It’s Saturday. That means donuts and extra coffee for breakfast, time to read the paper, watching Bugs Bunny cartoons … what? Really? Since when? Oh my. Well, if Bugs Bunny isn’t on Saturday mornings any more, then may I present the next best thing: Saturday Ramblings. Did you vote on Tuesday? (This, of course, isContinue reading “Saturday Ramblings 11.6.10”
Author Archives: Chaplainmike
I Don’t Get It (again)
By Chaplain Mike I have to admit it—I don’t get Pentecostalism. Though I have been exposed to charismatic and pentecostal brothers and sisters since the earliest days after my conversion, their approach to the faith and their practices have never, ever rung true to me. Theologically, I am not a cessationist. I don’t think theContinue reading “I Don’t Get It (again)”
Preparing to Honor the Saints
By Chaplain Mike In some traditions, All Saints’ Day was celebrated on Nov. 1, while others will honor the saints this coming Sunday, the first in November. All Saints’ may be compared to American national holidays like Veterans Day or Memorial Day. On it we remember and honor the lives, faithfulness, deeds, teachings, and martyrdomsContinue reading “Preparing to Honor the Saints”
A Paint-By-Numbers Life
Sometimes I envy those of other religions. Really, I do. There are times I want a paint-by-number religion, one with a complete set of instructions as to how I am to please the deity we are creating with our brushes. All the 8s get green paint, while the 6s are filled in with yellow. ThatContinue reading “A Paint-By-Numbers Life”
Creativity Overcoming Safety
Editor’s note: I came across this essay by Orlando, Florida pastor Cole NeSmith recently. Cole says what I have been saying for years, only much better than I could say it. Read this and pass it on to others to read as well. This is so important to understand: Not just for artists, but forContinue reading “Creativity Overcoming Safety”
Nouwen on Prayer
By Chaplain Mike There are so many gems in the new books which present Henri Nouwen’s teachings on spiritual direction and spiritual formation that I did not even try to begin to include excerpts in the review I posted earlier this week. Today, I was thinking that these books would provide an ample storehouse ofContinue reading “Nouwen on Prayer”
“For you we face death all day long”
By Chaplain Mike A current article in Foreign Policy magazine by Eden Naby and Jamsheed K. Chosky makes the following startling observation: There is now an alarming possibility that there will be no significant Christian communities in Iraq or Iran by century’s end. The statistics are sobering: The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimates thatContinue reading ““For you we face death all day long””
Open Mic: Election Day
By Chaplain Mike I have a mantra: “I am about the most a-political person you will ever meet.” That’s why we don’t talk much about the subject here on Internet Monk. Generally, I have little interest in politics, except on a pragmatic level. I like to think that’s a theologically valid perspective. As Paul wrote,Continue reading “Open Mic: Election Day”
IM Book Review: Spiritual Direction
By Chaplain Mike Two of Henri Nouwen’s students, Michael Christensen and Rebecca Laird, have taken their late teacher’s course in spiritual direction and supplemented it with his unpublished writings to create a “new” work presenting Nouwen’s thoughts on the Christian life. The result? A series of books filled with the characteristic simplicity and wisdom ofContinue reading “IM Book Review: Spiritual Direction”
One Last Gasp
A few nights ago, I passed through the room where my husband sat watching television. I stopped and stood mesmerized – gripped by the depiction of a woman drowning. It was so graphic that I had a sense of struggle within me as I saw her fight against the sea that wouldn’t let her surface.Continue reading “One Last Gasp”
The Internet Monk Archives 