Chaplainmike

Pic & Poem of the Week: August 7, 2016

(Click on picture for larger image) • • • Sonnet Forty I understand that matter can be changed To energy; that maths can integrate The complex quantum jumps that must relate The fusion of the stars to history’s page. I understand that God in every age Is Lord of all; that matter can’t dictate; ThatContinue reading “Pic & Poem of the Week: August 7, 2016”

Saturday Ramblings: August 6, 2016

Welcome to Saturday Ramblings for August 6, 2016. We’re going to upgrade from our standard Rambler today to show you a great pic of Elvis Presley’s 1957 BMW 507, now restored to its original glory (and perhaps beyond). Top Gear has a great gallery showing the step-by-step restoration of the King’s ride, which he enjoyed while he wasContinue reading “Saturday Ramblings: August 6, 2016”

Shirley

One of our team members said that Shirley “died of loneliness.” She had family, and whenever I met them they seemed to be attentive to her. I never heard her speak a word against them. But none of them were able to care for her in her final season of life. When Shirley first cameContinue reading “Shirley”

The Church of JC Capitalist

Here’s a perfect follow-up to yesterday’s Bible study.

Wednesdays with James: Lesson Nine

Wednesdays with James Lesson Nine: Are you not discriminating among yourselves? We enter the central section of the Epistle of James today. In the body of this encyclical, the author takes up the three themes he introduced in chapter one, addressing them in more detail in reverse order. James begins with matters related to relations betweenContinue reading “Wednesdays with James: Lesson Nine”

Can this really be the gospel of “superabundant grace”?

But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different fromContinue reading “Can this really be the gospel of “superabundant grace”?”

Mondays with Michael Spencer: August 1, 2016

Note from CM: One of the chief characteristics of Michael Spencer’s life, ministry, and writing was his emphasis on grace. Over the next season here on IM, we will draw from his writings on the subject and re-present it on Mondays. • • • Lots of times, there’s something I want to write about, but it’sContinue reading “Mondays with Michael Spencer: August 1, 2016”

Pic & Poem of the Week: July 31, 2016

(Click on picture for larger image) • • • The Need of Being Versed in Country Things The house had gone to bring again To the midnight sky a sunset glow. Now the chimney was all of the house that stood, Like a pistil after the petals go. The barn opposed across the way, ThatContinue reading “Pic & Poem of the Week: July 31, 2016”

Saturday Ramblings: July 30, 2016

There are a lot of us whose faith in the American political system is running low these days. It’s almost like we’re being sold AMC Gremlins again. Gosh, that was a bad (and ugly!) car. But not as bad (and ugly!) as the political campaign is about to get, now that the conventions are over.Continue reading “Saturday Ramblings: July 30, 2016”

Wendell Berry on the Future and the Present

This week, what we are doing (instead of listening to me) is hearing and discussing quotes from Wendell Berry’s 2015 book, Our Only World: Ten Essays. In our final post of thoughts from Berry, he meditates on Jesus’ words, “Take no thought for the morrow,” encouraging us to remember that, if something is right to do toContinue reading “Wendell Berry on the Future and the Present”