Chaplainmike

Buechner on Memory

Memory There are two ways of remembering. One way is to make an excursion from the living present back into the dead past. The old sock remembers how things used to be when you and I were young, Maggie. The faraway look in his eyes is partly the beer and partly that he’s really farContinue reading “Buechner on Memory”

Seeing with the Eyes of the Heart: Contemplative Photography (5)

Seeing with the Eyes of the Heart Contemplative Photography, part five We return to our occasional consideration of the insights of Christine Valters Paintner, author of Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice. Paintner helps us learn how photography can become a contemplative practice, allowing us to “see” in different ways. Today,Continue reading “Seeing with the Eyes of the Heart: Contemplative Photography (5)”

Mondays with Michael Spencer: Searching for a Community of Strugglers

Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. (Paul the Apostle, Letter to the Galatians, 4:19, NLT) This line from Paul has stayed with me for two days. It comes from a section of theContinue reading “Mondays with Michael Spencer: Searching for a Community of Strugglers”

Sundays in Easter: The Very Good Gospel (5)

Shalom says we all are connected. Every relationship created by God is strung together in a web of intimate relationships. To affect one is to affect all. So when our distrust of God leads us to separate ourselves from God, we also are separated from ourselves. We govern ourselves in our own ways, not inContinue reading “Sundays in Easter: The Very Good Gospel (5)”

Saturday Brunch, May 5, 2018

Hello, friends, and welcome to the weekend. Hungry for some brunch? We have lots on the brunch buffet today. Mostly lighter fare this week. But one thing we won’t be serving is this: That, my friend, is ham-flavored ice cream. Yes, an ice cream emporium in the Garden State, Windy Brow Farms, has raised eyebrows by launching aContinue reading “Saturday Brunch, May 5, 2018”

Back when we were beautiful…

Yesterday, I turned sixty-two. The thought struck me that, once you start counting “three score and…” (Psalm 90:10), you’ve reached the road toward home. Here is one of my favorite songs about aging, by the incomparable Emmylou Harris, along with Rodney Crowell.

The Lost World of the Flood: Mythology, Theology, and the Deluge Debate by Tremper Longman III and John H. Walton, Part 1- Propositions 4 and 5

The Lost World of the Flood: Mythology, Theology, and the Deluge Debate by Tremper Longman III and John H. Walton, Part 1- Propositions 4 and 5 We are blogging through the book: The Lost World of the Flood: Mythology, Theology, and the Deluge Debate by Tremper Longman III and John H. Walton. Today we willContinue reading “The Lost World of the Flood: Mythology, Theology, and the Deluge Debate by Tremper Longman III and John H. Walton, Part 1- Propositions 4 and 5”

Another Look: I Know It’s Not for Everyone, but I’ve Found an Oasis in a Mainline Church

Note from CM: Yesterday’s back and forth prompted me to look up this post I wrote in 2012. Some things have changed in my life since then, but the main message of the piece still holds up. • • • I Know It’s Not for Everyone, but I’ve Found an Oasis in a Mainline ChurchContinue reading “Another Look: I Know It’s Not for Everyone, but I’ve Found an Oasis in a Mainline Church”

Open Mic Tuesday

I fell behind with a busy family weekend and then getting back into the swing of things at work yesterday, so how about we simply open it up today for open discussion? It’s a shame when actual life gets in the way of blogging, right? It’s all yours today… • Chaplain Mike

Monday with Michael Spencer: Grace is as dangerous as ever

“Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and sin no more.” (John 8:11) When the quality of God’s mercy in the Gospel no longer amazes you, you will begin to justify the dilution of amazing grace into religious grace, or moral grace, or grace in response to something. Real grace is simply inexplicable, inappropriate, outContinue reading “Monday with Michael Spencer: Grace is as dangerous as ever”