by David Anderson
Some people may be “easy to love,” but I haven’t met them. “Easy to like”? Sure. But love implies closeness, sometimes inescapable closeness. Love means blood or vows or commitments we have made to care for people. Sometimes a commitment chooses us: someone needs help and no one else is either able or willing. At […]
by David Anderson 12 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Choice, Discernment, Family, Healing, Love, Mercy
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
Matthew 3:1-12 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is comingafter me . . . he will baptize you with fire.” One of the truest rock ‘n roll songs I know is AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” It’s an anthem of excess that screams, If “livin’ easy, livin’ free” lands me in hell, […]
by David Anderson 9 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Forgiveness, Grace, Mercy, Salvation
My father, as drawn by my nephew, Kasper Kavalaris I grew up in a Swedish Baptist Church in Yankton, South Dakota. My family sat in the second pew, one long enough to hold my two brothers, my four sisters, my parents, and me. We sang all the American gospel hymns—by Fannie Crosby, Charles Wesley, Ira […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Abundance, Awareness, Family, Grace, Gratitude, grief, Happiness, Healing, Mercy, Surrender, Transformation
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
Grace and gratitude belong together like heaven and earth. Grace evokes gratitude like the voice of an echo. Gratitude follows grace like thunder lightning. —Karl Barth The gratitude Barth speaks of is not happiness, certainly not elation. Maybe we feel grateful when something turns out perfectly, or our hard work is rewarded with some kind […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Awe, Blessing, Daily Practice, Forgiveness, Grace, Gratitude, Happiness, Healing, Mercy, Salvation, Surrender, Transformation
Here’s Easter in two contrasting images. The first is the kind of Easter picture most of us are familiar with. It’s the lone Jesus whooshing up out of the tomb. There’s nothing wrong about the image. Jesus certainly defeated death. But, in their new book, “Resurrecting Easter,” John Dominic Crossan and Sarah Crossan identify this […]
by David Anderson 10 Comments Filed Under: Community, Grace, Heaven, Lent, Mercy
A Prayer to the God Who Fell From Heaven 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 saysyou criedand so heavy was the tearyou fell with it to earthhere like a baritone in a barit […]
by David Anderson 11 Comments Filed Under: Belief, Grace, Lent, Love, Mercy