Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Drew Downs

  • I DON’T WANT YOUR BINARY WORLD I don’t want your binary world. You can keep it. It’s no gift, really. A curse actually. Long distance arguments turn into brief skirmishes in a decades-spanning war. My every little expression dissected, deconstructed, injected, transformed into a wild assumption making me look like an ass and you and…

  • I don’t know what the disciples expected when they followed Jesus up the mountain. Maybe a great wisdom. They hadn’t been following him long. They visited a few cities in the region. So they were just getting to know the man. And he goes up the mountain. They follow. And he unveils the very dream…

  • When I was a teenager, I was part of Youth Volunteer Corps; a non-profit geared toward teaching youth about community service. For me, it was visionary, collaborative, and remarkably effective. And it always struggled to get funding. As part of a national organization with a common mission to both revitalize communities and build up young…

  • Saturday I found out that my back tire was slashed. Nothing says “good morning” like a neighbor telling you the day’s plans are derailed for you and maybe 30 other people. That’s how many others were in the same boat. All afternoon, I saw others scoping us out. It felt like a “You too?” or…

  • There’s a seam in our story this morning. One in which, if you’ve been following along, might cause some difficulty. It’s a small thing, really. Last week, we meet Andrew and another in the gospel we call John as disciples of John the Baptist. This week, in Matthew they’re fishermen. A small matter, but significant.…

  • Do Not Hide

    Never hide. Because it’s time. Now is the season. The season when we celebrate the light shining in the darkness. The season when the anointed has been revealed and is made manifest in us. Each of us a light already shining. Even though it’s dark. It seems so dark. Many of us remember that small…