by David Anderson
A legend says that, at the beginning of time, God resolved to hide himself within his own creation. As God was considering how best to do this, the angels drew around him. “I want to hide myself in my own creation,” God said. “I need to find a place that is not too easily discovered, […]
by David Anderson 3 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Happiness, Now/ the Present, Seeing
In some ways, I had a traditional ‘old South’ upbringing, meaning that I spent some time in a military school, and acquired an inoculum of the military ethic that is still with me today: honor, duty, loyalty. -E. O. Wilson I ran across those words this week and stopped. Inoculum is the substance used […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Change, Faith in Action
Ted Ryan, a friend of mine, told me about an experience that goes under the category of “the things a child can imagine.” He was giving his four year-old son breakfast before he went off to work, but the boy was just sitting there. He wasn’t touching his cereal. So Ted says to his son, […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Change, Character, Choice, Daily Practice, Faithfulness, Prayer/Meditation, Uncategorized
“The whole fall, back-to-school just hit me like a truck.” That’s the way a mother described the first days of September as we talked last night. Me too. It all comes on so fast. Summer seems to start gradually, as things wind slowly down. But it always ends with a bang. A gun goes off. […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Choice, Daily Practice, Fear, Freedom, Happiness, Letting Go
In an age of doubt and—worse—of apathy and cynicism, we all struggle to “believe.” We can’t believe what we blindly accepted as a child; many passages from the Bible are either confounding or troubling; taken literally, the Creed is a bridge too far. Faith or spirituality was always presented as a matter of “belief”—what you […]
by David Anderson 3 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Belief, Change, Daily Practice, Faith in Action, Faithfulness
There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle, or you can live as if everything is. -Albert Einstein My colleague, Jonathan Thomas, preached a provocative sermon yesterday. He challenged our basic assumptions about God—where God is and isn’t; what God gets involved in; the occasions, moments, places where […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Belief, Nature/Creation, Now/ the Present, Science, Seeing
Traditions and rituals that surround prayer and worship are essential. I can’t sit for prayer in the morning until I have made a cup of tea and a small plate of fruit. It’s part of my ritual. I do it most mornings before I am actually awake! But this is the glory of ritual—when I […]
by David Anderson 3 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Change, Daily Practice, Prayer/Meditation
There is an old Jewish story about the young pupil who asks the respected rabbi a question about that well-known passage in Deuteronomy 6:6. “And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart.” “Why is it this way?” the pupil asks. “Why are we told to put these words upon […]
by David Anderson 10 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Faith/Trust, Family, Letting Go, Love