Author Archives: Chaplainmike

Sermon: Firmly Situated in This World

Sermon: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we wereContinue reading “Sermon: Firmly Situated in This World”

Saturday Brunch, November 16, 2019

Hello, friends, and welcome to the weekend. Semper Dry? A rule change means that male U.S. Marines, who previously had to stand in the rain, can now carry umbrellas while wearing their service or dress uniforms. (Women have long been afforded a black umbrella — but only in their left hand, to keep their rightContinue reading “Saturday Brunch, November 16, 2019”

Another Look: the cruelest month…

the cruelest month… t. s. eliot was wrong—it is not april, but november. it is november that sucks the color out of the world. it is november that brutally strips the brilliant textured sweater off the tree and leaves it naked, shivering against the gray, cold wind. it is november, when sky becomes steel, earthContinue reading “Another Look: the cruelest month…”

Review of “Love and Quasars: An Astrophysicist Reconciles Faith and Science” by Paul Wallace, Part 3.

Review of “Love and Quasars: An Astrophysicist Reconciles Faith and Science” by Paul Wallace, Part 3. In Chapter 4- Strangers, Friends, Lovers: Cooperation, Not Competition, Wallace continues to expand on his version of Stephen J. Gould’s NOMA: that faith and science occupy separate spheres of influence with science covering the empirical universe and faith coveringContinue reading “Review of “Love and Quasars: An Astrophysicist Reconciles Faith and Science” by Paul Wallace, Part 3.”

iMonk Classic Series: Christians and Mental Illness (3)

Is there mental illness in the Bible? This question seeks to move us toward the question of mental illness and the Gospel. Throughout the Bible- Job’s speeches, Jonah’s self pity, the depression of the Psalmist, the cynical death wish of Kohelleth- we see the kinds of emotions that make up much of common mental illnesses.Continue reading “iMonk Classic Series: Christians and Mental Illness (3)”

iMonk Classic Series: Christians and Mental Illness (2)

iMonk Classic Series: Christians and Mental Illness (2) The following is excerpted from part 2 of Michael’s original series. Because the Bible is authoritative in Christianity, it is often difficult to come to terms with forms of knowledge that ignore the Bible, and especially difficult to deal with systems of knowledge that threaten to transcendContinue reading “iMonk Classic Series: Christians and Mental Illness (2)”

iMonk Classic Series: Christians and Mental Illness (1)

Note from CM: Ten years ago, Michael re-ran a series about Christians and mental illness that he originally wrote in 2005. For the next few days this week, I will re-post edited versions of those pieces. Today, we read Michael’s introduction and some of the questions he will raise. • • • Several times aContinue reading “iMonk Classic Series: Christians and Mental Illness (1)”

Sermon: Life after Life after Death

Sermon: Luke 20:27-38 Life after Life after Death But resurrection life, Jesus insists, is qualitatively different. The ordinary events and relationships by which we track our journey though this mortal life — marriage, childbirth, graduations, retirements and so on — do not characterize our eternal lives because resurrection life is not merely an extension ofContinue reading “Sermon: Life after Life after Death”

The IM Saturday Monks Brunch: November 9, 2019

The IM Saturday Monks Brunch: November 9, 2019 My Sorrow, when she’s here with me, Thinks these dark days of autumn rain Are beautiful as days can be; She loves the bare, the withered tree; She walks the sodden pasture lane. Her pleasure will not let me stay. She talks and I am fain toContinue reading “The IM Saturday Monks Brunch: November 9, 2019”