Journal

Author: Abigail Whitehouse

“Praying with Our Tears”

“Praying with Our Tears”

In this “Space for God” reflection, Rev. Abigail Whitehouse guides us through a prayerful exercise to help us embrace our places of tenderness in order to more deeply encounter our God who wept. Those who sow in tears will reap in joy, and we hope this...
What We Need to Nourish Our Souls

What We Need to Nourish Our Souls

My husband and I live on an Air Force base, and a few weeks ago, I went for an afternoon walk along the trail that circles the runway. I had just purchased a jogging stroller from my sister’s neighbor and wanted to give it a try, but the timing was terrible and the...

Caring for You and Creation

Last week I spent my day off doing a deep spring cleaning. I swept the dirty corners of my room, dusted-off countertops and opened all the windows of my house to let the fresh air in; and once everything was back in its place – dusted, cleaned, polished and...

Abigail’s Creation Care Resource Guide

Looking for books on creation care? Want a new app for the summer? I’d like to highlight a few creation care resources that have been recommended to me or that I’ve found to be useful. 1. Making Peace with the Land. I read this book with Tara last summer...

Rest from Restlessness

I’ve been feeling restless recently. I chalked it up to the fact that it was my last semester of grad school and that I was juggling a demanding part-time job with school work and decisions about the future. That it was just this season and my circumstances –...

Come and See

I recently had the privilege of leading a small memorial service for my great aunt and uncle and shared these words below. I hope they minister to you, as they ministered to me and my family in our time of grief. I was reading scripture earlier this week and God led...

First Summer Field Education Reflection

As part of Abigail’s internship, Duke asked her to collect answers to several questions about Coracle. Below are the questions and answers from the Coracle staff that reflect their thoughts on the ministry. Responses from Bill, Director of Coracle and Corhaven;...

A Transforming Internship

When Bill asked me to write about my experience as an intern this summer, I felt overwhelmed. How could I begin to put into words the gift that was my ten weeks at Corhaven? I can’t. However, I can tell you one thing and that is this: my internship at Corhaven...

“Creation Care as Spiritual Formation”

While I was interning with Coracle at Corhaven, Bill asked me to write about the connection between spiritual formation and creation care. And after a bit of thinking, and writing, I’ve come to this conclusion: that creation care is spiritual formation. End stop. When...

“Creation Care as Kingdom Action…How?”

Too often we might think of “creation care” as something that we can opt to do – something for people with a natural “green thumb,” a desire to garden or an environmentalist impulse. We can easily forget that creation care is both a mandate from God and a form of...
Resources on Creation Care

Resources on Creation Care

Below is a list of articles (in quotations) and books (italicized) for those who are interested in learning more about creation care. -Abigail Hull On the theology behind Creation Care “Wendell Berry, the Christian Soul and Creation...
Cleaning Out the House

Cleaning Out the House

In Psalm 21:4, it says that David “asked life” from God and God “gave it to him – length of days forever and ever,” as the New King James renders it. When I read those words last week, I was struck by David’s request. He wanted...
The Light in the Coop

The Light in the Coop

Tara and I cleaned out the chicken coop this week – and by “cleaned out,” I mean deep-cleaned, the kind of cleaning you do once a year with brushes that scour and lots of bleach.  In this case, we didn’t use bleach because a batch of fifteen new baby chicks is on its...

A review of “Surrender to Love”

In his book Surrender to Love: Discovering the Heart of Christian Spirituality, David Benner argues that surrendering to Divine Love is the key to spiritual growth and genuine transformation.  In fact, Benner goes so far as to say that “the deepest need for all human...

Welcoming Weakness

I recently listened to an interview with Jean Vanier, the founder of the L’Arche communities, and was struck by a particular question he posed. He asked: “How can we welcome fully the weakness of another if we haven’t welcomed our own weakness?” The question...

Begin the Song Exactly Where You Are

“Singing Bowl” by Malcolm Guite Begin the song exactly where you are, Remain within the world of which you’re made. Call nothing common in the earth or air, Accept it all and let it be for good. Start with the very breath you breathe in now, This moment’s pulse, this...