by David Anderson
“There are people with cancer and people in prisons experiencing happinesseven under those conditions. So, why not you?” -Anthony DeMello No one likes cleaning toilets. It’s the kind of chore that, if we’re able, we get other people to do. That’s the remarkable force behind the new movie, “Perfect Days,” where we meet Hirayama, who […]
by David Anderson 16 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Beauty, Daily Practice, Freedom, Happiness, Letting Go, Now/ the Present, Reality--trusting it, Service, Surrender, work
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 […]
by David Anderson 10 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Conflict, Faithfulness, Family, Forgiveness, Freedom, Grace, Lent, Letting Go, Love, Mercy, Surrender
is the only outed person at the dinner table. Simon the Pharisee invites Jesus to dinner, but somehow a “woman of the city” catches wind of the soiree and sneaks in the back door carrying “an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing at Jesus’ feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Forgiveness, Freedom, Grace, Gratitude, Intimacy, Lent, Love, Mercy, Uncategorized
used to be Saul, and the name change—signaling a new beginning—may have been the only way he could have gone on, could have lived with himself. We first meet him at a murder. Young Stephen is being stoned for his faith in Jesus, and the accusers who took off their coats to limber up for […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Change, Character, Conversion, Epiphany, Faith/Trust, Forgiveness, Freedom, Grace, Gratitude, Identity, Lent, Mercy, Repentance, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized
in a parable of Jesus became my brother and me. There once was a father, Jesus said, with two sons. He says to the first, “Go and work in the vineyard today.” The first boy says, “I will not.” But later, he changes his mind. He grabs his pruning hook. To the same question, the […]
by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, authority, Freedom, Lent
On Friday night we checked into a hotel in Philadelphia. We had tickets to a play and decided to make a weekend of it. The next morning I opened the drapes. There, across the street, stood the Museum of the American Revolution. Let’s go! I said. The exhibits, enlivened by Hollywood-quality videos, were dramatic and […]
by David Anderson 13 Comments Filed Under: Bible, Freedom, Grace, Justice/Peace, Peace
Isaiah 61:1-3 “…to proclaim liberty to captives and release to those in prison.” Jesus begins his ministry in a synagogue, reading from the prophet Isaiah’s scroll. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, . . . freedom for the prisoners and recovery […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Freedom, Hope, Justice/Peace, Mercy
in every breathif you’re the centerof your own desiresyou’ll lose the graceof your beloved but if in every breathyou blow awayyour self claimthe ecstasy of lovewill soon arrive in every breathif you’re the centerof your own thoughtsthe sadness of autumnwill fall on you but if in every breathyou strip nakedjust like a winterthe joy of […]
by David Anderson 10 Comments Filed Under: Awe, Daily Practice, Fear, Freedom, Grace, Happiness, Letting Go, Now/ the Present, Surrender