Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Peter

  • a Sermon for Epiphany LastA Text: Matthew 17:1-9 On another mountain We skip ahead to another mountain; more climbing, more experience with Jesus. Not a place of preaching. No Sermon on the Mount. This time is supernatural. Three followers go; the inner circle. The executive committee. Jesus invites them to follow Him up the mountain.…

  • Our Fast

    It is fitting that Congress set All Saints’ Day as the day to cut SNAP (the program formerly known as Food Stamps). The day we celebrate all of the saints that came before, all the saints in our midst, and all of the saints to come, All Saints’ Day is one of the church’s principle…

  • 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…

  • In Sunday’s sermon, I preached about Jesus’s third appearance in the Gospel we call John. There were several pieces that fascinated me about the text. Saturday, I focused on the fantastic image of Peter, sitting naked in a boat, dressing, and jumping into the water. The other is the interaction between Jesus and Peter about…

  • Naked Love

    a Sermon for Easter 3C Text: John 21:1-19 Why is Peter naked? The astute observer will notice that each of the gospels handles the resurrection of Jesus differently. Mark, the earliest gospel has no Jesus appearance; Matthew and Luke each have one appearance; while John has three. This morning we get the last one and…

  • This week’s gospel from John 21 deals with nudity, miraculous fishing, and redefining love. It is a jam-packed resurrection appearance that only could be delivered by that incredible gospel we call John. One part sticks out for me this week. And it obviously deals with Peter. So the disciples are fishing. They are hanging out.…