Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

emergence

  • A Fad That emerging church stuff is just a fad. the young priest said to me. This was right after I told him I had just come back from a conference. It was 2010 and a group of emergence Episcopalians sponsored a church planting conference called Episcopal Village. It was a clear nod to Emergent Village.…

  • It has been a week. A week since peaceful protests were transformed into an uprising. A week since the eyes of the world descended on the city to watch images that, since the dystopian experience of those living the protest and militarized police response in Ferguson, MO last year, have become increasingly familiar: flames, destruction…

  • When the Pharisees enter the story, I see the religious establishment. They are the truth police, arresting those who compromise their view of the world. You are doing what we tell you not to do. Seeing them, I see the church today. In every skeptical comment the Pharisees make and every philosophical trap they try…

  • peterrollins.net » The King and His Jester: Religion and its Acceptable Transgressions In contrast to the jester, the trickster is someone who transgresses against a system they are part of in a way that genuinely jars the system itself. The trickster is a revolutionary figure who is able to expose the reactionary moral, political and…

  • [Photo/The Daily Progress/Andrew Shurtleff] The question for Anglicans should not be “How big is your tent?” It should be “How does the way we gather under it announce the Kingdom of God is at hand?” What is Anglicanism? | St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

  • Some might think I’m a hipster. Or at least I would be if I were ten years younger. That version of me would have been a total hipster. I have the right glasses for it. I have an obnoxious view of music and love both niche music from bands like mewithoutyou and Sun Kil Moon and catchy…