Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Proper 18A

  • While we’re focused on doing it right

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    7 min read

    So much of our energy is focused on what we are supposed to do at any given moment, we hardly listen to what Jesus is saying.

  • Removing Our Stumbling Blocks

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    8 min read

    In Matthew 17 and 18, Jesus reveals the way stumbling blocks get in the way of God’s mission. Including our obsessions with rules and borders. Proper 18A  |  Matthew 18:15-20 A few years ago, a celebrity pastor got in trouble. He was the darling of the new reformed movement for his high doctrine, aggressive style,…

  • How to Not Be a Stumbling Block

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    4 min read

    A re-imagined sermon for those that have missed church recently After calming the storm, Jesus and the disciples come to shore, bombarded by people looking for healing. It is from here that Jesus takes his disciples aside and asks them who they think he is. Peter’s declaration: “Messiah!” is followed by his fear for Jesus’s…

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  • Childproofing Church

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    8 min read

    Order, stumbling blocks, and what real Christian community looks like a Homily for  Proper 18 A  |  Text: Matthew 18:15-20   what we mean by sin When Jesus speaks to the disciples in this passage, He speaks of sin against each other. This isn’t so much fault-finding, which we all do so easily, but sin-naming.…

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