Author Archives: awtraughber

The Resurrection Optic

Over the Lenten season I’ve posted some short reflections on Erik Varden’s The Shattering of Loneliness.  I think it appropriate to link to his Easter reflection, which I found to be short and sweet.  You can read the whole thing … Continue reading

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Easter Sunday Refrain

A song for Easter Sunday:  deep reminder of how big the day is and how utterly important is the One we celebrate it.

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Remembrance Part Six

Throughout The Shattering of Loneliness, Erik Varden brings to attention a number of instances in the Biblical Story where remembrance is key.  He started with the Ash Wednesday reminder that we are dust.  From there he revisited call to remember … Continue reading

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John’s Maundy Thursday

Tonight I had the opportunity to attend a beautiful Tenebrae service at a local church where a dear friend serves on the worship team.  It was a service full of good music, poignant testimonies, and full readings from the Gospel … Continue reading

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Spring Break Photostream

I’ve spent the last few days over in Fresno, California visiting friends.  Pictures to the right in the photostream for receipts, right?  The pictures are from a Monday afternoon hike to Pincushion Mountain Peak, which is just outside Fresno.  The … Continue reading

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Remembrance Part Five

Over the weeks of this Lenten season, I’ve tried to do some reflection on successive chapters of Erik Varden’s The Shattering of Loneliness.  The book begins with the call to “remember that we are dust,” which fits perfectly with Ash … Continue reading

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Remembrance Part Four

In one of two chapters on the theological virtue of faith in Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis encourages his readers to see the battle of faith as being between “faith and reason on one side and emotion and imagination on … Continue reading

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Spring Break Scramble

This last week has gone by in a blur.  That’s to be expected, of course, at the end of a quarter or semester.  The week has been packed with classes and grading and meetings and trying to wrap things up … Continue reading

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Remembrance Part Three

Perhaps the most sobering of Erik Varden’s reflections on remembrance in The Shattering of Loneliness comes in the third chapter.  The chapter is centered on Jesus’s command in Luke 17 to “remember Lot’s wife.”   The command to remember Lot’s … Continue reading

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“The Rare Chance”

Something I appreciate about the thinking of Seth Godin is that he finds a way to blend the possible and the practical.  And he crafts some great one-liners in the process.  A recent post of his, “On Building a Cathedral,” … Continue reading

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