Note from CM: Today we hear from Chris Kratzer, who blogs at Putting into Words What Only Grace Is Brave Enough to Say. Chris, believe me, I understand. Thanks for letting us share a bit of your journey today. • • • I’m Done: Why I’m Completely Walking Away From Church, Ministry, And Most EverythingContinue reading “Chris Kratzer: I’m Done: Why I’m Completely Walking Away From Church, Ministry, And Most Everything “Christian””
Category Archives: Wilderness Journey
Limping to the Pulpit
This coming Sunday, I will be preaching in the congregation where I last served as a pastor. They are in good hands now, under the ministry of Pastor Dan, and I enjoy going back now and then to see folks. I love the people there, and it is always hard to find time to see everyoneContinue reading “Limping to the Pulpit”
Wrestling with Scripture
I was reading Walter Brueggemann’s book, An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible, today, and I came across this quote: ” “I suggest that a Christian reading of the Old Testament requires, in the present time, a recovery of the Jewishness of our ways of reading the text.” He goes on to suggestContinue reading “Wrestling with Scripture”
Wilma’s Story
Note from CM: Earlier this year, I gained a new co-worker, a bright and personable hospice nurse named Wilma. When she told me her story and I read her book, I knew right away I wanted her to share it with our Internet Monk community. Wilma grew up in an Amish community. To many lookingContinue reading “Wilma’s Story”
Mike Bell: Some Thoughts on Change
Note from CM: Good to hear from our friend from the north country, Mike Bell, today. As remains the case for many of us, the ecclesiastical journey continues for Mike. Here’s his latest update. • • • Seventeen. That is the number of churches that I have been involved in, each for more than aContinue reading “Mike Bell: Some Thoughts on Change”
Another Look: The Wilderness Within
They cannot scare me with their empty places Between stars — on stars where no human race is. I have it in me so much nearer home To scare myself with my own desert places. • Robert Frost, “Desert Places” • • • One temptation is to think the wilderness is without — a place, aContinue reading “Another Look: The Wilderness Within”
Another Look: I can’t get no…
Dallas Willard once wrote: “It is spiritually formative to be dissatisfied and unable to resolve it.” Hmm. Read that again. Slowly. Again. Now let’s talk. My first thought is, I am not sure I have ever been anything other than “dissatisfied.” How about you? For people my age, dissatisfaction, restlessness, and ennui came as natural as breathing.Continue reading “Another Look: I can’t get no…”
Another Look: A Long Pause from Impermanence
I hope no reader will suppose that “mere” Christianity is here put forward as an alternative to the creeds of the existing communions — as if a man could adopt it in preference to Congregationalism or Greek Orthodoxy or anything else. It is more like a hall out of which doors open into several rooms. If IContinue reading “Another Look: A Long Pause from Impermanence”
Such strange grace
April 5 will mark six years since Michael Spencer’s death. We will be devoting next week to some of his most memorable writings, writings that helped many of us survive wilderness journeys akin to his own. Today, I had lunch with a friend who I was encouraging to write for us. She has had a fascinatingContinue reading “Such strange grace”
Church Changes
I have found myself in an interesting position lately. I’ve been preaching at a small, rural Lutheran church about fifteen miles from my home. It is a sweet, traditional congregation, a church that was founded in 1838. For some time now, they have had a semi-retired pastor serving them. They are too small to supportContinue reading “Church Changes”
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