The Rabbit Room

The Consolation of Doubt: An Address to the Buechner Institute

RR Note: It feels like every corner of the Rabbit Room is shaped in some way by the meaningful work of Frederick Buechner. As we grieve his bittersweet passing at the age of 96, we wanted to repost an address given by Andrew Peterson to the Buechner Institute from 2016 that pays tribute to his eternal impact. 

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Piers Plowman and the Possibilities of Poetry

During this past summer season I had the joy of taking an aimless stroll through St Albans, in Hertfordshire, England. History was everywhere on display. From the remaining Roman walls of Verulamium to the riches of a tightly woven Christian past, it is a town that provides a fair field full of folklore, a storehouse of what has gone before.

Living the Questions: ‘A Curious Faith’ review

When I started training to become a spiritual director, I was relieved to learn very quickly that our job isn’t about giving directions, fixing problems, or doling out wisdom like some sort of Jesus Yoda.

Old Favorites: Andy Osenga’s ‘Leonard the Lonely Astronaut’

The year was 2012, and I was at my third Hutchmoot, my first as photographer. In the three years the event had existed, a tradition had emerged called the “Lagniappe” — a mysterious, secret event that followed the keynote but was on the quirkier side (think Shakespearean Star Wars). That year at the Church of the Redeemer, the schedule gave a little clue: 8:30 pm – Reveille. 

On The Hiding Place & Shared Suffering

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in a conference room with a group of my coworkers, and for some reason, my stomach was killing me. Sharp pain was shooting up and down my abdomen and all I could do was sit still and try to hide the pain with a smile. As I looked around at my co-workers, I noticed that no one could tell—either they were all too wrapped up in their own thoughts and actions to notice, or else I am a much better actress than I thought I was. 

Hutchmoot UK: Waves of the New Creation

We spent the first evening after our return from Hutchmoot UK trying to revive our garden. In the busyness of life, with daughters going in one direction and Glenn and I going another, we forgot to arrange for someone to take care of our plants. The hot, dry weather had done its work and the results were obvious the second we looked out the kitchen window.

Grief & Delight

This past weekend my friend Heidi Johnston and I led a session at the Rabbit Room’s Hutchmoot UK in Oxford, England. Our topic was delight and the writer.

Letter From a Benevolent Spammer

I discovered the following note in my email inbox yesterday at 3:08 a.m. (Don’t ask me why I was up that late — the internet is a vortex.) The email subject line was: READ THIS TO AVOID BEING EATEN BY SHARKS. It was from one, Father Samuel Persla. It said: