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Author Archives: awtraughber
Prefacing Scary Close: Intersections
I remember well when my friend Cathy introduced me to Blue Like Jazz and the work of Donald Miller. It was early in my time in Hawaii, and it felt like I was finally settling into some kind of routine. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Faith, Teaching, The Long Story, Travel
Tagged Donald Miller, Scary Close
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The Unfinished Line
This past November I spoke at an area church for the beginning of Advent. While I liked the general content of my sermon (and will surely reuse it somewhere down the road), I have to admit that something felt missing … Continue reading
Posted in Faith, The Long Story
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Get On Your Feet, Leslie Knope
In honor of the final season of Parks & Recreation (Tuesday nights on NBC), I’ve taken to revisiting some of my favorite earlier episodes. I especially like the episode where Leslie, ever the optimist, relies on her friends to help … Continue reading
A Common Confession
Yesterday I rambled on a bit about The Pilgrim’s Progress and starting from a common place (as seen in the story with the Wicket Gate). How good it is, I think, for us to sing about that which is common … Continue reading
Posted in Faith, Internet, Music
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How the Way Becomes Common
There’s one particular idea from Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress that has stuck with me since I reread it last semester. Early in the story, Christian is told to go to the wicket gate, that he will receive further instructions there. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Faith
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Parks, Recreation, and “Corporate Culture”
Last night’s Parks & Recreation double-header gave me a great example for something I’ve been mulling over for some time: the connections between culture, community, and relationships. Culture and community, of course, are buzzwords in corporate-speak. It’s definitely true in … Continue reading
Posted in Television
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Let the Took Decide
From The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien: As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and a jealous love, the desire of the hearts … Continue reading
Forgetting, Losing, and Finding Ourselves
One last selection from Bonhoeffer’s Life Together concerning reading the Bible together: Consecutive reading of Biblical books forces everyone who wants to hear to put himself, or to allow himself to be found, where God has acted once and for … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Commonplace Book, Faith
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The Story Under Your Skin
The author I read most this past year had to be James K. A. Smith. His How (Not) to be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor is probably the best book about a book I’ve ever read. After that, I moved on … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Faith, Internet, Teaching
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Cynicism and “Come and See”
If I gave an award for “Book Bought Most in 2014,” it would definitely be Steven Garber’s Visions of Vocation. It dropped in late spring, and I was so moved by it that I had to pass it on to … Continue reading
Space Enough, and Time 