Drew Downs
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The Thing About Christmas
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5 min read
The thing about Christmas is we can’t force joy. No matter how much eggnog and spiced lattes we drink, cookies we decorate, presents we receive. Joy isn’t forced upon us. We don’t wake up with Christmas Spirit because the calendar pages turn. Joy just happens. This is what separates joy from happiness. As The Oatmeal…
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Balanced
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4 min read
BALANCED There is no balance between rich and poor, slave and free. No necessary condition of have and have not. Victims don’t need to forgive their abusers before justice reins in the terror. Our lives are out of balance. If our ecosystem was balanced, it was before we burned fossil fuels. Before we salted our…
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Waters Shall Break Forth
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7 min read
God’s message draws us to the margins Advent 3A | Isaiah 35:1-10 When I first visited my grandparents in Green Valley, I really didn’t know what to expect. I was in grade school, 8 or 9 I think. And what I knew of the desert is that it’s covered in sand and there is nothing.…
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Dealing With Truth
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14 min read
Postmodernism and the era of willful deception. I’m not the only one worried about a “post-truth” or “post-fact” era. Many think pieces have tried to tackle the danger of making normal the lies and distortions we’re seeing in the world. But few of them have dealt with why we’re here and what might be a…
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Lions don’t want to eat straw
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8 min read
The Incarnation Is More Radical Than We Care To Admit. Advent 2A | Isaiah 11:1-10 Isaiah 11:1-3 A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel…
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What is a Christian?
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5 min read
What is a Christian? The short answer is that there isn’t one definition. Never has been. From the very beginning, Christians are a loose collection of people with overlapping theistic belief. Today, given our media coverage and infighting, that truth may be hard to see. Throughout history, we have tried to name common belief with…