By Chaplain Mike For years, I spent a significant portion of my work life as a minister planning, creating, organizing, advertising, and presenting programs. For starters, each Sunday in our non-denominational church was a “program” of sorts. We approached the “worship” service in that way, at any rate. Our motive was to “make the most [...]
About Chaplain Mike
Chaplain Mike works with a hospice organization in central Indiana. He has been in pastoral ministry since 1978, serving in churches in Maryland, Vermont, Illinois, and Indiana before moving into chaplaincy work. He is married to a wonderful gifted wife, Gail, and they have four children and three grandchildren. He thinks baseball is the greatest game ever invented, suffers annually as a Chicago Cubs fan, and is looking forward to putting on a cap again this spring to coach his grandson's Little League team. He loves a wide variety of music, spends way too much money on books, is happy to live in a place where there are four seasons, and is a "true believer" in Apple computers, having used them since 1988. Luther is his favorite theologian, Bach his favorite composer, James Taylor his favorite singer-songwriter, Chicago his favorite city, and hiking his favorite form of exercise. He would love to do more with photography and dreams of having a place in the mountains of Arizona some day. His heart has been captured by the grace of God in Jesus Christ and considers himself a post-evangelical disciple seeking a Jesus-shaped life and hoping to help the church do the same. He is forever grateful to his friend, Michael Spencer, for giving him an opportunity to write for Internet Monk.
3-D Christmas
20 Dec by
By Chaplain Mike You just can’t stop technology. And apparently you can’t stop evangelicals from thinking that every new or improved technology that comes along should be used to “advance the Gospel.” And so we learn that Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas (Pastor Ed Young) will be offering 21 Christmas services in 3-D at their [...]
“My Lord Katieâ€
20 Dec by
By Chaplain Mike If someone wanted to do an intriguing Hollywood historical drama about a strong woman, holding her own in momentous times, he or she could do worse than to produce a film about Katharina von Bora, the nun who became Martin Luther’s wife. Today, December 20, she is commemorated by Lutherans on their [...]
Open Mic: Two Big Votes in Washington
19 Dec by
By Chaplain Mike Yesterday, the U.S. Congress held well-publicized votes on two controversial pieces of legislation: the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy in the military regarding homosexuality, the “DREAM Act” that would have provided a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children. Though I normally don’t care to [...]
Advent IV: The Honor and Humility of Mary
19 Dec by
By Chaplain Mike Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. • Isaiah 7:14, NIV It’s time again for the annual “Mary” discussion. This is the one time of year when Protestants are forced to consider her as they [...]
Lenny LeBlanc: Christmas Night
17 Dec by
By Chaplain Mike Here’s a new favorite of mine that I’ve enjoyed the past couple of Christmases. From the album, Christmas Night.
More Favorite Christmas Movies
17 Dec by
By Chaplain Mike Jeff, as usual, presented a good, well-defended list of Christmas movies yesterday. One of these days he’s going to make me do a “list” post first so that he can have the last word. Until then . . . Movies on Jeff’s List with which I agree completely . . . A [...]
A Bible You’d Never Find at the Christian Bookstore
15 Dec by
By Chaplain Mike Let’s say you walk into your local bookstore looking for a Bible. You scan the shelves and examine various translations and editions. Many contain 66 books: 39 in the OT and 27 in the NT. In some Bibles there is a section between the OT and NT with additional books called, “Apocrypha” [...]
The Contexts of Faith
15 Dec by
Much Christian piety and spirituality is romantic and unreal in its positiveness. As children of the Enlightenment, we have censored and selected around the voice of darkness and disorientation, seeking to go from strength to strength, from victory to victory. But such a way not only ignores the Psalms; it is a lie in terms [...]
Nouwen on Waiting
14 Dec by
By Chaplain Mike For your contemplation today during this season of Advent, here are some words of profound insight from Henri Nouwen. Advent is the time when we practice the discipline of waiting. We focus our attention on the hope to come. We set our hearts on God’s not-yet-seen promises rather than our unfulfilling circumstances [...]
