat him and the horror of the
crucifixion itself.
It is painful and humiliatingand.
It confronts us with sufferingin its rawest form.
(12:01):
Jesus literally bore theabsolute worst that humanity had
to offer, and I think that's thepart that affects me the most.
It forces me to sit withdiscomfort.
I'm a positive rose coloredglasses kind of person.
(12:22):
But it just, it always takes mybreath away to recognize the
brokenness in this world.
And then silence.
Jesus is dead.
His breath is last.
(12:43):
His body is taken down, and it'splaced in a borrowed tomb.
Followers scatter, hiding infear.
Overwhelmed with grief anddisillusionment over what just
happened, and I'll never forgetthe first time I attended Good
Friday at First Church, afterall the readings, when the
(13:05):
candles are extinguished anddarkness fills the room, the
choir, I'm not quite sure whatthey do, but they take the
hymnals and they just loud crackagainst the pews.
And it makes this loud,startling noise.
The tomb is closed and we walkout of the church to our cars in
(13:30):
silence.
I mean, John and I hardly say aword to each other on the drive
home.
It is just so powerful that wehave to process it.
And Saturday, what we sometimescall Holy Saturday.
It's often overlooked in holyweek observances.
But it's important I think, tosit with this day of silence,
(13:51):
this day of waiting, because youknow, we all have our Holy
Saturdays, those periods ofwaiting, not knowing if or how
things are gonna turn out.
But then Sunday Dawns.
Easter Sunday, early in themorning, women come to the tomb
(14:14):
and they find the stone rolledaway and an empty tomb.
He's not here.
He has risen, just as he said.
And the emotion of Easter Sundayis joy, but it's not just any
joy because you see, if you havetraveled this season of Lent.
(14:35):
And the emotional rollercoasterthat is holy week.
It is a joy that has traveledthrough grief, a joy that has
overcome despair, joy, that ismingled with astonishment and
wonder, and maybe even a touchof holy fear that is
(14:56):
resurrection joy.
This is the miracle.
And the mystery of Holy Week,and it takes us through the
entire emotional spectrum of thehuman experience in one week.
(15:16):
So friends, as we walk throughour Holy Weeks, whether it's in
a, in the church calendar, ormaybe it's in the season of our
lives, I invite you to feel itdeeply.
Don't rush past theuncomfortable emotions.
Don't skip from Palm Sundaystraight to Easter because
(15:36):
there's grace to be found inevery part of the journey
because this is not just a storythat we remember.
It's a reality that we live.
The one who rode into Jerusalem,who washed feet, who died, and
rose again walks with us stilltoday.
(15:59):
And nothing, not betrayal, notsuffering, not even death itself
can separate us from that love.
So may we live as Easter peoplein a good Friday world.
Thank you so much for joining meon Nextdoor Gospel today.
(16:20):
May this holy week be a time ofrich spiritual connection and
renewal for each of you.
And again, I'll post some linkson how you can participate in
Holy Week at First Church Toa ifyou'd like to join me in person
or online.
And until then, may the Lordbless you and keep you.
(16:42):
The Lord make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord turn his face towardyou and bring you peace.
Amen.
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides.  Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer  Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.