Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Drew Downs

  • The Tale of Two Easters

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    7 min read

    In our readings from Acts and John, we get two very different stories of the apostles responding to the risen Christ. But they both actually point to the same teaching. Luke and John reveal a false choiceEaster 2B  | Acts 4:32-35, John 20:19-31 In Holy Week, we traced the last week of Jesus with the…

  • So This is Where We Are

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    2 min read

    SO THIS IS WHERE WE ARE Teenage survivors speak out. The media follows the story. Some grown-ups pass pictures of the teens with targets on their chests. An adult talk show host teases a teen for not getting into all the schools. Calls come for advertisers to pull ads from her show. Some don’t. One…

  • Before Christ is Risen

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    6 min read

    For Christians, the empty tomb is a strange image for Easter — we struggle with what God is actually giving us: the need to wrestle with Jesus’s absence before we can find him present. Mary confronts death before seeing new life Easter  | John 20:1-18 There is more to say than “Christ is Risen!” Not…

  • How to Love Change

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    7 min read

    The empty tomb is the great symbol of change. To proclaim the good news, we have to confront the truth. That we don’t hate change, we’re afraid of something else. Why we need the empty tomb The Great Vigil of Easter  |  Mark 16:1-8 “I hate change!” That’s what people tell me. Every day I…

  • Ending Violence

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    7 min read

    In the Passion, we become the witnesses, not only to the brutality put upon Jesus, but to the violence we impose upon one another. the Crucifixion destroys the justification for violence Good Friday  | John 18:1-19:42 It’s often said the Passion preaches itself. Its power is self-evident. But it doesn’t quite preach like the fire…

  • This Thursday of Holy Week

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    5 min read

    Between the Last Supper and the Passion, Jesus confronts the place of abandonment, his purpose and confusion. In the garden, we find a moment of intimacy which means so much more than we think. Tonight we’ll be gathering for our Maundy Thursday service. We’ll hear part of the story of the Last Supper from John’s…