by David Anderson
I lit a fire in the hearth this morning and turned on the lights of the bare Christmas tree. It was six a.m., cold outside with a grey morning light. Nine days before Christmas Eve. Twenty little children have been killed in their classrooms, festooned with holiday decorations and happily cluttered with Christmas crafts. I […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Change, Community, Faith in Action, Forgiveness, Grace, Healing, Mercy, Repentance
In “the Arrival,” a 1996 Sci-Fi, Charlie Sheen stars as a radio astronomer who scans the heavens for signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence. His radio telescope is trained on the stars, hoping to pick up a narrow band of radiation that would belie the communication of an advanced civilization beyond our solar system. A poster on […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Grace, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Seeing, Waiting
One of the Buddha’s most famous teachings is the Parable of the Raft. In it he likened his teachings to a raft for crossing a fast-flowing river. A man is trapped on one side of a river. On this side of the river, there is great danger and uncertainty; on the far side is safety. […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Belief, Daily Practice, Faith in Action, Freedom, Grace, Happiness, Now/ the Present
I live on a road with limited possibility. If you take the turn after crossing Ring’sEndBridge, you’ll be led to a few other streets and lanes, but otherwise it’s a beautiful circle that leads you down one side of a peninsula to Long Island Sound and back out the other. The name says it all, […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Change, Choice, Faith in Action, Grace
After church on Sunday I went to visit a family whose home had been flooded in the hurricane. When I pulled up to the house it looked fine, frankly. Everywhere there was evidence that water had been here and gone. The street had a slick mud coating and the grass in the lawn was matted […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Community, Faith/Trust, Grace, Love
Many of the people who come to me with a problem or difficulty are struggling with their own imperfection, their own brokenness. We are so hard on ourselves. We can perhaps forgive others, but we cannot forgive ourselves. I know this problem from the inside. I’m a recovering perfectionist. I want things to be perfect […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Forgiveness, Grace, Healing, Letting Go, Mercy
I read this week that a typical small child smiles six hundred times a day, and old men smile two and a half times a day. That tells you all you need to know about the course of human life. As we get older, we get more “serious.” I put that in quotes, because mostly […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Fear, Grace, Happiness, Letting Go
I had breakfast yesterday morning with a friend from seminary. She was telling me about a leadership conference that she had recently hosted. Pastors of thriving congregations had come to speak, but for her one stood out. It was a man we both knew and admired. “Gary told us about a failure,” she said. “All […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Fear, Grace, Happiness, Letting Go, Mercy