Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

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  • Dinner #1

    My Mom requested a visit. Not really something my Mom does. But since she’s doing chemo, she’s allowed. Yes, cancer. Aggressive. And to be fair, I offered. So I’m visiting my Mom and Dad. Mom’s other request was that I come up and make dinner. I get to set the menu. A lesser man would…

  • My daughter wrapped me around her finger before she could grab things and twist them. Before she could even see more than two feet in front of her face. She lights up my world when she greets me at the door and when I pick her up from school. For her, I argue with the…

  • a Homily for Ash Wednesday Text: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 Beyond Black Thumb Day Today is Black Thumb Day. What? Never heard of it? It is the day that priests all over the world put on nice white albs, dip their thumbs in black, flaky ashes, and smudge those ashes on everything. It begins with people’s…

  • a Sermon for Epiphany 6A Text: Matthew 5:21-37 A most unreasonable request We’re following Jesus up the side of a mountain and we’re hearing His most famous sermon. A sermon that begins with blessings: (blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek…). A sermon that highlights all the wondrous things that GOD…

  •   Monday’s celebration of The Epiphany was unique in that it took place in the midst of a once-in-a-generation snow storm. That arctic vortex gave us sub-zero temperatures and heavy snowfall as we haven’t seen in the Midwest in a long time. Feeling the cold on my face in the minutes I was out shoveling…

  • a homily for Proper 27C Text: Luke 20:27-38 What are they talking about? This gospel isn’t what we take it for. The people that put together the Revised Common Lectionary have us jumping into Holy Week here. Last week’s story about Zacchaeus, the wee little man who climbed a sycamore tree is the first half of…