Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

language

  • When something is constantly evolving throughout history, when do we claim it is “redefined”? Do we say it every time? Of course we think of it in the big moments.   When we think of marriage, we think of the current marriage equality movement, and an earlier generation’s movement toward the legal acceptance of interracial…

  • A long, long time ago, a deeply faithful people were given a name. A very important name. The very name of their god. The same god who was revealed without a proper pronoun, but a description. The popular translation is I AM WHO I AM But even these words in English don’t capture the movement and…

  • a Homily for The Day of  Pentecost Text: Acts 2:1-21   Into the Unknown There are those moments when we read scripture that, if you’re anything like me, you are saying “Yeah…I’m not sure I would’ve done that.” Last week, we read about how Jesus left the disciples, disappearing behind a cloud. The disciples went back…

  • One need not pray in another person’s language  The language of the King James Bible and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer is not ours, it is theirs. It doesn’t define church for me; it defines 17th Century English church. And it is alien to the 21st Century North American church. I have a devoted Rite…