Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

  • a Sermon for Maundy Thursday Text: John 13:1-17, 31b-35 The Cup This year, it was helpful for me to remember that we have developed a different way of marking days from Jesus’s time and place. Then, the day began at dusk. So this, Jesus’s final day, has begun. He gathers His friends for dinner, for…

  • a Sermon for Palm Sunday A Text: Matthew 21:1-11 Something to Say What would you say and how would you say it? That was the basis of the writing exercise we did Wednesday night.* Imagine that you have a prime time block on TV on Thursday night; 50 million people are watching, you have a…

  • Daily Reflections for Holy Week I’ll be producing a daily reflection for each day of Holy Week at my new blog. Go visit it or sign up for the newsletter on the signup page.

  • a Sermon for Lent 5A Text: John 11:1-45 Preventing Death Our story is almost over. Jesus is nearing Jerusalem. And in one final, glorious act, Jesus reveals the very thing He has come to do. A big show of great, inhuman power, in which the whole purpose of the mission is revealed. For us to…

  • I know you were the biggest snow pile by my home in years. A mountain, really. Quite powerful and treacherous. Mighty. You lasted, and grew through the winter. And I see you are still holding out hope. Your friends have all gone. It’s just you now. Your former glory: a memory. You don’t have much left. Don’t…

  • a Sermon for Lent 4A Text: John 9:1-41 Plato’s Cave In Plato’s Republic, the philosopher introduces a strange scenario in which a prisoner is trapped in a cave. The prisoner knows nothing of the world as we know it. He’s stuck in one place, staring straight ahead for a long, long time. Behind him is…