by David Anderson
Isaiah 65:17-25 “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like an ox.” Edward Hicks, the Quaker minister and primitive American painter, painted 62 versions of his “Peaceable Kingdom,” in which a child pets a lion with one hand, and a tiger with the other. The cow lies with the […]
by David Anderson 3 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Community, Nature/Creation
Genesis 7: 11-24 “They went into the ark with Noah, two and twoof all flesh…and God shut him in.” On Noah’s ark there was no rudder. God gave Noah incredibly detailed instructions for constructing this floating zoo, dimensions of roofs and decks, but no steering mechanism. Have you ever noticed this? Noah doesn’t need to […]
by David Anderson 14 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Belief, Discernment, Faith in Action, Faith/Trust, Letting Go, Surrender
Isaiah 11:1-16 “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” By all rational accounts, Isaiah’s prophecy is a beautiful and poetic crock. Jesse, you may recall, is the father of the legendary King David. And in Isaiah’s time, David is long dead and so is […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Vocation/ Calling
Luke 1: 39-45 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to acity of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. In Luke’s telling, the first thing Mary does after Gabriel’s stunning announcement, is to pack a bag and head for her older cousin’s home. Elizabeth […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Awareness, Belief, Choice, Discernment, Faith/Trust, Surrender
Luke 1:26-38 (The Message) And Mary said,Yes, I see it all now:I’m the Lord’s maid,ready to serve.Let it be with mejust as you say. The tales of Greek and Roman gods appearing to mortal women are almost always forceful. Whatever they want you to do—is done. You can’t say no. Yet when our God seeks […]
by David Anderson 18 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Choice, Faith/Trust, Faithfulness, Surrender, Vocation/ Calling
Isaiah 61:3-11 “to give them a garland instead of ashes” The wreaths in our homes at Advent and Christmas are often only decorative—pretty. But there’s an ancient Nordic and Celtic tradition of making wreaths from wagon wheels. When the sun disappeared in winter, these sun-worshipping people had a beautiful way of wooing it, beckoning back […]
by David Anderson 9 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Awareness, Change, LIght, Nature/Creation
Isaiah 7:10-14 “A woman is with child, and will bear a son,and will call him Emmanuel.” This is where we begin our Advent pilgrimage. A crib. The nativity scene is all there, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and their sheep—except for the Child. The manger is empty. Let it stay that way, unfilled, for now. […]
by David Anderson 9 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Awareness, Happiness, Healing, Hope, Prayer/Meditation, Transformation
Christmas means that everything is all right. As far back as 70,000 years ago, men and women were looking to the sky and wondering: Are we ok? Are we acceptable in the sight of God? Almost universally, they thought not. And so began the endless sacrifices meant to appease whatever God was up there. The […]
by David Anderson 34 Comments Filed Under: Advent