by Coracle | Sep 24, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Creation
A poem by Julie Harrison Eastwood Written during the first Coracle Fellowship retreat in January, on a grassy little island just big enough to sit on, beside the water. Forgiveness is Love, said the winter-swollen creek. Impatience is the brush-tinder for every bad...
by Coracle | Sep 23, 2019 | Contemplative Life
In mid-May of this year, 2019 Coracle Fellow and accomplished painter, Carolyn Marshall Wright, sustained a serious concussion. The injury, from which she is still recovering, left her largely confined to her home for the next four months, where she alternated between...
by Bill Haley | Sep 17, 2019 | Contemplative Life
I imagine that many of you, like me, did not come from a sacramental tradition. Perhaps you find yourself in one now and still have questions when it comes time on Sunday for “Communion,” “The Lord’s Supper,” “The...
by Kelly Gould | Sep 10, 2019 | Contemplative Life
As we approach the halfway point of a year of gathering together, I reflect on what I thought this year would be and what its reality has been. When I discovered the Fellows program, by accident really, I immediately heard God whisper my name, “Kelly, this is what we...
by Abigail Whitehouse | Aug 27, 2019 | Contemplative Life
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...
by Karla Petty | Aug 20, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Pilgrimage
I. Kyrie II. Gloria III. Credo IV. Sanctus and Benedictus V. Agnus Dei We’ve just finished another Coracle pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain. This time, we walked along the Camino Portuguese using the Coastal Route option. It leads you for...
by Coracle | Jul 29, 2019 | Church Unity, Contemplative Life
Father James has been my spiritual director for over 20 years, and my life is unrecognizable without his ministry (see more about that here in “What is Spiritual Direction”). In a recent session we were talking about the polarized moment our country is living...
by Drew Masterson | Jul 25, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Creation
Before you read the quote from C.S. Lewis below, I highly recommend that you watch this performance of J.S. Bach’s Fugue in G Minor, commonly called the Little Fugue. Pay attention to how the opening lines of the piece ripple through different registers of the...
by Bill Haley | Jul 18, 2019 | Contemplative Life
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of speaking to about 20 college students from The Falls Church Anglican who were back for the summer or getting ready to enter freshman year. I was basically told ‘talk about whatever you’d like,’ so I chose to reflect back...
by Karla Petty | Jul 15, 2019 | Contemplative Life
It was a dark room with about 16 other people in it. Unseasonably hot outside, the air conditioning was going full blast, and I shivered under a duct as I awaited Rose Cousins, Canadian singer/songwriter, at a small venue in suburbia. Her 2017 release Natural...
by Coracle | Jul 7, 2019 | Contemplative Life
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...
by Karla Petty | Jun 4, 2019 | Contemplative Life
In February of 2018, we held a retreat at Corhaven in which Virginia Watson, a then-94 year old woman sat with us for a day and shared some of her wisdom, gained through a lifetime of walking closely with Jesus. On May 24, 2019, she joined Jesus in Heaven. For the...
by Coracle | May 28, 2019 | Contemplative Life
by Kurt Bodling Near the end of John’s Gospel, on the evening of the very first Easter, Jesus said to His disciples, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And He breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John...
by Scott Buresh | Apr 2, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Creation
“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels, praise Him all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you shining stars! Praise Him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens. Let...
by Coracle | Apr 1, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Creation
By Ann Bodling, Coracle Spiritual Director Some time ago, a spiritual director spoke the words to my husband…”Own who you are!” But what to do when we don’t remember very clearly, when forces beyond our control cause us to forget? The little...
by Coracle | Mar 26, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Creation, Vocation
by Carla Mueller, Coracle Associate Last fall, I felt the Lord inviting me into an extended season of rest. 30+ years of performance orientation and a career of fulfilling that drive for achievement working in a Los Angeles public school had left me exhausted. Dry....
by Bill Haley | Mar 22, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Justice and Mercy
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have a lot to do! Most people I know really want to make a difference in the world and make it a better place for more people. Many of us struggle to pray more and be with God more deeply as the deepest way we respond to the...
by Wade Ballou | Mar 20, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
Friends, we are well into our season of Lent. I have come to see this season as an invitation by Christ to lean in to be in him and with him in union with the Father, through the strength of the Holy Spirit. The idea of Lent and its practices have developed over many...
by Karla Petty | Mar 13, 2019 | Contemplative Life
Bedtime stories. Epic ballads. Campfire tales. They are the stories that never grow old, that fade in one form only to emerge again arrayed with different adjectives, a different detail or two, but recognizable to anyone. When we were very young, my older brother and...
by Bill Haley | Mar 8, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Creation
I love Lent. Somehow it gives me the opportunity again to honestly own what I deeply know––I am a sinner, and sin. In the words of the confession from the 1559 Book of Common Prayer (see below) which we sometimes still say, “There is no health in us”. Lent reminds...
