Mercy | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Happy Are the Merciful for They Shall Be Shown Mercy

Anita Mathias — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 11:42:20 +0000

Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy, Jesus says, articulating a law which underlies the physical universe —and human life. What you sow you reap. I know some gentle merciful ones, and indeed, they are blessed, beloved, in demand. The kindness they sow, the thoughtfulness comes back to them with compound […]

The post Happy Are the Merciful for They Shall Be Shown Mercy first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

How to Enjoy a Big, Spacious, Open-hearted Life

Anita Mathias — Sat, 07 Jul 2018 12:41:12 +0000

Image: UNHCR “The ability to enjoy a big, spacious, abundant, open-hearted life is directly proportional to your ability to love everyone, especially those who are different from you,” Brian Houston, founder of Hillsong wrote. “We cannot reduce people’s whole lives into one sweeping, judgmental statement.” I love […]

The post How to Enjoy a Big, Spacious, Open-hearted Life first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

A God’s Eye View of the Migrant Crisis

Anita Mathias — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 13:06:52 +0000

Migrants outside Keleti Station, Budapest Over the last month, Europe has been convulsed by a dramatic migration crisis. Thousands of thousands of predominantly Muslim […]

The post A God’s Eye View of the Migrant Crisis first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

When Waves of Mercy Crash Over My “If Onlys”

Anita Mathias — Sat, 17 May 2014 10:26:11 +0000

Motherhood. The land of If Onlys. * * * If only I’d been calmer when I was pregnant with her. If only she’d had a higher birth weight. If only I had breast-fed longer, If only I had used better childcare, Or no child-care. If only I could have home-schooled, Or read to the girls […]

The post When Waves of Mercy Crash Over My “If Onlys” first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

In which there is Poetic Justice, for God is a Poet, but there is also Mercy

Anita Mathias — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 08:29:15 +0000

Even while Esau was out hunting his father’s favourite wild game, Jacob and Rebecca slaughtered and cooked two choice young goats. Jacob served these to Isaac, pretending to be Esau, stealing Esau’s blessing. A cruel deception. And, uncannily, years later, in his own old age, Jacob’s sons sold his favourite son into slavery, dipping Joseph’s precious robe in […]

The post In which there is Poetic Justice, for God is a Poet, but there is also Mercy first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

In Which There’s Justice and There’s Mercy, and Mercy Triumphs

Anita Mathias — Sat, 12 Oct 2013 11:00:03 +0000

Sometimes The Book of Genesis sounds both disturbing, and quite contemporary. In Genesis 34, Jacob’s only daughter Dinah is raped. In revenge, her brothers Simeon and Levi slaughter every male in Shechem, and loot it “seizing their flocks and herds and donkeys, and carrying off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything […]

The post In Which There’s Justice and There’s Mercy, and Mercy Triumphs first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

In which Christ Desires Mercy, not Sacrifice

Anita Mathias — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 14:16:21 +0000

Jesus was always getting himself into trouble with the Pharisees, the stern keepers of the law, for his common sense and practicality. When his disciples were hungry on the Sabbath, he let them glean. (Matthew 12 :1). When he saw a man with a shrivelled hand in the synagogue on Sunday, he healed him. Furiously […]

The post In which Christ Desires Mercy, not Sacrifice first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

The Beatitudes, mostly, are things we do, rather than things we are. There’s hope in that!

Anita Mathias — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 09:35:23 +0000

The Beatitudes are the blazing heart of everything Jesus taught. Once you’ve got them, once you’re living them, then you’ve begun to “get” Jesus and the way he thinks. And I am only beginning to! For the Beatitudes to travel the longest journey in the world, from the head to the heart, is a life-long […]

The post The Beatitudes, mostly, are things we do, rather than things we are. There’s hope in that! first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.

A tale of four famous Christian siblings: When Christian children shipwreck, there’s still hope

Anita Mathias — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:44:00 +0000

A tale of four famous Christian siblings. A) His ex-wife “alleged that her husband not only abused drugs and alcohol and had inappropriate relations with other women, but also that he engaged in domestic violence and used pornography. In the meantime, he admitted becoming ever more dependent on alcohol. He was granted “board-approved time away” […]

The post A tale of four famous Christian siblings: When Christian children shipwreck, there’s still hope first appeared on Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires.