Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

discipleship

  • This week’s gospel from John 21 deals with nudity, miraculous fishing, and redefining love. It is a jam-packed resurrection appearance that only could be delivered by that incredible gospel we call John. One part sticks out for me this week. And it obviously deals with Peter. So the disciples are fishing. They are hanging out.…

  • We all love Easter. Particularly after a tough Lent. This year’s felt heavy. Each year, I struggle with the scope of the great story arc that we deal with in Holy Week–with the rise and fall of Jesus of Nazareth. Then the fall and rise of the Christ. I have always taken this as the…

  • According to the gospel we call Mark, today is the day Jesus is anointed by a woman. To us, she has no name. After Sunday’s dramatic rebuke of Rome, Monday’s trashing of the money-changers and dove-sellers, and Tuesday’s teaching at the Temple in which he humiliates and condemns the Temple leadership, Wednesday is a true…

  • a Homily for Proper 25B Text: Mark 10:46-52 A Healing Story Jesus heals people. At this point this seems like old news. Remember several chapters ago when Jesus healed the man of leprosy? Jesus urges the man to tell no one and instead, the blabbermouth runs into town and tells everybody about Jesus. It seems so…

  • Eating Mark 10:17-31 There is so much to feast on this week, and the main course is certainly the part where Jesus eats the rich. But something curious is offered up in the first course. Something about a man seeking assurance from a holy man that he can attain eternal life. and the holy man doesn’t…

  • In Sunday’s gospel story, we had the famous pair of questions Jesus asks: Who do people say that I am? Who do you say that I am? As I was writing about this idea for our parish newsletter, I realized something important. These two questions have two more hidden questions, or more precisely, two hidden…