Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

  • Let’s give Columbus Day the heave-ho. It is long past time. Besides, it isn’t a big deal anyway. Columbus Day is the lamest of national holidays: There are no long-standing American traditions of cookouts and celebrations today. It has no significant religious connections other than the fact that Chris was Catholic. It isn’t beloved for…

  • The Wedding Banquet, the king’s demands, and a kingdom of opportunity a Homily for Proper 23 A  |  Text: Matthew  22:1-14 A Strange Wedding There’s a part of this story that Jesus tells the Pharisees that makes sense to us and a part that doesn’t at all. This is the story of a weird kind of…

  • We are eager in the U.S. to blame our leaders  and hold them responsible for our dysfunction. I am now realizing that this often should not be the case. Or, to be honest, it should rarely be the case. A friend reminded me in the spring as I spoke to him about some structural plans…

  • I like my fortune cookies to contain fortunes. It seems like a necessary part of the deal. Being in the name. That’s what I expect: a fortune. That’s also what I want. I take a moment, thinking of what I am in most need of, and crack open the cookie. Sometimes I don’t get a…

  • Dear Bill Maher, I know you aren’t trying to condemn a whole particular religion. But you actually like condemning religion. You’ve done it before. So when you say it’s about “the ideas” rather than the people, I don’t buy it. The argument you made last week, and again this week, is based not on the ideas,…

  • How the negative helps us find the positive in the Parable of the Wicked Tenants a Homily for Proper 22 A  |  Text: Matthew  21:33-46   It is a great honor to be here to join you this morning. I am so thankful for the grace and generosity that has been shown to me already. I…