Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Gospel

  • I had trouble sleeping Saturday night. I was angry. Angry that George Zimmerman wouldn’t be punished, for the fear that has beset the African American community, for all the bullshit post-racism talk of my white neighbors. Mostly, I was angry that I was feeling powerless as a church leader to express myself. It frightened me…

  • a homily for Proper 5C Text: Luke 7:11-17 Listen to “Being Shown What To Do” here and read along Getting Focused On Wednesday night (at Basics), we talked about ministry. What it is, who does it, and why it matters. The Book of Common Prayer describes it as the work of the laity, bishops, priests,…

  • This week there are no doubt many preachers trying to figure out how to deal with Sunday. It is the Seventh Sunday of Easter. It also happens to be two other things: the Sunday after the Ascension and Mother’s Day. To the church, it is Easter 7. This isn’t to say that people in church…

  • In Sunday’s sermon, I preached about Jesus’s third appearance in the Gospel we call John. There were several pieces that fascinated me about the text. Saturday, I focused on the fantastic image of Peter, sitting naked in a boat, dressing, and jumping into the water. The other is the interaction between Jesus and Peter about…

  • My sermon for Proper 7A (yesterday) is up here.  It deals with our culture of retaliation and Jesus’s encouragement to see another alternative; an alternative that we have trouble seeing because we are so committed to violence and retaliation. I thought it was a little spicy.  What do you think?

  • My sermon for Epiphany 5A is up here.  The topic is Jesus’s preaching on freedom, law, and Kingdom-life.  It followed the previous week’s discussion of the Beatitudes, called “Blessed“. This week continues the Sermon on the Mount and will be posted next week.  Look for a teaser soon.