Dawn Rutan

Just Be You

Some time back I read Rosaria Butterfield’s book The Gospel Comes with a House Key. It is one I would recommend as food for thought. However, from my own observations and from conversations I’ve had with others, it can come across as very guilt-inducing. Besides pastoring a church, she and her husband are foster parents, […]

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Out of the Silence

Last week I started reading God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer, by Pete Greig. I didn’t realize it was going to be timely reading, because he uses the Easter timeline as the structure for his chapters. Did you ever stop to wonder what happened on that silent Saturday between Good Friday and

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Shalom

I’ve had a particular anxiety that has been plaguing me primarily on Saturdays for a few months. As I was tossing and turning last Friday night, the thought popped into my mind, “Shabbat shalom!” Not being Jewish, that’s not a thought that often comes to my mind. It is a traditional Jewish greeting meaning “Sabbath

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Dismembered

I’ve been reading an interesting fiction book called Daughter of Time, by Sarah Woodbury, about a twentieth century woman who finds herself in thirteenth century Wales. At one point she is comparing social interactions between the two cultures, and she says of the twentieth century: “As a rule, you’d never look at or talk to

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Penny Wise

There is a big push toward churches providing automated giving options via credit card, direct deposit, and similar methods. I understand that people like the convenience it provides, so they don’t have to remember to do anything. But as I read Scripture, I don’t see any indication that giving tithes and offerings should be easy

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Walk with Me

Lately it seems like quotes from Fred Rogers pop up on Facebook every week. Perhaps that’s because there have been some new biographies released in the past couple years. In the past few months I’ve read The Good Neighbor by Maxwell King, as well as an older biography, The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers by

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