by David Anderson
Isaiah 11:1-16 “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” By all rational accounts, Isaiah’s prophecy is a beautiful and poetic crock. Jesse, you may recall, is the father of the legendary King David. And in Isaiah’s time, David is long dead and so is […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Vocation/ Calling
Luke 1:26-38 (The Message) And Mary said,Yes, I see it all now:I’m the Lord’s maid,ready to serve.Let it be with mejust as you say. The tales of Greek and Roman gods appearing to mortal women are almost always forceful. Whatever they want you to do—is done. You can’t say no. Yet when our God seeks […]
by David Anderson 18 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Choice, Faith/Trust, Faithfulness, Surrender, Vocation/ Calling
Where is your life taking you? That’s the question I heard Parker Palmer asking. The Quaker wise man was being interviewed. “I had to ask myself,” he said, “where my life was taking me, rather than just where I was trying to take my life.” It’s important to try to take your life somewhere. Without […]
by David Anderson 11 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Change, Choice, creativity, Faith/Trust, Freedom, Grace, Happiness, Letting Go, Surrender, Vocation/ Calling
I am a little weird. Aren’t you? I’ve been thinking about weirdness the last few weeks because, in the Christian season of Advent, John the Baptist has appeared. Every year he comes to haunt us with his strangeness—his animal skins for clothing, his grasshoppers for food, his cave for a home, his “repent” for a […]
by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: authority, creativity, Freedom, Happiness, Repentance, Vocation/ Calling
“I know what my calling is,” Brenda said. She is a cancer survivor, alive today, she told me, because three women had carried her on their prayers from fear and death to healing and life. She went on . . . I’ll give you an example. I went for a scan, and I’m so […]
by David Anderson 8 Comments Filed Under: Fear, Healing, Hope, Love, Vocation/ Calling
“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
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