Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Pentecost

  • Seeing, Hearing, Feeling and Testifying in Truth Pentecost  |  John 15:26-27 & 16:4b-15   When the advocate comes After Jesus comes back from the dead and appears to Mary, appears to his disciples, then appears to them again, now with Thomas in their midst, he says to them that iconic phrase: “Blessed are those who…

  • In many of the Episcopal Churches of which I’ve been a part, there is a regular tradition of wearing red on Pentecost. Red, of course is the liturgical color of the day, but it also matches the fire images that accompany the day. Opportunities to red the place up and evoke the tongues of fire…

  • 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…

  • Preachers love the Day of Pentecost. There is so much to work with. The images are so vivid, more vivid in our imaginations than they could be in reality, I’m guessing. One of my favorite plays is Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, which is rightly called a “tragicomedy”. When I read it, I hear these voices, playful and…

  • When my friend, David Henson wondered on Facebook where all the Pentecost posts were, it exposed me. Not that the world rotates around me. It’s just… I haven’t been here. My mind has been elsewhere. I wonder if they all are. All the minds, that is. All the minds are elsewhere when it comes time…

  • a Sermon for Pentecost C Text: Acts 2:1-21 Listen to it here! A Holy Spectacle In Pentecost, we have the dawning of a new era. Jesus has departed and the Advocate, the Holy Spirit has arrived. It is now the apostles’ turn to deal with the ministry for which Jesus was preparing them. I’m not…