Breakfast Epiphanies: Finding Wonder in the Everyday [Hardcover]

David Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 18, 2002

David Anderson has been a popular columnist in his parish for many years. Writing about everyday experiences-like cleaning up the yard after a rainstorm, waiting in the doctor's office, even helping his teenage daughters pick out fall dresses-he explores how the divine can surprise us in ordinary events.

Breakfast Epiphanies is a collection of his wonderfully written, true-life tales. In these inspiring stories, Anderson writes with disarming honesty and a great deal of humor about relationships-both within his family and within the community he serves. He writes about a family argument that turns ugly, an awkward but triumphant date to his first father-daughter dance, and the night his church burned down. He also writes about personal spirituality, but always from the ground up. A story begins in some ordinary event-listening to a baby cry in a crowded airplane-and opens out to a new, sometimes offbeat awareness of the divine.

Whether Baptist or Buddhist, Catholic or Congregationalist, we all yearn to find splendor in the ordinary. Breakfast Epiphanies speaks to the hearts and minds in all of us, no matter what faith we practice.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Church rector and Pennsylvania Episcopalian columnist Anderson gathers some 40 short essays on the intersections between life and faith, many previously published as columns, in a slim volume that sparkles with intelligence and honesty. (Don't let that precious title fool you.) Chronicling "ordinary moments" in which God unexpectedly appears, when "we are susceptible to a new, sometimes offbeat awareness of the divine presence," Anderson shows how the quotidian sparks notions of the sublime. The poignant and funny title essay describes a morning when Anderson and his family had "cereal and bile for breakfast"-and how Anderson, as a result, decided to do a better job of being there for his children. Whether contemplating the "work" of grief, the "capitalist production" of Christmas or the path, not "to happiness," but "of happiness," Anderson is a calming, inspiring voice of reason and faith.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This is a delightful book, wise without being too precious; entertaining without being trivial. Anderson, rector of Trinity Church in Solebury, Pennsylvania, and a popular columnist in The Pennsylvania Episcopalian, writes as if he were in a one-on-one conversation with a member of his flock. Breakfast Epiphanies is a collection of tales, really--humble, gentle tales of routine and even mundane activities culled from ordinary life. They allow Anderson to comment on mysteries large and small, whether a story's particular occasion be reluctantly taking his teenage daughters shopping for dresses or lamenting the loss of his mother and the huge void her absence has left in his family. Regardless of the occasion, Anderson serves it up with good humor and deep human sympathy. Readers of almost every persuasion should enjoy Anderson's affable company. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (October 18, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807028185
• ISBN-13: 978-0807028186
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 25 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,369,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great way to start the day - or finish it!, November 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Breakfast Epiphanies: Finding Wonder in the Everyday (Hardcover)

David Anderson manages to find the transcendent in everyday pursuits and happenings. You don't have to be an Episcopal clergyman (as he is), or have any religious belief at all, to identify, learn, and be touched by the wisdom in these brief, warm, funny, and enlightening encounters with the nitty-gritty of our lives. No story takes more than 5 minutes to read, so it's easy to pick up and put down again with little guilt - but with great reward.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm Giving Them Away for Christmas!, December 6, 2002

By 

Michael-Eddie "mander2833" (Evanston, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breakfast Epiphanies: Finding Wonder in the Everyday (Hardcover)

The way I know if a movie is good is if I want to see it twice. The same goes for books. I've read Breakfast Epiphanies and I'm going through it again.

I read a lot in this genre of self-help and spirituality and I have to say, this book caught me by surprise. Partly it's because there's such a light touch to every story. Anderson is a pastor but he doesn't preach.

I loved the one titled, Hands off: We Hatch Alone. It's about his visit to a kindergarten class where they were hatching a box of chicks. All the children were instructed to keep their hands folded behind their backs. Anderson did too. And then he spins a gentle tale of how this simple posture of attentive detachment works in our relationships. "We cannot stop drinking for someone else...we cannot lift the pall of depression...If they are going to break into freedom, they will have to hatch themselves."

And so it goes, story after story. There's the one about the cat, Oliver, who has the instinct to hunt but when he actually gets outdoors, meekly returns to the warmth of the kitchen. I sat there thinking about all the times the door of opportunity slid open for me and I retreated. I have a name for this now. I used to call it fear. Now I call it Oliver.

Then there's the one about the woman who received last rites and came back to life for the love of meat loaf. And the one about American men (and husbands) and how the best path to spiritual growth and vital relationship with our spouse might just be dancing lessons.

Finally, I guess why I like this book is that Anderson is such a likeable guy. The book is solid gold but it has the warmth of a real person living a real life. He's smart and witty but he's also just a lot of fun, the kind of neighbor you'd be eager to see and talk to over the fence.

I loved this book. I'm giving them away for Christmas!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyday Simplicity, March 30, 2003

By 

Phillip Lincoln (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breakfast Epiphanies: Finding Wonder in the Everyday (Hardcover)

A wonderful book! Father David Anderson (an Episcopal priest from Bucks County PA) has written a book that is spiritually uplifting. It is an enjoyable read for the religious and the non-religious alike. He has elements of Buddahism as well as the Benedictine and Franciscan spirituality of seeing the wonder of the spirit of God in the daily grind that we all live each day. Highly recommended!!