by David Anderson
On Saturdays our companions are musicians. “Think about it,” Steve Winwood sings, “there must be a higher love—Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above.” That’s the force we’ve been trying to fathom this week in “Stories of Transforming Love”—a power we can name only as a “Higher Love,” Steve Winwood’s 1986 hymn […]
by David Anderson 8 Comments Filed Under: Beauty, Grace, Lent, Love, Power, Transformation
On this Good Friday, here is a poem and a song. A PRAYER TO THE GOD WHO FELL FROM HEAVEN by John Shea If you had stayedtightfisted in the skyand watched us thrashwith all the patience of a pipe smoker,I would pray like a golden bulletaimed at your heart.But the story says you criedand so […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Grace, Lent, Love, Mercy, Suffering, Surrender
swore with an oath, “I do not know the man.” But it wasn’t exactly true. While Jesus is on trial, Peter is hanging around the courthouse when a maid recognizes him. She points her finger, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” Peter denies it and slinks off, only to be fingered twice more. Each […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Grace, Identity, Lent, Vocation/ Calling
was Jesus’ friend, from beginning to end. Like all the other women who were essential to Jesus’ ministry, Mary Magdalene was not counted as one of his disciples. Luke tells us that Jesus went about preaching, and “With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and […]
by David Anderson 11 Comments Filed Under: authority, Change, Conversion, Faith/Trust, Faithfulness, Grace, Gratitude, Healing, Lent, Love, Transformation
is, outside of Jesus, the most poignant and affecting character in the passion story. We meet other great figures this week, but none that stir such emotion in us. Peter the denier comes close, but no one drops completely into the abyss like Judas. His sin is considered unforgiveable. Would I have done that? we […]
by David Anderson 3 Comments Filed Under: Change, Conversion, Forgiveness, Lent, Mercy, Surrender
is a casualty of religious violence. You hardly know his name, but Malchus is the servant of the high priest, who comes along with Judas Iscariot and the Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus in the garden. He’s a bystander, really, until Peter, armed with a sword, decides he’s had enough of this non-violent resistance stuff. […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Conflict, Healing, Lent, Power, Surrender, Transformation
Palm Sunday You might think donkeys can’t talk, but if you’ve ever read the story of “Balaam and his ass”—that would be Numbers chapter 22—you know we donkeys have a lot to say. When donkeys get together we tend to talk about you all, mostly how you think you’re the only ones on earth, how […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Lent, Love
Palm Sunday You might think donkeys can’t talk, but if you’ve ever read the story of “Balaam and his ass”—that would be Numbers chapter 22—you know we donkeys have a lot to say. When donkeys get together we tend to talk about you all, mostly how you think you’re the only ones on earth, how […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Lent, Love