Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Human Rights

  • MLK was a visionary, not because he was a civil rights leader or because he was faith leader, but because he had vision: he understood Jesus’s vision. And he cast it out for us to see. A world in which we lived the Kingdom of GOD, not just paying it lip service. A vision in which he famously…

  • At the end of last week’s Emergence Christianity conference (#EC13) there was a confusion. Phyllis Tickle, the conference keynote speaker, who presented her work on Emergence Christianity throughout, made a couple of controversial statements. Julie Clawson makes a good accounting for them here. However, I heard her differently.   First, I will state that I…

  • a Sermon for Advent 4C Text: Luke 1:39-55 Learning about Mary One of the things that excited me as a priest and presbyter of the church is how many people have mentioned Fr. Steve Bancroft’s sermon a year ago. Several people have come to me and spoken of that moment in which they heard for…

  • Reading Genesis again for our Bible study, I have found this nuance with regards to how the writers use the concept of marriage quite interesting: having sex with someone makes you married. To unpack what this means, we ought to step back from our 21st Century “culture war” arguments about what marriage means or who…

  • As I prepare this week’s Eating Scripture, I read this piece on this week’s gospel by David R. Henson: Just Marriage: Jesus, Divorce and the Vulnerable. Do yourself a favor and read it.

  • This guest post by Registered Runaway on Rachel Held Evans’ blog is too powerful to ignore. “Church Stories: Forgive them, Father” I want a church in which we can all celebrate and live up to the type of fatherhood described in the story. And their children inspire us to be better fathers as this one…