Dear Reader,

You and I have come so far. We started this relationship in 2020, me in my COVID basement, you in your who knows where.

We met in the middle of the pandemic, you had been at home for months. Like a person running out of oxygen, you had been running out of content to consume. You had watched the Michael Jordan documentary, you had finished that program about a hillybilly, his wife, and some tigers. You may remember it well. The walls were closing in, it was getting hard to breathe. There was noise in the streets, there was sickness in the air, there was madness in the brain.

I really needed an outlet, and you really needed to keep in touch. From these unforeseen circumstances the DrewTopian Future was born. Its purpose was twofold: give me a weekly deadline to force myself to write and use it as a way to keep in touch with you. Both things have mostly happened. I’ve enjoyed the friendships that have formed and sustained thanks to my weekly writing habit.

But let’s look back and take stock of where we’ve been before I tell you what I need to say.

Though there were numerous Spring/Summer 2020 posts, most of them are now lost to the wind. But the official launch of the blog was Christmas Eve 2020. It began with a piece about baby Jesus – This Bastard is a King – the title was so offensive that many chose to walk away immediately before things got worse. Turns out this piece requires a formal retraction and apology on my part, for indeed I had no idea what birth was or wasn’t like. That knowledge didn’t arrive until late summer of 2021 when my daughter Zipporah arrived and I contemplated the implications and assumptions I had about the birthing process.

Zipporah was far and away my most popular piece over these three years, but what about my LEAST popular piece? It was called “Consider the Life of a Statue” and was about the toppling of statues and the purpose of erecting them in the first place. The topic and photo attached to it were somewhat triggering, considering the events we were experiencing at that time. Maybe that’s why no one wanted to read it. But perhaps now we’ve all got enough emotional distance to read and thoughtfully consider this important topic.

There were other, more ridiculous posts about baby poop on airplanes, my disdain for other (childless) airline passengers, and comparing standup comedy to sex.

There were useful ones, like how to identify a manipulative person and elements of an effective apology that I hope will help you avoid future troubles. There were letters written from the depths of despair and dealing with scary medical issues with my son.

And then there is my all-time favorite, which I still love above them all.

The DrewTopian Future was always about exploring the in-between spaces of things that don’t necessarily go together. As time went on, it settled mostly on the unlikely relationship between Christian religion and comedy. The church crowd and the comedy crowd – an odd pair, and for many years I’ve been serving as the couple’s therapist for their uncomfortable marriage. Building the Joke Gym was a further step down this path. It opened up a gaping question for me – why?

Why build this room? Why put it in a church?

Is it possible that religion needs comedy and comedy needs religion? Should we abolish the separation of church and stage?

And are we able to see God everywhere? Not just in the sacred and tidy, but the vulgar , the profane, and even in death itself ? Can Christians overcome their fears cultural contamination and produce art that moves mountains?

These are questions I hope to give some small answer to in the next year. Hopefully it will be the first of many answers from many people.

I will be stepping back from doing the blog every week, but it will still be coming to your inbox every Friday. I’ve invited some awesome people to contribute and write for the blog going forward. You can check out their bios here. They are a group of writers that is truly international and will add a diversity of thought and styles to the DrewTopian Future. (I will also occasionally post as well.)

My primary creative focus will be pastoring and further development of those above-mentioned questions. I started grad school at Western Theological Seminary this week. I will be taking a few theology courses this year and then next fall plan to begin my doctorate in Relational Neuroscience and Spiritual Formation. Below is a photo of me at my new school.

Please keep in touch, or drop by Joke Gym on Wednesdays or church on Sundays. It has been an amazing three years and while the future is uncertain, it is certainly Bright!

My DrewTopian Future