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Finding Your Soul

by David Anderson

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Listening

Labyrinth Lessons

August 24, 2023 by David Anderson 9 Comments

No, no—that’s not how you do it. That’s what I was thinking as the group began to walk the labyrinth. They were here for one of the retreats that Pam and I host here at Copper House. The leader asked if the small group of six could use the labyrinth for one of their sessions, […]

Filed Under: Community, Daily Practice, Faith/Trust, Listening, Prayer/Meditation, Surrender

We Came. We Sat. They Sang

August 3, 2023 by David Anderson 12 Comments

After a run of hot days and nights, a cool spell descended. It was early morning, an almost chilly breeze in the air, and Pam and I decided to sit for meditation out on the deck. After the morning reading, we sat in silence—or so we thought. The surrounding trees seemed to teem with birds, […]

Filed Under: Awareness, Awe, Beauty, Daily Practice, Grace, Listening, Nature/Creation, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Reality--trusting it

Judgers and Blessers

February 9, 2015 by David Anderson 2 Comments

Priests and ministers get calls from the local funeral home all the time. Someone has died. They may have been Methodist or Lutheran or Episcopalian, whatever the denomination of your church, but that’s the only, tenuous connection. Would you come and do a service? I walked into the funeral home and met the two daughters. […]

Filed Under: Blessing, Conflict, Family, Grace, Listening, Love

Tired of All the Noise?

December 28, 2014 by David Anderson 5 Comments

We expect monks and mystics to tell us how important silence is. Gordon Hempton is neither of those. He is an acoustic ecologist, someone who studies the sound of the natural world and seeks to preserve it. In his book, One Square Inch of Silence, Hempton says there are less than a dozen places left […]

Filed Under: Awareness, creation, Daily Practice, Listening, Nature/Creation, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Silence, Uncategorized

Alone With My Thoughts? Just Shock Me.

July 30, 2014 by David Anderson 4 Comments

  All mankind’s troubles are caused by one single thing, which is their inability to sit quietly in a room. -Blaise Pascal   When I leave on vacation later in August, I am leaving my smart phone at home. There should probably be some version of methadone for those who stop doodling with their phones […]

Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Awareness, Faith/Trust, Letting Go, Listening, Now/ the Present, Patience, Prayer/Meditation, Silence

Breathing with Brother Ronald

November 13, 2013 by David Anderson 7 Comments

Poosh goes the little oxygen tank. Every three seconds, a little burst of air forced through the clear plastic tubes running around his ears and under his nose. I am sitting in the chapel of Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, New York. After the long chanting of Psalms we rest in silence. That’s when […]

Filed Under: Awareness, Listening, Prayer/Meditation

Unexpected Messenger

October 6, 2013 by David Anderson 7 Comments

Often God uses someone—or something—as an unexpected messenger. On Wednesday morning I came into the office and started working—fast. Sunday we had forty stewardship visitors coming to pick up their packets and . . . the “packet” was mostly a figment. I walked into my assistant’s office and started ticking off the critical components we […]

Filed Under: Awareness, Listening, Now/ the Present

Listen to Your Soul

July 22, 2013 by David Anderson 7 Comments

We live in a world where important people are plugged in, wired, connected. Information blizzards us. Cyber-social networks keep us continuously updated on hundreds or thousands of people in real-time stream of consciousness. The Twitterers tweet. We don’t have to go looking for the “news.” Ping—it comes looking for us, clogging the inbox. We used […]

Filed Under: Awareness, Daily Practice, Identity, Listening, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Vocation/ Calling

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