Finding Your Soul by David Anderson
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Forgiving 911 Times
On this anniversary of 9/11 the papers are full of stories about fisticuffs over the memorial at ground zero. It’s NYC and Bloomberg versus NY and Cuomo, fighting over who gets to control the memorial, who has to pay for it (it costs $60 million a year to maintain). This is about all the little…
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The Eyes of Mark
When I walked into the grocery store, he was standing by the door. I’d never seen him before, but he was wearing a uniform and I knew he was an employee. I said an average hello, and he responded with a hello so happy it startled me. Then he handed me a shopping basket. I…
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The Mask that Changed His Face
In an age of doubt and—worse—of apathy and cynicism, we all struggle to “believe.” We can’t believe what we blindly accepted as a child; many passages from the Bible are either confounding or troubling; taken literally, the Creed is a bridge too far. Faith or spirituality was always presented as a matter of “belief”—what you…
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Love and Work
It’s Labor Day weekend, and most people won’t think a thing about labor. Work is just what we do to put bread on the table or maintain a lifestyle. Like everything else, we tend to do it mindlessly. But it would be hard to overemphasize the importance of our labor. Freud said, “Love and work…
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Sixty-Four Ounce Sodas I Shall Not Want
“WE DON’T NEED BUREAUCRATS TELLING US WHAT BERVERAGES TO BUY!” That’s the dyspeptic protest I’m seeing on posters and t-shirts, sparked by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s attempt to ban large sodas in the city. His anti-obesity crusade aims to make sixteen ounces the limit—at restaurants, delis, movie theatres, sports arenas, and food carts. This…
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Goodbye Routine
Routines, habits, daily rituals are important. Get up, make the coffee, feed the dog, get the paper, shower, leave for work. Habits are efficient. If you had to get up every morning and think, “Now, what should I do first?” you’d still be sitting on the edge of your bed at noon. The downside is,…
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The God Who is Already Here
There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle, or you can live as if everything is. -Albert Einstein My colleague, Jonathan Thomas, preached a provocative sermon yesterday. He challenged our basic assumptions about God—where God is and isn’t; what God gets involved in; the occasions, moments, places where…
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The Mistakes of Julia Child
“One of the secrets and pleasures of cooking is to learn to correct something if it goes awry; and one of the lessons is to grin and bear it if it cannot be fixed.” -Julia Child Yesterday Julia Child turned 100. I owe her a lot. She taught millions how to cook, but…
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Too Busy Not to Pray
I sat in a group a few weeks ago—it was a group of clergy, and someone whose ministry I really respect began to speak of the challenges to his spiritual life. Don said, “Parish life can take it out of me. I get busy, then I get overwhelmed—and my spiritual life suffers. I ‘don’t have…