by David Anderson
On Saturdays our companions are musicians. This song by The Call is a big, bold anthem of belief in the midst of struggle, the perfect capstone for our week, “Stories of Dogged Faith.” The opening lines, the cave and the forty days, speak to me of Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness. I’ve been in […]
by David Anderson 8 Comments Filed Under: Lent, Uncategorized
suffered from bullying and depression (1 Samuel 1: 1-28). Like her matriarchal sisters, Sarah and Rachel, Hannah is a “barren woman.” In an agrarian culture that prized children and demanded them of women, infertility is seen as a curse. Something’s wrong with you. In the Bible—and until recently—infertility was a woman’s problem, never a man’s. […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Faithfulness, Lent, Surrender, Uncategorized
just schooled the Messiah. She came out of the crowd, a Canaanite, begging Jesus to heal her daughter afflicted by a demon. The disciples tell Jesus to get her out of here, “for she is crying after us.” At first Jesus tries to dodge the whole scene. “I was sent only to the lost sheep […]
by David Anderson 8 Comments Filed Under: Change, Forgiveness, Lent, Suffering, Uncategorized
is known only as a bathing beauty, as the voluptuous partner in King David’s famously tragic tryst. Like many silent women in the Bible, however, we have to work to recover her story (2 Samuel 11 & 12). The king is strolling on his roof when he sees her, bathing. But this isn’t likely our […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Character, Faith/Trust, Hope, Lent, Uncategorized
On Saturdays our companions are musicians. Every Saturday is Music day in the series, and for these “Stories of Turning,” there seemed no better song than the classic, “Turn, Turn, Turn” by the Byrds. Watch and listen below. Then check out the brief notes and commentary just below the YouTube recording. I always thought “Turn, […]
by David Anderson 1 Comment Filed Under: Lent, Uncategorized
James 5:7 “Be patient, then, my friends, until the coming of the Lord.” Advent is not simply about the first coming, or even the second coming of Christ. There is a third advent. St. Bernard of Clairvaux called it the “Middle Coming,” the long, faithful road from Bethlehem to the end of time. Here is […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Awe, Seeing, Uncategorized
We tend to approach whatever’s wrong in our lives with a discrete “fix,” even though what’s mostly called for is something wholistic, systemic. I was reminded of that mistaken tendency when I read an article by the Surgeon General, who has made loneliness a major focus of his work. Loneliness, I thought? With all the […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Community, Healing, Uncategorized
Early Advent, just before Madonna and child begin to appear on Christmas cards, I went to the Cancer Risk and Genetic Assessment Center at our hospital. Because my mother died of pancreatic cancer, my doctor suggested I be scanned to see if I carry the gene mutation that tends to cause it. A woman brought […]
by David Anderson 8 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Uncategorized