An Internet Monk Public Service Announcement: Wash your hands!!! For years, Britain operated a research facility called the Common Cold Unit, but it closed in 1989 without ever finding a cure. It did, however, conduct some interesting experiments. In one, a volunteer was fitted with a device that leaked a thin fluid at his nostrils […]
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.
Sermon Lent IIA: The Wind is Freshening (John 3:1-17)
8 Mar by
Sermon Lent IIA The Wind Is Freshening (John 3:1-17) The Lord be with you. Over the next few Sundays, we will be reading stories from John’s Gospel. These stories tell about encounters Jesus had with several individuals and how he helped them find faith, forgiveness, healing, and life. I think this is an important emphasis […]
Lenten Brunch Lite 2: March 7, 2020
7 Mar by
Lenten Brunch Lite 2: March 7, 2020 During the Lenten season, we will offer a “lite” version of our Saturday Brunch. Each week, I will set forth one question (or set of questions) related to keeping Lent and ask us to focus our discussion on it. Last week we asked about your faith community and […]
Lent with Mary Chapin Carpenter (2)
4 Mar by
Lent with Mary Chapin Carpenter (2) Each year, on Ash Wednesday and during Lent, I focus attention on a singer-songwriter or album from the popular culture of my lifetime in which I find echoes of the Lenten journey. This year, we devote ourselves to listening to Mary Chapin Carpenter’s superb intensely personal album from 2012, […]
Robert Herrick: To Keep a True Lent
2 Mar by
To Keep a True Lent Is this a fast, to keep The larder lean? And clean From fat of veals and sheep ? Is it to quit the dish Of flesh, yet still To fill The platter high with fish ? Is it to fast an hour, Or ragg’d to go, Or show A downcast […]
Sermon for Lent IA: Jesus goes to Boot Camp
1 Mar by
Sermon for Lent IA: Jesus goes to Boot Camp The Lord be with you. I’ll begin with a quote: “You don’t want the first time that they have to dig deep [to be] when they have to face one of our enemies.” Those are the words of Maj. Gen. Pete Johnson, the commander of the […]
Lenten Brunch Lite 1: February 29, 2020
29 Feb by
Lenten Brunch Lite 1: February 29, 2020 During the Lenten season, we will offer a “lite” version of our Saturday Brunch. Each week, I will set forth one question (or set of questions) related to keeping Lent and ask us to focus our discussion on it. Today’s set of questions is simple: How does your […]
Another Look: Lent and the Gospel Story
28 Feb by
We have begun our journey into the Lenten season. It may be a good time for a refresher on the relationship of this season to the Gospel story. In a January 7, 2011 post, “Epiphany and the Days to Come,” I pointed out that the Epiphany season is representative of the first half of the […]
Ash Wednesday with Mary Chapin Carpenter
26 Feb by
Ash Wednesday with Mary Chapin Carpenter Each year, on Ash Wednesday and during Lent, I focus attention on a singer-songwriter or album from the popular culture of my lifetime in which I find echoes of the Lenten journey. In past years we’ve considered the music of Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan’s John Wesley Harding, Wilco’s Yankee Hotel […]
Mardi Gras: One way we learn to reverence God
25 Feb by
Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field. In the presence of the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose as a dwelling for his name, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well […]
