The Internet Monk is with his Lord Tonight (and I miss him already)

Going through the queue and I just got this news:

Michael Spencer, 1956-2010
April 5, 2010 by Chaplain Mike

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.

That post was followed today by this:

In Memoriam

It is thus, if there is any rule, that we ought to die--neither as victim nor as fanatic, but as the seafarer who can greet with an equal eye the deep that he is entering, and the shore that he must leave." — E. M. Forster

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. . . . .

Go to the blog to read the rest.

Chaplain Mike, please forgive the epic cut and paste from your posts. The Monk discipled me over the distance, often causing me to examine my assumptions and always calling me to open my heart. I’m going to miss this brother.

God of grace and glory,
we remember before you this day our brother Michael.
We thank you for giving him to us to know and to love
as a companion on our earthly pilgrimage.
In your boundless compassion, console us who mourn.
Give us faith to see in death the gate of eternal life,
so that in quiet confidence we may continue our course on earth,
until, by your call,
we are reunited with those who have gone before.

Into your hands,
O merciful Savior, we commend your servant Michael.
We humbly ask you to look on him as  a sheep of your own fold,
a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming.
Receive him into the arms of your mercy,
into the blessed rest of everlasting peace,
and into the glorious company of the saints in light.
Amen.

Posted via email from Ferndale Tonight