Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

  • Don’t you feel like we’re misunderstanding each other? Not just about political correctness, but about everything? Like every word we say is fundamentally misconstrued? Maybe it’s political correctness itself: the pathological boogeyman of the late ’80s. Back then, we mocked it with books like Politically Correct Fairy Tales. Now we just have outrage and even violence. But blaming…

  • “You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.” —Jonathan Safran Foer

  • When we look at the same picture, do our brains assess the contents of the picture differently? The short answer is yes. But how interesting is the short answer? Especially when the science had essentially been saying no. Easter 2A  | John 20:19-31 Dr. Richard Nisbett, a psychologist from the University of Michigan has for…

  • I recognize the impulse. Sometimes I feel it too. The burden of other people’s junk and the siren song of liberty. The idea that the human cost is too hard to measure against the bottom line. And it’s argument has real merit. Too many rules do cut into our ability to innovate, create, and thrive.…

  • 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…