Wednesday with Michael Spencer My Problem with Prayer Ok. I have this problem with prayer. I’m not sure it’s a problem with prayer as much as it’s a problem with prayer as it is practiced in the revivalistic tradition that dominates much of my side of evangelicalism. How can I describe that tradition? It’s a […]
About Chaplain Mike
Chaplain Mike works with a hospice organization in central Indiana. He has been in pastoral ministry since 1978, serving in churches in Maryland, Vermont, Illinois, and Indiana before moving into chaplaincy work. He is married to a wonderful gifted wife, Gail, and they have four children and three grandchildren. He thinks baseball is the greatest game ever invented, suffers annually as a Chicago Cubs fan, and is looking forward to putting on a cap again this spring to coach his grandson's Little League team. He loves a wide variety of music, spends way too much money on books, is happy to live in a place where there are four seasons, and is a "true believer" in Apple computers, having used them since 1988. Luther is his favorite theologian, Bach his favorite composer, James Taylor his favorite singer-songwriter, Chicago his favorite city, and hiking his favorite form of exercise. He would love to do more with photography and dreams of having a place in the mountains of Arizona some day. His heart has been captured by the grace of God in Jesus Christ and considers himself a post-evangelical disciple seeking a Jesus-shaped life and hoping to help the church do the same. He is forever grateful to his friend, Michael Spencer, for giving him an opportunity to write for Internet Monk.
The Learning, Conversing, Serving Community (1)
22 Jan by
The Learning, Conversing, Serving Community (1) This is two years overdue. I told my friend Chris Smith back then that I would do some reflections on his book, Reading for the Common Good: How Books Help Our Churches and Neighborhoods Flourish, and in my usual disorganized way, I have completely neglected to follow up on […]
The Bible and the Believer (2)
21 Jan by
The Bible and the Believer: How to Read the Bible Critically and Religiously by Mark Zvi Brettler, Peter Enns, Daniel J. Harrington • • • One of my tasks this year will be to work on answering the two questions that Pete Enns raises regularly in his writings and podcasts: What is the Bible? What […]
Sunday: Daring to Pray the Our Father (1)
20 Jan by
Daring to Pray the Our Father (1) [T]he Our Father is person-specific. It identifies and strengthens the central Christian truth about the person in relationship to God and creation. This truth is always present. Although the prayer is not detailed and fine-tuned toward particular situations, it influences how we think, will, feel, and act in […]
The IM Saturday Monks Brunch: January 19, 2019
19 Jan by
The IM Saturday Monks Brunch: January 19, 2019 What are you doing out there? Come on in out of the wind and snow and join us for Brunch! We have hot chocolate, tea, and coffee, and plenty of food to warm and fill you. Here in the northern climes we’re deep in the bleak midwinter, […]
Winter Spirituality III
16 Jan by
Winter Spirituality III Thoughtful for Winter’s future sorrow, Its gloom and scarcity; Prescient to-day, of want to-morrow, Toiled quiet Memory. ‘Tis she that from each transient pleasure Extracts a lasting good; ‘Tis she that finds, in summer, treasure To serve for winter’s food. And when Youth’s summer day is vanished, And Age brings Winter’s stress, […]
Winter Spirituality II
15 Jan by
Winter Spirituality II • • • The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy (1900) I leant upon a coppice gate, When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter’s dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires. […]
Winter Spirituality I
14 Jan by
Winter Spirituality I I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again, so that there is really only one logical conclusion. I need darkness as much as I need light. • Barbara Brown Taylor, Learning to Walk in […]
Snow Day (Picture Gallery)
13 Jan by
Snow Day January 2019 This has been a snowy weekend in Indiana, providing a nice pause in the rat race. Church services were cancelled this morning because the county roads are a bit treacherous. I’ve had the chance to get out and take a few pictures and thought I’d put them up for you today, […]
The IM Saturday Monks Brunch: January 12, 2019 — SHUTDOWN!
12 Jan by
The IM Saturday Monks Brunch: January 12, 2019 SHUTDOWN! In solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of government workers who have been furloughed or who are working without pay, as well as the vast number of contractors, businesses, and local entities whose livelihoods depend upon the normal functioning of the Federal government, the IM Saturday […]
