Journal

Tag: Nature

SOUNDINGS: “To Become Luminous”

SOUNDINGS: “To Become Luminous”

Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being, so utterly, that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us, and be so in us, that every soul we come in...
“Everyday Beauty”

“Everyday Beauty”

In this “Space for God: Beauty,” Rev. Mary Gardner (Coracle Spiritual Director) invites us to consider how God speaks to us through encounters with everyday beauty. Drawing together visual art, photography, music, and Scripture, Mary guides us into a rich time of...
Let Heaven and Nature Sing

Let Heaven and Nature Sing

At the end of February, I attended the Coracle Fellowship in Baltimore retreat on the Eucharist.  During our time of Silence and Solitude, I felt compelled to go outside for a walk.  I really tried to ignore that feeling.  I’m not familiar with the area, and I didn’t...
“The Meaning of Pilgrimage”

“The Meaning of Pilgrimage”

In this “Space for God” devotional, Sarah Kohrs (Dir. of Corhaven Graveyard) guides us through the key themes of a spiritual pilgrimage, filtered through her family’s recent pilgrimage to Native American reservations in the Southwest United...

“Holy Week from Corhaven Graveyard”

In this “Space for God” devotional, Sarah Kohrs (Director of Corhaven Graveyard) guides us through an immersive virtual tour of the Graveyard, a historic burial ground for two dozen formerly enslaved persons. She uses scripture, nature, and silence to help...
“Winter Beauty”

“Winter Beauty”

In this “Space for God” devotional, Rev. Bill Haley also makes space for beauty.  In particular, he invites us into a contemplative stroll through music, poetry, and natural beauty woven together by the theme of Winter.  We hope it is a blessing and a...
Beauty for Ballast: A New Coracle Initiative

Beauty for Ballast: A New Coracle Initiative

Blaise Pascal once wrote, “In difficult times carry something beautiful in your heart.”  This seems vitally important as we all continue through difficult times brought on by the pandemic, political strife, and racial brokenness.  In a boat, ballast is the weight...
At Our Feet and Face to Face

At Our Feet and Face to Face

This essay was written after a 16-month trip around the world I was blessed to take in 1994.  The lessons contained within are as true as ever, and I hope they are a blessing to you as they remain to me! We live in a world of wonders.  We live in a world of jewels. ...
What the Trees Said

What the Trees Said

I sojourned to south-central Montana in mid-September.  The break came at the end of an unexpectedly intense seven weeks, and before a seven-week stretch that I knew would be intense, and unexpectedly became much more so.  I needed this time to rest, to immerse myself...
A Bikepacking Pilgrimage

A Bikepacking Pilgrimage

by Freddy Adams, 2018 Coracle Fellow Last month I set off for a 10-day cycling adventure.  The first part I did with a friend through the Shenandoah Valley, and the other part I did solo down the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I have had this approximate route on an unofficial...
“Gifts” – A Poem by Ann Bodling

“Gifts” – A Poem by Ann Bodling

by Ann Bodling, Coracle Spiritual Director In this strange, disorienting, sometimes-hopeful sometimes-fearful, sometimes-sad time, I can forget. The gifts are here, as always. The Presence of God is here, as always. To recognize them I need to notice, as always. And...
A Coracle Fellow Reimagines Psalm 148

A Coracle Fellow Reimagines Psalm 148

Alice Findler, a 2018 graduate of the Coracle Fellowship, took the opportunity to draw her passion for photographing the natural world together with her love of Psalm 148.  Here is what she had to say about her endeavor: This project is an appreciation of the Lord’s...
Walking as Spiritual Practice

Walking as Spiritual Practice

by Ann Bodling Coracle Spiritual Director A couple of weeks ago, a friend asked me what my spiritual practices have been lately.  I was caught off guard and mumbled something about reading and contemplative prayer but, at the same time, I felt like I was forgetting...
The Warm Hope of a Cold Spring

The Warm Hope of a Cold Spring

“A cold spring: the violet was flawed on the lawn. For two weeks or more the trees hesitated; the little leaves waited, carefully indicating their characteristics. Finally a grave green dust settled over your big and aimless hills… The infant oak-leaves swung through...

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...