Drew Downs
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Swindled By Authoritarianism
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11 min read
We mistake extremism in belief for political extremism. The rise of authoritarianism isn’t only tied to political division or partisanship. Authoritarianism is an extremism we can find anywhere in politics. Why our fear of division blinds us to the real threat to democracy We’ve taken it as gospel that we’re divided. It seems like we…
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Hallowing the Sabbath
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8 min read
The Pharisees confront Jesus because his disciples break Sabbath law. Jesus turns the story around to show how few of them are really keeping the Sabbath. We could easily say the same about us. In Breaking the Sabbath, Jesus seeks to keep it. Proper 4B | Mark 2:23-3:6 “One sabbath Jesus and his disciples were going…
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Love – of One and Three
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8 min read
Dealing with love isn’t just for weddings: it gets to the very nature of God. From the Presiding Bishop’s sermon at the royal wedding last week to the Pentecost itself, we’re finding the very nature of God isn’t out there and other, but right here among, in, the very binding of us together. What actually…
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Beyond Despair: Love
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8 min read
There is a common cry of despair in the people of Gaza that sounds so much like West Virginia coal miners and residents of Peoplestown in Atlanta, Georgia. A cry of hopelessness and existential angst we show little willingness to assuage. The global response to the Gaza protests and Israeli gunfire last week has brought…
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We are the Medium
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9 min read
The message of Pentecost is about the power of God. But that doesn’t mean what we normally think it means because God’s power isn’t over us, it’s power with us. In Pentecost, both the medium and the message matter Pentecost | Acts 2:1-21 I don’t know if you heard, but there was a big wedding…
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Prayers for Gaza
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2 min read
As of this morning 60 Palestinians were declared dead and over 2,300 were injured in a massacre along the fence in Gaza. Moving the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was what Rachel Shabi called “a deliberate upturning of international conventions.” And timing it for this auspicious date was an intentional thumb on…