Drew Downs

Tag: Authority

  • The Next Big Thing for Christianity

    Drew Downs

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    The Next Big Thing for Christianity

    Prophets The prophets of the Old Testament were gifted at knowing what was about to happen. But not so gifted at predicting the future. The difference between the two is simple to parse. Given the environment and knowledge of the world, culture, and the divine dream, they did an astounding job of knowing what would…

  • Those Women, That Morning: Friday of Holy Week

    Drew Downs

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    Those Women, That Morning: Friday of Holy Week

    “As soon as it was morning” Read the Text: Mark 15:1-41 There is a startling character to the Passion story. The Jewish authorities are bloodthirsty. Pilate, speaking for Rome, is strangely indifferent. The soldiers humiliate Jesus. The disciples have deserted Jesus entirely. And the women, many women who followed Him, watch from a distance. I’m struck by…

  • The New Authority

    Drew Downs

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    The New Authority

    Jesus shows us why our ideas of power are only half right a Homily for Epiphany 4B  |  Text: Mark 1:21-28   Authority Today’s story about Jesus leaving the seashore and heading to the synagogue to teach is obviously about authority. It says so. Twice. But it gets a little complicated. Yes, it is about authority…

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    Faith In Spite of Death

    a Sermon for Good Friday Text: John 18:1-19:42 By what authority? There’s a telling moment toward the beginning of Holy Week that explains the drama that is unfolding. A moment that involves a simple enough pair of questions: By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them? Authority.…

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    Speaking: Palm Sunday and the liberation of Jesus

    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…

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    Giving Away Too Much Power?

      Pharaoh gives away his power to a man that was locked in his dungeon. Seems like a stupid move. I’m no leadership guru, but that seems like a pretty bad idea. In our weekly Bible study at St. Paul’s, we’ve been taking our time, as we walk through Genesis, one chapter per week. Last…

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    The New Authority: Trust

    It comes down to trust.  Our current behavior demonstrates that we don’t trust the system, we simply rely on it and expect it to function.  Then when it doesn’t, we condemn it.  Sometimes we even argue that the system can’t do it.  And even then we still don’t hold the community responsible for cleaning up the mess. Perhaps this…

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    Jesus likes it when you squirm

    I love when Jesus kicks our butts in the gospel.  Seriously.  Some people want shiny, happy gospel lessons for Sunday morning, full of sunshine and affirmation for hard work we’ve done not screwing up our lives completely.  Not me.  That’s my vision for lame. So this morning, the lectionary dialed up a juicy one: Matthew…