Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

discipleship

  • Learning in the absence of Jesus Lent 5B  |  John 12:20-33 Wishing to See “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” It is a deceptively simple moment. We’d almost overlook it. These people come to Philip looking for Jesus. Philip goes to Andrew and they both go to Jesus. “Sir, we wish to see Jesus,” they…

  • A mother-in-law’s gratitude at odds with the public spectacle. Jesus leaves town, perhaps because of his notoriety, but perhaps also because the people are more interested in him, in the wonders that he has done, in the power that he possesses. And not in what GOD is calling him to actually do. Not in what…

  • How Jesus calls us to act now to do something audacious, in spite of ourselves, precisely because GOD is audacious a Homily for Epiphany 3B  |  Text: Mark 1:14-20 Calling I love these call stories: these stories of Jesus calling the disciples to follow him. I think they’re pure gold for us. They may not be…

  • Most preachers love the psalms and parables. Me, I’ll take the call stories. The stories where Jesus collects followers like I collected baseball cards and comic books. Intentionally: with respect for big names and the common ones alike. Of course the other stories are sexier. The enduring parables like The Prodigal Son(s), the Good Samaritan, the…

  • A re-imagined sermon for those that have missed church recently After calming the storm, Jesus and the disciples come to shore, bombarded by people looking for healing. It is from here that Jesus takes his disciples aside and asks them who they think he is. Peter’s declaration: “Messiah!” is followed by his fear for Jesus’s…

  • Order, stumbling blocks, and what real Christian community looks like a Homily for  Proper 18 A  |  Text: Matthew 18:15-20   what we mean by sin When Jesus speaks to the disciples in this passage, He speaks of sin against each other. This isn’t so much fault-finding, which we all do so easily, but sin-naming.…