Dear fellow-pilgrims, as is often with these letters, I like to finish by offering a deep treat at the end, so read all the way to the and find out what it is this time. And as you know, from time to time I like to offer a more personal letter to let you know of things that, well, I’d like you to know! And this time to let you know what drives me to prayer.
There’s so much to pray for regarding Coracle that I personally am really looking forward to our annual “Praying for Your ‘New’ Year” Retreat at Corhaven on Saturday, Sept 12. I bet many of you have things coming up in these next few months or year that inspire a holy fear and that you want to pray about too, and even dedicate a day to pray about it as it begins. That’s what this retreat is for, and I feel as though I need it for Coracle as much as ever. And all for good reasons. So let me share some updates and what’s going on and what’s coming up.
Slowing Down, Staffing Up: The growth and scope of Coracle as well as the ministry of Corhaven is a bit shocking, and certainly a bit overwhelming. So as opposed to continuing to race forward, we’re going to simply try to keep our steady pace of solid offerings, spiritual direction, personal retreats, and then devote some time to add some folks to pay greater attention to a couple of key areas. Stay tuned, and pray for us.
Fall Retreats and Soundings Seminars: We’ve got our fall retreat schedule up online, including retreats on “Becoming Familiar with God’s Voice to You”, “True Self–False Self–Christ’s Self”, and “JESUS the MAN”, some of our most powerful offerings. Register early. Two Soundings Seminars in NoVA are on as well, including one exploring Pope Francis’ recent encyclical “Laudato Si’” on creation care on October 20 at Saint Agnes Catholic Church.
New Things on Web! Check it out, ‘like’ us, stay in touch with our new Facebook page, and see the gorgeous pics of Corhaven and more by visiting our new Instagram page! And, we’ve got an easy way to get all our audio postings in one place on our SoundCloud page. Also, check out our new calendar view on our own website to make it easier to see what we’re offering and out doing, cuz there’s more of it. Speaking of that….
More Silence in NoVA: You know we offer opportunities for silent prayer a couple of Tuesday nights a month…well, the Beltway certainly needs more ‘quiet in the chaos’ to create space to hear God, so early this fall we’ll begin offering this on a couple of Wednesday nights as well. Stay tuned.
The Slave Cemetery Project here has seen a lot of quiet work going on over the summer thanks largely to Sarah Kohrs. This fall we expect to take some major strides towards to goal of permanently recognizing the dignity of these brothers and sisters at rest culminating in a powerful service of recognition, remembrance, and repentance.
Interns…Yay!! Wow, was our first intern, Abigail Hull, a blessing and an eye-opener. We had such a good experience (and so did she) that we’re offering another internship for summer of 2016. If you know anyone who would be interested in doing what we do with us at Corhaven for a couple of months, please reach out to us.
That’s a lot, and the funny thing is, I don’t even feel like I said half of it. But for now it’s enough. I hope we’ll see you at some of these things, or as always, on a personal retreat at Corhaven. They continue to be one of the prime ways we see God encountering those who come out to find him. These are just a few of the testimonies from May alone!
So would you keep praying with us, that God will give us what we need to do all this, and lead us step by step as we take the next clear step? And if you’d like to help by supporting us financially, please, that would would be great and actually really helpful. All this growth means more costs and a growing budget!
So dear friends, thank you. Thank you for reading this far. Thank you being “in the boat” together on this journey. Thank you for keeping on showing up. Thank you for your prayers. And thank God! Indeed, in his own words, he is the one “who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think!” (Eph 3.20) Amen and indeed to that!
PS: OK, here’s the promised treat. I heard this while I was driving in one early morning to preach at The Falls Church Anglican. It was Jean Vanier, the founder of the L’Arche Community and a modern saint, being interviewed on “The Wisdom of Tenderness”. It was so good, so moving, so inspiring, it made we want to be a better man, and a better follower of Jesus, a deeper disciple. His last word was priceless to me, and continues to roll around in my heart and is what I aspire to in my better, clearest moments. Later that morning, mine was a better sermon for having listened to this interview first!