Pandemic Permanence

Posted on September 7, 2020 by awtraughber

Today Rod Dreher spent some time reflecting on this piece from the Baptist Press concerning the long-term effects of Covid for churches.  The church that gets most of the mentions in the piece is a relatively short drive (in TN terms) from my parents’ house.  I have friends that have attended there.  It’s definitely been a major presence in Middle Tennessee these last few years.  Which is to say that it hits close to home in an interesting way.

The big question, of course, is whether or not churches with strong online shifts this year will maintain those shifts if/when things return to normal.  Long Hollow Baptist seems to be prepping for a long-term shift, which is totally understandable.  I shared the article with a friend who quickly pointed out that this is a shift similar to what schools here are facing: a 50/50 type shift where some people are present and others are online-only.

Dreher’s reflection on the SBC piece is spot-on in many ways.  He doesn’t pull any punches (even the weblink mentions gnosticism which is simultaneously funny and sobering because it’s true).  And that’s for both liturgical/sacramental churches as well as for evangelical/preaching-centric churches.  I’m glad he mentions that being a liturgical/sacramental church is no guarantee of community, because it really isn’t.  If anything, size might matter more than anything else (just read the comments attached to the reflection).

It’s really good to see this conversation happening.  Online church is a bummer.  But face-to-face church isn’t what it used to be either.  “What happens next” isn’t necessarily up-for-grabs for any group, at least not completely.  Groups on all parts of the spectrum can learn some things through all of this.  But Christ and His community should stand at the heart of it.  We ought not be “disembodied brains” guilty of a kind of gnosticism.  Presence has to be prioritized.  But they kind of presence and the purpose of the presence matters a great, great deal.

Posted in Faith, Internet, Notes for a World's End, Teaching | Tagged | Leave a comment

“A Little Incarnation”

Posted on September 5, 2020 by awtraughber

From the introduction to Lewis’s Reflections on the Psalms:

It seems to me appropriate, almost inevitable, that when that great Imagination which in the beginning, for Its own delight and for the delight of men and angels and (in their proper mode) of beasts, had invented and formed the whole world of Nature, submitted to express Itself in human speech, that speak should sometimes be poetry.  For poetry too is a little incarnation, giving body to what had been before invisible and inaudible.

Posted in Books, Faith, Scripture | Tagged | Leave a comment

What Happens in the Middle

Posted on September 2, 2020 by awtraughber

A friend recently shared this video with me.  I’ve not read anything by Simon Sinek before, but I’ve seen his books around.  This is a good piece, encouraging for those who often find themselves in the middle of things.

Posted in Teaching | Leave a comment

Living with Books

Posted on September 1, 2020 by awtraughber

Last week I posted a short video featuring Alan Jacobs talking about the integration of faith and learning on a collegiate/professional level.  It was a real encouragement to me, as I’m trying to guide others through a similar process.  Jacobs and Matt Jenson also also spent some time talking about Jacobs’ life with books.  It’s a great piece, particularly the first half.  It’s always good to be reminded that books matter.

Posted in Books, Teaching | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Lesson of Enoch’s Ending

Posted on August 31, 2020 by awtraughber

I’m about two-thirds of the way through the rough draft of my chapel talk for next week (which I hope to record tomorrow).  We’ve spent the last two weeks talking about friendship with God.  I’ve done a little more personal-anecdote sharing than usual, which has been interesting for me.  It’s also a topic that I’ve been thinking about for a long time.  If we were back on campus (and if the scene didn’t cut off before the really good stuff), I’d definitely show this clip from a recent episode of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD.  It involves the death of Enoch the chronal android from episode nine, “As I Always Have Been.”  It’s a great picture of loneliness and friendship in the context of life’s big picture.

As it stands right now, it’s the most somber chapel talk I’ve given in my almost-four years of working with chapel.  So it’s definitely going to need some revisions.  I’m grateful for the opportunity to sleep on it, too.

Posted in Friendship, Television | Tagged | Leave a comment

How Learning Flourishes

Posted on August 26, 2020 by awtraughber

I’m just going to leave this video right here while I go kick myself for not watching it sooner.  It’s definitely something I’ll be sharing at school in the next couple of weeks.  Whenever I get bits like this from Alan Jacobs or Jamie Smith, it just feels like my time at Laity Lodge gets extended in a nice, refreshing way.

Posted in Faith, Teaching | Leave a comment

“Never See the End”

Posted on August 24, 2020 by awtraughber

There is this strong sense that Our Current Moment feels somehow unending.  It can be easy to feel that way about a lot of things, good and bad.  But these last few days I’ve been encouraged and comforted by Mission House’s take on things with their song “Never See the End.”  Shared for your encouragement at the beginning of this good but busy week.

Posted in Faith, Music | Leave a comment

Singing a Song of Ascent

Posted on August 20, 2020 by awtraughber

It’s always a good time when you get back around to the songs of ascent in the book of Psalms, and not just because they tend to be shorter than the average psalm. There’s a certain sense of place and purpose that fits them well as travel songs. Today’s brought one of my favorites to light, Psalm 131:

1 My heart is not proud, Lord,
    my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
    or things too wonderful for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted myself,
    I am like a weaned child with its mother;
    like a weaned child I am content.
3 Israel, put your hope in the Lord
    both now and forevermore.
Posted in Scripture | Leave a comment

Why It Matters

Posted on August 18, 2020 by awtraughber

I’ve always been interesting in what can be found at the intersection of faith and art.  Now it’s also a bigger part of my task at work.  So when I found out that Christianity Today had published a piece featuring Sara Groves and W. David O. Taylor, I was sure to check it out to pass it on to my friend in the Fine Arts department.  It’s a really good piece.  And while it spends a good bit of time with the arts and the Pentecostal church, it also acknowledges the challenges of faith and the arts in a broader context.  It’s definitely worth the read, if only because Sara Groves is an amazing musician and Taylor has some interesting categories for “inspiration and the arts” to consider.

As is often the case, though, the article saves the best for last.  Groves gets the last good word, and it is worth remembering:

Not less of me, more of God; but all of me, all of God—a profound mystery.

Here’s Sara Groves singing one of my favorite songs, “Why It Matters,” which also has something to say about the arts.

Posted in Faith, Music | Tagged | Leave a comment

Throwing the Learning Curve

Posted on August 17, 2020 by awtraughber

A couple of weeks ago, just as school was starting back up for us, Andy Crouch commented on Twitter in a way that said we were all but nudged into the “little ice age” view of Covidtide.  Here’s how the folks at Praxis broke it down:

It’s a sad and sobering thought, that it might be some time (some say 2022, some say 2024) before a return to something like pre-Covidtide.  There are differing views on how we are handling things, from how we are communicating cases to the necessary implications for day-to-day life.  Here on Oahu our case numbers took a leap (late July, I believe), and we’ve been on a certain kind of edge since.  Rumors are swirling about another lockdown/stay-at-home order, even as our beaches, bars, and parks have been shut down again.  I’m guessing that it will happen this coming weekend, but it could be earlier.  I’m praying that it won’t happen before Saturday evening/Sunday morning.

+ + + + + + +

I had planned on getting to this coming week’s chapel message (first of the year!) by the middle of last week.  Then things kept happening, meetings kept happening, and I find myself nowhere near the frame of mind to record anything.  I finally got to that place Friday afternoon.  And then I had technical issues.  So I inadvertently had two practice runs before the actual recording.  I had hoped to get home before dark.  I think I missed the mark by a bit.

There was, of course, one moment where I realized that I had told myself in June and in July that I wasn’t going to do this to myself again.  Not the chapel part, which is what it is, but the road to the finished product.  Granted, it’s an experience common to any pastor who has had to record his own sermons over the last few months, so I don’t think I’m in any particular need for pity.  But that coupled with other day-to-day realities reminded me that I need to get some (re)thinking done.

And so I’m really hoping that a stay-at-home order doesn’t kick in until Saturday evening because I really want to use this week to get caught up on some things and use this weekend to take a step back and gain some perspective.  Because, it turns out, no one is going to do it for you.

+ + + + + + +

So what have we learned . . . what have I learned . . . over the last five months?  Probably not as much as I would have liked, probably not as much as I should.  But I need to figure out some of those things before we get too far into the fall (for school, too far into lots of other areas, too).  I have no issue with the concept of the little ice age.  Even if I disagree with the way things are playing out across the state or country, those in charge seem to think we’re in one.  I’m thinking that it’s also revealing that “things haven’t been growing the way they used to” for some time now, for a good bit of time before Covidtide set in, and we’re really just now allowing ourselves to get a better sense of it.  Or we’re simply in denial.  But that’s no good in the long run or the short.  That’s something none of us can afford.

Posted in Notes for a World's End, Teaching | Tagged | Leave a comment