Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Holy Week

  • Jesus’s Love Revolution

    •

    8 min read

    Superman isn’t swooping in. The heavens aren’t opening and the army of angels are not going to ride in here in front of you and slaughter all of our enemies. The Triumphal Entry and the incarnating of GOD’s dream Palm Sunday C |  Luke 19:28-40 As most of you know, our tradition, beginning in the…

    2

  • 6 Ways We Made This Easter Special

    •

    4 min read

    Every church with whom I’ve ever celebrated has made a lovely to-do about Holy Week and Easter. They all are different, which is part of the joy and excitement for me to celebrate in a new congregation. I am always excited to see how we do things here. This year was my favorite by far. Let me tell…

    0

  • Sabbath: Holy Saturday

    •

    2 min read

    “The Sabbath” Read the Text: Mark 15:42-16:1 OK, I cheated. There is no text for Holy Saturday. It goes from the evening before the Sabbath to the day after. No Sabbath. Writers and theologians have been searching for the missing day for centuries. One of my favorite apocryphal stories comes from Piers Plowman, a medieval poem that…

    2

  • Those Women, That Morning: Friday of Holy Week

    •

    2 min read

    “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…

    2

  • Two Days Before: Wednesday of Holy Week

    •

    2 min read

    “It was two days before the Passover” Read the Text: Mark 14:1-11 Did you notice the context? Jesus brings His followers around, staying at the house of an outcast, and is served by another. Then is betrayed by one of His own. Of course, you were naturally drawn to that age-old debate: should they sell…

    2

  • In the Morning: Tuesday of Holy Week

    •

    2 min read

    The Jesus Movement is actually all about authority. If we recognize how Jesus challenged their understanding of authority on Sunday and again on Monday and then witness the fig tree “withered away to its roots” we may see that we, as the disciples, are the witnesses.

    2