by Drew Masterson | May 4, 2020 | Contemplative Life
It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For...
by Coracle | Apr 27, 2020 | Contemplative Life
On April 23, 2020, in the thick of the global health crisis sparked by the Coronavirus, Rev. Bill Haley delivered this Digital Soundings Seminar as a means of reframing the current cultural moment in light of the realities of the global and historic church. Please...
by Bill Haley | Apr 23, 2020 | Contemplative Life
The opportunity for a father and son to go fly fishing for a trout is always a good thing, but in this case, it was for so much more. My own dad had died not even five days before, in the season of COVID-19. While his death was not caused by this particular...
by Bill Haley | Apr 16, 2020 | Contemplative Life
On April 16th, 2020, I had the opportunity to share 4 pillars of self-care for Christian leaders in a crisis with members of the Accord Network, an organization dedicated to unifying God’s people to serve the world’s poor with excellence. Please feel free...
by Coracle | Apr 15, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Creation
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...
by Drew Masterson | Apr 14, 2020 | Contemplative Life
In this “Simple Soundings” reflection, Drew Masterson shares why we return to familiar stories even when we already know what will happen. He ends with a poem from Richard Wilbur, “The Reader.”Explore Other “Simple Soundings”...
by Mary Gardner | Apr 13, 2020 | Contemplative Life
How might we, as Christians, be a visible presence to the communities where we live? Aside from checking on our neighbors, family, and friends, what might we do to share the love of Jesus with others? As followers of Jesus, we are people of HOPE! We have good news...
by Bill Haley | Apr 9, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
In this “Simple Soundings,” Bill offers a brief Maundy Thursday reflection on how we might harness our anxieties to drive us to prayer and a deeper relationship with God.Explore Other “Simple Soundings”...
by Bill Haley | Apr 1, 2020 | Contemplative Life
In this, our first “Simple Soundings” devotional of the 2020 pandemic, Bill Haley offers a stirring call to embrace God’s invitation to us in the midst of the difficulties of adjusting to pandemic life, specifically, living “sheltered in...
by Karla Petty | Mar 30, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Pilgrimage
Many of you have probably seen this widely-circulated Coronavirus meme: It’s funny because it’s true, almost painfully so. Over the past few weeks, every single pilgrimage that Coracle had planned for this year has been canceled, postponed or called seriously into...
by Bill Haley | Mar 18, 2020 | Church Unity, Contemplative Life
This most recent coronavirus is not the first humankind has had to contend with, and it won’t be the last. This pandemic serves as a not-so-subtle reminder that indeed all things are fallen and frail including our bodies, our planet, and our systems and structures. ...
by Coracle | Mar 18, 2020 | Contemplative Life
Here is a simple but thoughtful email template the Haley’s used to reach out to their neighbors in order to better share the love of Christ in practical ways. We hope it will be useful to you! Dear neighbors! Well, these are crazy days with the...
by Drew Masterson | Mar 13, 2020 | Contemplative Life
Over the last two weeks, my wife, Ginny, and I heeded the directives of medical professionals to “self-isolate” after returning from a trip to Northern Italy at the end of February. Thankfully, we have not exhibited any symptoms of COVID-19 and we will be re-entering...
by Bill Haley | Mar 6, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Spiritual Direction
It’s been almost two weeks since the news broke about the founder of L’Arche, Jean Vanier, and it hit many of us very hard, myself very much included. Sadly It’s become a bit ordinary for revelations to come out about the deep misdoings of Christian leaders, but...
by Drew Masterson | Feb 19, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
For more of my life than I would like to admit, the season of Lent primarily signified the time of year when I would give up sodas as a last ditch effort to get in shape for baseball season. In fact, I would tend to forget about Lent until I spotted my Catholic...
by Bill Haley | Feb 14, 2020 | Contemplative Life
It feels a crazy time. For me at the moment, it’s all too easy to be often distracted, perhaps even a bit disoriented. There are always the challenges of work and family, and yet right now there is the particularly disappointing and even depressing state of our...
by Karla Petty | Feb 5, 2020 | Contemplative Life
2020 is now well under way. Whether you made resolutions or not, the language of starting over and afresh surrounds us immediately following Christmas and well into the first months of the new year. Come January 1, we are bombarded with messages about becoming new...
by Bill Haley | Jan 17, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Justice and Mercy
This coming Sunday is “Sanctity of Human Life Sunday”, or “Pro-Life Sunday”, kicking off a week of events, rallies, and protests (and counter-protests) for Christians and churches around the country and particularly in Washington, DC. I’m grateful for these...
by Wade Ballou | Jan 14, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
We’re still close to the beginning of a new year and decade, and as always, beginnings are invitations. So it is with the Christian year. Advent leads to Christmas which in turn becomes Epiphany. Later in the year we enter into Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. We conclude...
by Drew Masterson | Jan 7, 2020 | Contemplative Life
At Coracle, we aim “to inspire and enable people to be the presence of God in the brokenness of the world through Spiritual Formation for Kingdom Action.” With that mission clearly stated, it is fair to wonder why we would choose to gather once a month to discuss a...