Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

selfish

  • In the Kingdom of Earth, selfishness rules and violence is justified. How far such things are from what Jesus offers: a kin-dom of heaven. Proper 22A | Matthew 21:33-46 Several years ago, Rose and I took a trip to northwestern Michigan. We stayed in a bed and breakfast near Traverse City and drove up the…

  • When shallow Christianity drowns in a mighty flood, the prosperity gospel is no life preserver. Joel Osteen had a terrible week. But that’s only because his devotion to the prosperity gospel put him there. It wasn’t God. I suppose this really is a kind of “reap what you sow” kind of moment. It was the…

  • The other morning, as I took my kids to the bus stop, I saw a distillation of our present situation in these brief moments at the start of my day. A simple moment. One mistake. Then another. And a third. Our mornings are that strange mixture of rushing and waiting anyway. We were there with…

  •   When people cut each other off in traffic, or pull out in front of others, we are always looking the other way. If it were a mistake or if they didn’t see you, they would try to correct, jerking the steering wheel or pleading for forgiveness in the rear view mirror. I don’t know how…