Finding Your Soul by David Anderson
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The Publican
is you at your worst, yet closest to heaven. In Jesus’ famous parable of the Publican (or Tax Collector) and the Pharisee, the Publican is the one Jesus commends. The Pharisee stands in the front row of the temple and offers a “prayer” that is only a formal enumeration of his pious acts, while the…
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Abraham
became great in the act of surrender. After his long odyssey, Abraham finally made it to the land of Canaan. His nephew Lot had come with him, and they had both done very well. In fact, they had so many flocks and herds that the land could not support them both. Their herdsmen were quarrelling,…
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“In Your Eyes”
On Saturdays our companions are musicians. I want to end this week of “Simplicity & Joy” with something fun and celebratory. It’ a song suggestion sent in by a reader. I liked “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel when it came out in the 80’s, but this live version from Gabriel’s 1993–1994 Secret World Tour takes it…
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The Coin Woman
may remind you of yourself. She’s who you were when losing five dollars was a big deal. “Suppose a woman has ten silver coins,” Jesus says, “and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors…
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The Loving Father
has decided he wants joy more than he wants order or a clean accounting of things. When the prodigal comes home from his bender, having wasted his early inheritance, the father throws a party. That doesn’t make sense to most of us parents, and it sure didn’t seem right to the elder brother. Why, he…
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Miriam
somehow thought to grab her tambourine when the call came that night. Like so many slaves before them, they were going to attempt an escape—a mass flight—and their captors would give chase. People were all packing food, essential medications, water, but as she ran out the door Miriam seized her tambourine. She knew she’d need…
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The Widow of Zarephath
was down to her last meal when the prophet showed up hungry. There was a drought and famine in the land, and Elijah was without food and water. That was when the word of the Lord came, “Go at once to Zarephath. . . . I have directed a widow there to supply you with…
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The Pack Rat
only did what we’d all do. He had more than he could use, and since there were no Public Storage or CubeSmart or LifeStorage facilities back in the biblical day, he built barns, lots of barns. We hear about our pack rat when someone in a crowd surrounding Jesus yelled out, “Teacher, tell my brother…
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God
is One. The shema, the central affirmation of Judaism, begins: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” Along with every observant Jew, Jesus prayed those words morning and night. God is One. This week’s “Stories of Simplicity & Joy” all flow from that oneness at the heart of God. God is singular,…