by David Anderson
On Saturdays our companions are musicians. To accompany all those we’ve followed through Wild Places this week, I can’t think of a better song than “Poor Wayfaring Stranger.” It speaks of someone wandering, far from home. And it’s sung by Rhiannon Giddens, an Afro-Irish singer whose rendition will rend your heart. Watch and listen, and […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Heaven, Justice/Peace, 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 2:1-6 “They shall beat their swords into plowshares,and their spears into pruning-knives.” On October 7th Yaron Bob was happily living in his kibbutz, one mile from the Gaza border. Then terror struck. “A lot of my friends were killed,” said Bob. He survived after hiding in a safe room for 33 hours with no […]
by David Anderson 1 Comment Filed Under: Advent, Conflict, Faith in Action, Healing, Justice/Peace, Peace, Transformation
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
It’s hard to get people to kill other human beings—unless we can convince them that the enemy is not really human. The history of war shows us over and over the campaigns countries wage to dehumanize their enemies so that it will be possible to kill them without sadness, remorse or shame. Most of us […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Discernment, Forgiveness, Healing, Justice/Peace, Mercy
On March 7, 1965, 600 civil rights marchers left Selma, Alabama for Montgomery. Governor George Wallace called the march a threat to public safety and vowed to do all in is power to prevent this rabble from marching all the way to his office in Montgomery. When the 600 came to the Edmund Pettis Bridge, […]
by David Anderson 3 Comments Filed Under: Change, Community, Faith in Action, Fear, Forgiveness, Justice/Peace, Repentance
My church, the Episcopal Church, just concluded its national convention. Critics of liberal religion were quick to condemn the gathering for accommodating the timeless truth of the gospel to the whims of today’s culture. Ross Douthat of the New York Times had a suggestion for us. “The leaders of the Episcopal Church and similar bodies […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Belief, Community, Faith in Action, Justice/Peace, Seeing, Service, Vocation/ Calling
We are living in a time when the standard versions of religion are losing their appeal. The spirituality offered by these traditions seems small and niggling. Whatever is intended, the message people are getting is mostly about who’s got the truth and who doesn’t, who belongs inside the circle and who doesn’t, who’s having the […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Faith in Action, Freedom, Grace, Happiness, Justice/Peace, Uncategorized