by David Anderson
may remind you of yourself. She’s who you were when losing five dollars was a big deal. “Suppose a woman has ten silver coins,” Jesus says, “and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Abundance, Blessing, Happiness, Lent, Money, Now/ the Present
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
somehow thought to grab her tambourine when the call came that night. Like so many slaves before them, they were going to attempt an escape—a mass flight—and their captors would give chase. People were all packing food, essential medications, water, but as she ran out the door Miriam seized her tambourine. She knew she’d need […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Faith in Action, Gratitude, Joy, Lent
was down to her last meal when the prophet showed up hungry. There was a drought and famine in the land, and Elijah was without food and water. That was when the word of the Lord came, “Go at once to Zarephath. . . . I have directed a widow there to supply you with […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Blessing, Community, Faithfulness, Gratitude, Lent, Uncategorized
is One. The shema, the central affirmation of Judaism, begins: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” Along with every observant Jew, Jesus prayed those words morning and night. God is One. This week’s “Stories of Simplicity & Joy” all flow from that oneness at the heart of God. God is singular, […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Blessing, Daily Practice, Lent, Love, Prayer/Meditation, Uncategorized
On Saturdays our companions are musicians. I don’t remember when I first heard Mary Gauthier’s “Mercy Now,” but it went straight to my heart. I couldn’t tell what emotion the music was pressing on, but it felt deep and huge. It’s the only song about mercy I’ve ever heard—plenty on forgiveness, but not the depths […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Family, Forgiveness, Grace, Healing, Lent, Mercy, Music, Suffering, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized
is known as the “weeping prophet” because he had to carry the people of Israel through the worst time in their history. The Babylonians had besieged Jerusalem, pulled down the temple, stone by stone, and exiled Israel’s leaders. It is the most catastrophic moment in the Hebrew Bible. In the midst of the disaster Jeremiah […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Belief, Change, Conversion, Faith/Trust, Forgiveness, Grace, Gratitude, grief, Lent, Mercy, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized
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