DD
Drew Downs
@drewdowns
writes daily, podcasts occasionally
Drew is an Episcopal priest and blogger living in western Indiana who is obsessed with building up a vibrant and authentic church and 90’s era dreampop.
48 Posts
Our attempts to gain advantage, manipulate the game, put ourselves on top, or control the outcomes—it isn’t just cheating. It authorizes cruelty and destruction. Hatred and death. We don’t get to be those people who kill and pretend those lives we stole have no meaning. The fact of war doesn’t cleanse the moral boundaries we cross to wage it. We need a lot more than an end to fighting. We have lived under an experiment that our own rules matter more than the rules we all keep. An experiment that is fundamentally false. Peter walked on water. And when the first gust of wind came, he freaked out. That is what fear does. It would have us destroy our own miracles. The social impact of changing cashiering is significant. The power behind the Transfiguration
Death, for all its power to shrink our imaginations and command our bodies; driving us to abuse others, reckless selfishness, and inane hatred; is nothing to God. Nothing. How deeply do we embrace our calling to be teachers? With fear? Excitement? Maybe both? One with God — in faith, hope, and love One of the potential challenges of preaching Pentecost Day. And what to do with it. This is clearly the necessary outcome. Jesus has to leave. But it is also the chosen outcome of the one who believes in us. They took a stand 29 years ago. And they were right. Many of us agreed. But we did nothing about it. Easter is about seeing what we don’t think we’re supposed to even be able to see. A reflection for this Sunday's gospel. Rejecting what is real
So this theme of blindness: of Mary and the other disciples not recognizing Jesus, even when he stands before them: is a potent reminder of our own spiritual blindness in the face of our own circumstances. And how willing we are, in the midst of our own confusion (and fear) to rej Disconnected
There's a serious problem with our thinking. And we often can't see why it doesn't work. We hear an argument that seems sort of rational. But also doesn't work. Because we act like we can make decisions without half of the context. Good News Takes Effort
"Where's the good news stories?" Well, when we define news as "all the bad stuff going on," then it makes good news into an oxymoron. Good thing we don't have to define it that way. We tend to get the idea of temptation wrong. There's too much digital material to process. We all could be better at it. Or we could develop a better tool to facilitate it. We have a bias against messy. But it is actually good. Why do we struggle with taking steps today that would bring a better tomorrow? We tend to hide part of the equation.