Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Drew Downs

  • For some, the idea of an Easter morning footrace is the farthest thing from your mind. Lace up the running shoes and hit the pavement. And some no doubt felt themselves racing to arrive here or some other church this morning. Particularly if the kids are a bit slow-footed. But this morning’s story isn’t about…

  • He is not here; for he has been raised. Usually a person isn’t so happy to truck themselves all that way to see somebody and find they aren’t there. The Great Vigil of Easter  |  Matthew 28:1-10 Those four words: “He is not here” are among our favorite words as Christians. Probably more than for…

  • Crossed

    He warned them. Three times he said what would happen when they got here. To Jerusalem. Three times. Just like the three times Peter would deny him. And the three times they fell asleep waiting. They knew what was ahead. Jesus told them! But they weren’t prepared for this. Not the cross. Good Friday  |…

  • I never know how I’m supposed to feel today. We know how we’ll feel tomorrow and then the third day. We know how we will feel. How things will be tomorrow. We feel that confusion today. There’s an anticipation to this day we call Maundy Thursday. A day in which the big story’s climax is…

  • Recap of Matthew 21-24 The gospel is building toward its great climax in the Passion, which we’ll cover this weekend. It began in the approach to Jerusalem, in the Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday. Then on Monday and Tuesday, we covered three chapters of Matthew, 21-23. After entering Jerusalem, Jesus went to the Temple, driving…

  • Recap of Matthew 21-22 The climax of the gospel began on Sunday with the Triumphal Entry. Chapter 21 From there, Jesus went to the Temple, drove the tax collectors and dove sellers out, only to find those in need of healing coming in — a kind of exchange which yields far different results than the…