by Bill Haley | Sep 1, 2020 | Contemplative Life
Several years ago I had occasion to write a spiritual autobiography. I wouldn’t naturally have done that, but the assignment opened up a surprising opportunity to trace God’s fingerprints in my life and led to deep worship then and now. Something I had to do turned...
by Bill Haley | Aug 31, 2020 | Contemplative Life
This was a uniquely meaningful spiritual practice to undertake, and if you ever feel the desire to take a stab at your own spiritual autobiography, I collected some thoughts on different guidelines and postures that might help you get started. You can find...
by Mary Gardner | Aug 31, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Justice and Mercy
America, a religious nation, has had throughout our history a type of intellectual leader that has been termed the public theologian. Henry Ward Beecher, Abp. Fulton Sheen, the Niebuhrs, Billy Graham, and Fr. Richard Neuhaus are among the most prominent examples....
by Bill Haley | Aug 19, 2020 | Contemplative Life
Recently, in a sermon at The Falls Church Anglican, I finally got the chance to spend some time unpacking quite a few years of thoughts about praying what we’re actually feeling versus what we think we should be feeling. This is an intense time in our country and in...
by Bill Haley | Aug 11, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Spiritual Direction
Maybe it’s a little strong, but it’s probably just about right to say that my spiritual director has saved my life at least twice in the past 15 years. And God has met me, profoundly, a thousand more times through his ministry. Father James, a Trappist monk living...
by Coracle | Jul 21, 2020 | Contemplative Life
On July 16th, 2020, Rev. Karen Curry of Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church offered a workshop on “Poetry as Spiritual Formation.” She facilitates a discussion of her own original poem “Holy, Wholly Holey Ground,” shares how lectio divina can be...
by Coracle | Jul 15, 2020 | Contemplative Life
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...
by Bill Haley | Jun 23, 2020 | Contemplative Life
These are remarkably intense days in an unprecedented year for America. We’ve seen before some of the things we’re living in now, but never all at the same time like this. One writer draws out “a fascinating breakdown of 2020 and its historical parallels (so far):...
by Bill Haley | Jun 18, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Justice and Mercy
What is it to lament? You make a lament when the pain you feel can’t be carried by mere words. You make a lament when you’re so sad about something that you’d rather cry than speak. You make a lament when you’re grieved so deeply that you want to throw-up. You make a...
by Bill Haley | Jun 12, 2020 | Church Unity, Contemplative Life, Justice and Mercy, Peacemaking
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I’m writing to you in the wake of the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd and in the context of ongoing protests across the United States and the world calling for racial justice. I’m a Christian, and also...
by Drew Masterson | Jun 9, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Justice and Mercy, Liturgical Seasons
“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind in...
by Coracle | Jun 8, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Justice and Mercy
Coracle has been deeply committed to the work of racial healing from our inception; God’s Kingdom encompasses all things, people, races, and cultures, and it breaks God’s heart to witness the systemic and sustained devaluation of men and women of color created in His...
by Mary Gardner | May 28, 2020 | Contemplative Life
Download a Free Visio Divina Resource Guide from Mary » Right now, many of us are struggling to pay attention. Psychologist Curt Thompson recently wrote about fatigue and irritability and offered suggestions that may help during this time – including contemplative...
by Rick Campanelli | May 21, 2020 | Contemplative Life
“Two years ago during Lent I felt led, in an unusually clear way, to listen to Jesus’ call to us, “Pray Like This.” It occurred to me, as it never had so much before, that since Jesus instructed that we should use each of these phrases to...
by Bill Haley | May 21, 2020 | Church Unity, Contemplative Life, Creation
This was originally delivered as a sermon at Washington Community Fellowship in the fall of 2010. In the season of autumn, we are often treated with stunning, breath-taking days of beauty. I cannot help but be reminded of the poem “God’s...
by Coracle | May 20, 2020 | Contemplative Life
Are you looking for ways to grow in your relationship with God during this pandemic season (or any season for that matter)? You are in the right place! We have collected some of Coracle’s resources and offerings that deal with that question for you to easily...
by Bill Haley | May 15, 2020 | Contemplative Life
Video Transcript Below: St. Paul offers this testimony. He bears this witness: “I have learned in whatever situation to be content. I know how to be brought low and how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and...
by Coracle | May 11, 2020 | Contemplative Life
May 7th, 2020– Coracle Associate, Barbara Ryan offered a Digital Soundings Seminar on “Handling the Grief of COVID-19 and Other Interruptions: When Life Hurts.” Below, you can listen to or watch the recording of the Seminar and get access to a number of...
by Barbara Ryan | May 11, 2020 | Contemplative Life
Originally written circa 1988 Job 3:24-26 For my sighing comes as bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. For the thing I fear comes upon me, And what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes. “The thing I fear...
by Barbara Ryan | May 7, 2020 | Contemplative Life
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! 2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! These verses could have been penned by Jonah from the belly of the whale, who took Jonah literally to great depths! But who has not...