by David Anderson
What if the frown on your face is not the result but the cause of your unhappiness? I read it in yesterday’s paper. Doctors took a group of 75 people suffering from major depression and randomly assigned them to receive either a Botox shot in the forehead muscles that make it possible to frown, or […]
by David Anderson 9 Comments Filed Under: Uncategorized
My publisher, Convergent Books, asked me to write a piece on a phenomenon called “Sunday Assembly.” It’s essentially church for atheists, a movement recently featured on NPR. It’s a curious spiritual development, one that ought to tell us why people are taking a pass on our version of “church.” Click the link and give it […]
by David Anderson 1 Comment Filed Under: Uncategorized
My sermon was very short this morning. I read two poems—two excerpts, actually. After hearing the long Lucan story of the nativity on Christmas Eve—with angels and shepherds and barns and tax registrations and long journeys into night—this morning we heard John’s story of the nativity. It’s an elegant, poetic eight words. “The Word became […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Faith/Trust, Uncategorized
“If your life’s work can be accomplished in your lifetime, you’re not thinking big enough.” -Wes Jackson Those words gave me pause—a big pause. I read them in an article about sustainable agriculture (as a South Dakota native it’s sad to see the systematic poisoning of the earth as the basis for our agri-business). Wes […]
by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: Community, Daily Practice, Faith in Action, Hope, Service, Uncategorized, Vocation/ Calling
(It’s All Saints Day.) The saints are always those who are able to do deeds of power—sometimes great things and sometimes very small things, but powerful works. Sometimes their mere presence creates blessing and peace. Goodness follows in their wake. They are like Jesus who “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). This goodness, though, easily […]
by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: Death/Dying, Faith/Trust, Grace, Letting Go, Repentance, Uncategorized, Vocation/ Calling
Yesterday I sat in the second pew at St. Stephen’s church in Richmond, Virginia. There to speak later in the morning, I was worshiping at the 9 o’clock Eucharist. My friend Gary Jones preached—masterfully—on that well-known parable from Luke. Two men go up to the temple to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector. The […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Forgiveness, Grace, Uncategorized
After years in the making, my new book is published today. It’s all about finding new life . . . after your old life has failed. That is the paradoxical promise of God. And once it dawns on us that this divine gift is reserved only for people who’ve somehow managed to lose their lives, […]
by David Anderson 8 Comments Filed Under: Uncategorized
At thirteen I learned to drive a car with an automatic transmission, but as a teen-aged, car-crazed boy there were a lot of cars—some hot—that were off-limits to those who could not work a standard transmission. I was determined to learn. My coolness was at stake. Our one car was an automatic, but my grandfather, […]
by David Anderson 1 Comment Filed Under: Change, Faith in Action, Fear, Love, Uncategorized, Vocation/ Calling