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Author Archives: awtraughber
Reading in Lent
One of the practices I’m trying to hold to during the Lenten season is the reading of shorter books. Small thing, I know, but it feels somehow fitting. The season started as I finished up Zena Hitz’s Philosophers Look at … Continue reading
Remembrance Part Two.Five
Last week as I was thinking the second thing to remember from Erik Varden (remember you were once a slave in Egypt), a song from long ago came to mind. A bit of context from an odd source first, though. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Church, Faith, Music
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Remembrance Part Two
For me, most Lenten seasons start with the “bang” of Ash Wednesday but quickly fall into a slough of messy hopes and habits. That’s a cost of being interested in the church calendar as a member of a church that … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Church, Faith, Life in the Fifth Act, Scripture
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Peter’s Clarifying Question
Ah, Peter. It is always good to be specific when you ask a question that is easily misinterpreted! Otherwise, a clarifying question is necessary. This Sunday’s FoxTrot by Bill Amend: (image from gocomics.com)
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Wilderness Training
The first (and perhaps primary) image of Lent is of Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness. It’s a moment in time that three of the four Gospels capture, a hinge moment between Jesus’ baptism by John and the beginning of His … Continue reading
Posted in Church, Faith, Life in the Fifth Act
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Doubts and Ladders
This week my department started discussing Matthew Lee Anderson’s Called in Questions, which is about the importance of asking questions in the Christian life. We had a good conversation about the first chapter or so, with opinions about the place … Continue reading
Posted in Church, Faith, Life in the Fifth Act, Teaching
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Getting Somewhere Together
Besides the song that I shared yesterday, there’s been one other song that’s been on my mind. And it’s a song that has been around for most of my life. I remember when Tracy Chapman won a Grammy for “Fast … Continue reading
Posted in Music, The Long Story
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“Where My Feet Are”
I discovered this recently recorded song by Andrew Peterson thanks to the comments section for this article from Mockingbird. A few years ago, I started encouraging our students with “wherever you are, be all there,” especially if we were at … Continue reading
Posted in Faith, Life in the Fifth Act, Music, Teaching, The Long Story
Tagged Andrew Peterson
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Remembrance Part One
Erik Varden’s The Shattering of Loneliness begins with a Lenten reflection. The book consists of six pieces, with each piece focusing on a different truth that Christians are called to remember. The first ties into Ash Wednesday: remember you are … Continue reading
On Ash Wednesday
The first section of T. S. Eliot’s “Ash Wednesday” in honor of the day and the beginning of the Lenten season. Because I do not hope to turn again Because I do not hope Because I do not hope to … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Church, Commonplace Book, Faith
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Space Enough, and Time 