Chaplainmike

God’s Mercy and Our Lack Thereof (Trinity 13)

In Bach’s day, the readings for the thirteenth Sunday after Trinity included Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. The cantata he wrote for that day in his third cycle of cantatas (Aug, 1725), uses a powerful text on the Gospel written by Salomo Franck. It powerfully contrasts God’s mercy and our lack thereof in caringContinue reading “God’s Mercy and Our Lack Thereof (Trinity 13)”

iMonk Classic: On Re-Baptism

Classic iMonk Post by Michael Spencer Series from Sept, 2008 Note from CM: A reader wrote me this week and asked about whether she should be re-baptized. After being baptized as an infant, she grew up in a nominal Catholic home, came “back to God” (her words) as an adult, and now the church sheContinue reading “iMonk Classic: On Re-Baptism”

Saturday Ramblings 9.17.11

As it does most weeks, Saturday has once more arrived here at the iMonastery. We work very hard all week long. So hard, in fact, that we need one day just to sweep up. The broom gathers stories we just didn’t have time to comment on throughout the rest of the week, and before weContinue reading “Saturday Ramblings 9.17.11”

Fantasy Friday Night Dinner Party

It is an old way to talk about the people and topics we find most interesting… You are having a dinner party for four, including yourself. If you could invite anyone else in the world, living today, who would you ask to join you at the table? Why would you ask those particular people? WhatContinue reading “Fantasy Friday Night Dinner Party”

Wild Things I Cannot Control

I was reading through some old files the other day, and I came across a NYT column by David Brooks about the film, “Where the Wild Things Are.” I remember enjoying the film; his commentary on it prompted my thinking and imagination even more. For Brooks, the movie shines light on the matter of personalContinue reading “Wild Things I Cannot Control”

A Day at Work in the Great Hall

Yesterday, this Caucasian, American, Midwestern Christian who now practices his faith in a Lutheran church, who grew up a Methodist, who had a spiritual awakening in a Southern Baptist church, who went to a non-denominational Bible college and an Evangelical Free Church seminary, who served as a pastor in American Baptist, Bible, and Community churches,Continue reading “A Day at Work in the Great Hall”

Anger At The Poor

So many people these days seem to be angry at poor people. I hear comments by journalists, by so-called pundits, by television and radio talk-show hosts, and by the people who call in on those shows. The poor, according to these professionally angry people, are getting a “free ride;” they’re part of an “all-out warContinue reading “Anger At The Poor”

Here’s a strange . . .

I would prefer not to do the “pile on crazy Pat Robertson” thing here today, though some of it is inevitable in the light of the following clip. I have heard Pat say some remarkable things over the years, but this is jaw-droppingly surprising to me. What do you make of it?

Some Enchanted Evening

Ordinary Time Bible Study 2011 The Book of Ruth (10) Update: edited with some added content commenting on the deliberately ambiguous portrayal of Boaz and Ruth’s encounter. Did she, or didn’t she? • • • Sex! Sex!! Sex!!! There. Do I have your attention? Few things keep us on the edge of our seats likeContinue reading “Some Enchanted Evening”

George, Mildred and the Thin Places

The three of us sat together and talked, as we had many times before — the old WWII vet, his daughter, his son, and me their pastor. They had designated me such, ever since I had been hospice chaplain for his wife and their mother Mildred, a lovely woman with Alzheimer’s disease. Upon occasion, whenContinue reading “George, Mildred and the Thin Places”