Noted by Chaplain Mike.
MOD Note: Many readers are contributing links to other tributes in the comments. Thank you! I encourage you to peruse the comments as well as this list.
Here is a partial list of remembrances and tributes to Michael Spencer that are appearing around the web:
By Chaplain Mike.
I had been wandering in the post-evangelical wilderness for a long time. But I never knew what to call it until I began reading Michael Spencer. And I never knew a genuinely safe place to talk about it until I entered the discussions on Internet Monk. Then I knew I had found a guide, and a group of fellow-wanderers.
The site’s popularity testifies to an undeniable fact: I am not alone. There are multitudes of us out here in exile, weary and dry-mouthed, panting for streams from which to slake our thirst.
Today’s post is by IM First Officer Michael Bell.
It was my birthday today, April 5th. Easter Monday. It will be a day that I will now forever remember for two reasons, for my friend Michael Spencer, also passed away today. I mourn for a friend, whose passing will leave a hole in my life, but I grieve much more for those he has left behind, who have lost a husband, father, and pastor/shepherd. He has been a pastor/shepherd to so many of us, leading us through the “Evangelical Wilderness.” His blog, www.internetmonk.com, was a home for so many who struggled in their own church home, or who struggled even to find a church home.
Michael had been blogging for 10 years, long before most of us knew that there was such a thing as blogging. Yet, it seemed that he was just starting to come into his prime, where the rest of the world was just starting to discover the incredible writing gift that God had given him. Reading Michael’s blog has been one of the first things that I would do every morning for the past three years. I rejoiced that I had found another kindred spirit who understood me, placed a priority on many of the same that were important to me, and struggled with many of the same issues with which I struggled. Not only that, but he gave voice to a community of people, who had concerns with what they saw in the church, but who’s voice was not being heard. As I read Michael each morning, my jaw would often drop with the profoundness of what was written, and I would marvel at the gift that God had given this remarkable individual. I would often exclaim to my wife, “How does he come up with such incredible material day after day after day!” Michael loved baseball, and to use a baseball analogy, it was like he had an on base average of .900, swatting 100+ home runs a season.
But first and foremost, Michael was about the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ. This was what was closest to his heart, and what drew me to him. His concern was that in all the many things that the church was doing, the gospel was being obscured. This was his greatest concern, and to what he paid the most attention in his writting. He regretted that so many people got the wrong idea from the “Coming Evangelical Collapse”, that more than anything it was a call to action, a call to return to the first love of the good news that God has given us.
So, while horribly sad, it seems somewhat appropriate that Easter would be the time when God would call him home. For Easter is a time of good news, and Michael’s life was all about proclaiming this good news of Jesus Christ. This was his unceasing focus, and one that he maintained until the very end.
I echo the words of the Apostle Paul:
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
—Philippians 1: 3-6
In the words of Jesus Christ: “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
Dennis Michael Spencer of Oneida, Kentucky died at home on April 5, 2010 after a four-month struggle with cancer. He was 53.
Spencer was born September 16, 1956 in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. He graduated from Kentucky Wesleyan College in Owensboro, Kentucky and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. Spencer served as youth minister and pastor in several Kentucky Baptist churches before becoming the Campus Minister at Oneida Baptist Institute in 1992, where he ministered the past 17 years.
Spencer was also widely known in evangelical Christian circles for his web site, “Internet Monk: Dispatches From the Post Evangelical Wilderness” (www.internetmonk.com). The site was also home to his podcast, Internet Monk Radio. His book, Mere Churchianity: Finding Your Way Back to Jesus-Shaped Spirituality, will be published in September by WaterBrook Multnomah.
Spencer was preceded in death by his parents, S.L. and Dorothy Atherton Spencer of Owensboro and a sister, Peggy Spencer Head, also of Owensboro. He is survived by his wife of 31 years, Denise Day Spencer; his children, Noel Spencer Cordle of Oneida and Clay Spencer of Lexington; and a brother, Dr. B.E. Spencer of Louisville.
A memorial service will be held at the Oneida Baptist Institute chapel on Saturday, April 10 at 2:30 p.m. with visitation beginning at 12:30 p.m. the same day. The family asks that expressions of sympathy be in the form of contributions to Oneida Baptist Institute, P.O. Box 67, Oneida, Kentucky 40972, (606) 847-4111.
Comments have been turned back on for all posts.
Thank you for praying for the Spencer family.
I received word tonight that Michael Spencer, the Internet Monk, our friend, passed away in his home in Oneida, KY, in the presence of his family.
With them, we mourn his passing.
With them, our tears fall.
With them, we express gratitude that Michael is at peace and no longer suffering.
With them, we cry out to God in pain because our suffering has just increased.
With them and with all creation, we groan, awaiting the day when this sad world will be put to rights.
With them and with all the saints, we put our trust in Christ alone, crucified, buried, risen, ascended, and coming again.
Words are hard to come by at this moment. At a more appropriate time tomorrow, I will say more.
Thank you for praying.
I am closing comments for tonight on the most recent posts so that all may devote energies to prayer and silence.
By Chaplain Mike.
Warning: Many of you won’t have the stomach to watch more than a few minutes of this.
One thing I have always appreciated about Michael is his courage to point out “Christian” craziness and call it for what it is. Some people object to that kind of truth-telling, thinking it is somehow disloyal to the family. I don’t.
Everybody in the family knows about weird Uncle Harry. We tell the stories. We laugh. We try to contain him at the family reunion. We hope to avoid encountering him so he won’t freak out the friends we brought. We size up the situation and make strategic moves so that we don’t have to sit next to him at the table. We excuse ourselves to go to the bathroom when he tries to engage us in conversation. We do our best to avoid him all day long. Then we go back to our normal lives and forget all about him for awhile, glad that’s all over.
Problem is, the Uncle Harrys of the world are multiplying. And with the almost unlimited access to information that we have these days, it’s getting harder and harder to keep Uncle Harry a secret. He seems to show up regularly, almost everywhere. People are starting to make the connection — Oh, he’s your relative?
You probably remember this outstanding example of contemporary Christian “worship“. I thought it couldn’t get worse. It has.
The following clip is from a so-called “outpouring” at MorningStar Ministries, Fort Mill, SC. Apparently they have discovered a new sacrament.
Hide the kids. Here comes Uncle Harry.
By Chaplain Mike.
The Roman Catholic Church is having a nightmare, and can’t wake up. No longer can the clergy sexual abuse problem be passed off as “an American problem.†Recent developments in Ireland, Germany, and Italy have gotten the world’s attention and criticism has risen to a new level, even to the point where some are calling for the Pope to resign.
This is not something I would prefer to discuss. The subject is unseemly and embarrassing. Strong feelings abound on all sides. There is so much we don’t even know yet.
However, it is my opinion that Christians of all stripes ought to be talking about this, because no matter what one thinks of the Roman Catholic Church, it is clear that the backlash will affect the witness and credibility of all people who confess the faith.
So, in this Open Mic I would like to hear from Catholics and non-Catholics alike, who would be willing to share thoughtful perspectives on this crisis.Continue reading “Open Mic: A Sad but Necessary Discussion”
By Chaplain Mike.
Many of us in our Christian traditions learned to celebrate Christ’s resurrection on a day — Easter Sunday.
Easter is the great Lord’s Day, the climax of Holy Week, the high point of the Christian Year, marked by an explosion of color, wafting fragrance of lilies, majestic sounds of organ and baroque trumpets, bright new clothes, formal dinner with the family. A blissful Sabbath! Our little ones receive baskets of candies and toys, hunt for Easter eggs, strap on patent leather shoes, dress up like little ladies and gentlemen. We take their pictures out in the yard framed by the early blooms of spring. Women wear hats to church, white gloves. Even the men adorn themselves in pastels. This is the one Sunday we sing, “Christ the Lord is risen today! Alleluia!” The choir resounds with joyful praise. Everyone smiles. Such a happy day!
And then it’s over.
In the non-liturgical churches I have served as a pastor, the time after Easter was one of the few lulls in the year. For families, it formed the season between spring break and May, which where I live has become one of the busiest months of the year, with spring sports in full swing, summer sports like Little League beginning, end of school and church year programs, graduations, weddings, holidays like Mother’s Day, college students returning home, outdoor projects getting into full swing, and of course, here in Indianapolis we have all “the month of May” – activities leading up to the Indy 500 race. After the Easter event, and before the month of May, we had a period of relative quiet.
As an evangelical (and an American), it seems to me that I was always taught to think in terms of events. Events can be strategized, planned, advertised and marketed, organized, staffed, set up, prayed for, executed, cleaned up after, reviewed and evaluated, and followed up. It is a typically business-like approach. A well-run event can make a big splash, leave a lasting impression, and play a crucial role in forming a group of people into a community.
However, as I have more seriously considered the practice of the liturgical year, I have been challenged to think more in terms of seasons than simply in terms of events. Seasons force us to face the “dailyness” of life rather than simply its special points.
It is like the difference between a wedding and a marriage. Or the birth of a baby and learning to care for an infant.
We love Christmas, but it is in Advent that we learn to long and pray day by day for Christ to come. And it is in Christmastide (the days following Christmas) that we take time to gaze with wonder into the face of the incarnate baby Jesus, to do as Mary did, “treasuring all these things in her heart.”
And so it is with Easter. Easter is a season, not just a day. On the Christian calendar, the period that begins on Easter Sunday is called “The Great Fifty Days,” “Pascha,” or “Eastertide.”
Writing in The Complete Library of Christian Worship V, Marjorie Proctor-Smith says,
Celebrating Easter for fifty days is a Christian practice almost as ancient as the annual observance of Easter. …The term Pentecost was first used by Christians to refer to this seven-week period as a unit: “the Pentecost,” or the fifty days. It was only later that the term was applied to the fiftieth day, at which time then the fifty days was called the Easter season.
The importance of this period for the ancient church is reflected in the language used by early writers wen speaking of it, and the practices which their comments reveal. Tertullian refers to the period, which he called the Pentecost, as a laetissimum spatium, a “most joyous space” in which it is especially fitting that baptisms take place. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, write an annual “Festal Letter” to the church in which he announced the date of Easter, which “extends its beams, with unobscured grace, to all the seven weeks of holy Pentecost.” In every letter Athanasius emphasizes the centrality of the Easter observance for Christians, speaking of the fifty days especially as a time of joy and fulfillment: “But let us now keep the feast, my beloved, not as introducing a day of suffering but of joy in Christ, in whom we are fed every day.” It was, quite simply, a “Great Sunday” which lasted for seven weeks, a week of Sundays, wherein the church celebrated on a large scale the resurrection of Christ. “All of Pentecost,” writes Basil of Caesarea, “reminds us of the resurrection which we await in the other world.”
Seeing Easter as a season rather than a day might help us grasp more fully the meaning and implications of Christ’s resurrection.
Many Christians assume that Easter is commemorated on just one day. It is an event. After it is over, we move on to something else.
But this cannot be. We are Easter people! The first Sunday of Easter is the beginning, not the climax of the season.
As the disciples grew in their understanding and love for the risen Christ over the great fifty days when he arose, appeared to them, ascended into heaven, and poured out the Holy Spirit upon them, may we too experience Easter throughout the entire season to come!
Posted by Chaplain Mike.
N.T. Wright speaks of the resurrection as the beginning of the new creation.
History matters because human beings matter; human beings matter because creation matters; creation matters because the creator matters. And the creator, according to some of the most ancient Jewish beliefs, grieved so much over creation gone wrong, over humankind in rebellion, over thorns and thistles and dust and death, that he planned from the beginning the way by which he would rescue his world, his creation, his history, from its tragic corruption and decay; the way, therefore, by which he would rescue his image-bearing creatures, the muddled and rebellious human beings, from their doubly tragic fate; the way, therefore, by which he would be most truly himself, would become most truly himself. The story of Jesus of Nazareth offers itself, as Jesus himself had offered his public work and words, his body and blood, as the answer to this multiple problem: the arrival of God’s kingdom precisely in the world of space, time, and matter, the world of injustice and tyranny, of empire and crucifixions. This world is where the kingdom must come, on earth as it is in heaven. What view of creation, what view of justice, would be served by the offer merely of a new spirituality and a one-way ticket out of trouble, an escape from the real world?
No wonder the Herods, the Caesars and the Sadducees of this world, ancient and modern, were and are eager to rule out all possibility of actual resurrection. They are, after all, staking a counter-claim on the real world. It is the real world that the tyrants and bullies (including the intellectual tyrants and bullies) try to rule by force, only to discover that in order to do so they have to quash all rumours of resurrection, rumours that would imply that their greatest weapons, death and deconstruction, are not after all omnipotent. But it is the real world, in Jewish thinking, that the real God made, and still grieves over. It is the real world that, in the earliest stories of Jesus’ death and resurrection, was decisively and forever reclaimed by that event, an event which demanded to be understood, not as a bizarre miracle, but as the beginning of a new creation.
Source: The Resurrection of the Son of God, p. 737
The Internet Monk Archives