by Erin Clifford | Mar 27, 2017 | Contemplative Life
“Don’t the Bible say we must love everybody?” “O, the Bible! To be sure, it says a great many things; but then, nobody ever thinks of doing them.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin Whether you are a new follower of Jesus, or have been one for many...
by Bill Haley | Mar 26, 2017 | Contemplative Life
“Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people.” Neh. 5.19 Pray and Be Strange for God’s sake, your good, and others…and expect costly opposition A few years ago I had the opportunity to make my first trip to China, to Shanghai. Two things...
by Scott Buresh | Mar 17, 2017 | Contemplative Life
Fifteen years ago my wife Peggy and I had the incredible opportunity of spending two weeks with Dallas Willard and a community of brothers and sisters at the Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California. As that week progressed we were given...
by Coracle | Mar 13, 2017 | Contemplative Life
Listen to Bill’s semon given at the Falls Church Anglican on March 12, 2017 on 1 Peter 1: Coracle · Born Again To A Living Hope
by Karla Petty | Mar 9, 2017 | Contemplative Life
“Originality consists in returning to the origin.” – Antoni Gaudí I hadn’t heard of Antoni Gaudí before spring of 2004 when I first visited Barcelona, but you can’t miss him once you’re there. Of the many works this master architect designed, his pièce de...
by Coracle | Mar 8, 2017 | Contemplative Life
By: Joe Riffe I hate failing. It’s excruciating. This was true when I was young. I hated failing at school or at sports or high school attempts to be “cool.” Becoming an adult hasn’t changed that fact. My opportunities for failure have just changed. Now they are work,...
by Erin Clifford | Mar 1, 2017 | Contemplative Life
Thomas Merton said: “We are not converted only once in our lives but many times, and this endless series of large and small conversions, inner revolutions, leads to our transformation in Christ.” As a child, I was considered a Pollyanna in our family. A...
by Coracle | Feb 27, 2017 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
Liturgical seasons can act as guideposts through the year and Lent is a particularly special one. It’s easy to get caught up in the “sackcloth and ashes” part of Lent, with all the self-denial and focus on our own sin. This is important to...
by Scott Buresh | Feb 23, 2017 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
This coming Wednesday, March 1, marks the beginning of the Lenten season this year. I used to think of Lent primarily as a somber time of suffering, self-denial, repentance. In other words a time for me to feel great sorrow which for me also meant guilt and shame over...
by Coracle | Feb 21, 2017 | Church Unity, Contemplative Life
Bill Haley’s sermon from Sunday Feb 21, 2017 at The Falls Church Anglican on falling in love with Jesus, and how that is an integral and important first step in following Him.
by Coracle | Feb 16, 2017 | Contemplative Life, For the World
By: Margot Eyring, Coracle Spiritual Director Margot is a regular volunteer at Our Daily Bread Breakfast Ministry in DC and Health and Wellness Professional. She writes on how Prayer, Compassion and Paying Attention have been helpful to her in her spiritual life. ...
by Coracle | Feb 7, 2017 | Contemplative Life
Several years ago, my wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary with a getaway in southern Utah. Where we stayed, we were bordered by the Colorado River on one side, and on the other by the dramatic red sandstone structures that make up the landscape. One morning...
by Coracle | Feb 6, 2017 | Contemplative Life
Bill Haley’s sermon from January 22, 2017 given at The Falls Church Anglican in Falls Church, VA, on the importance of valuing life at every stage.
by Bill Haley | Jan 26, 2017 | Contemplative Life
The power of God was shown most clearly at the resurrection of Jesus. God defeated death. The love of God was shown most clearly on the cross of Christ. God poured out his life for us. And Jesus said, “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another”...
by Coracle | Jan 20, 2017 | Contemplative Life
By: Desiree Barker Coracle Spiritual Director, Northern Virginia I will begin by saying that I did not grow up keeping a diary or a journal. I had two younger sisters and writing down personal things in a diary was not a safe activity at our house! While in college, I...
by Coracle | Jan 17, 2017 | Contemplative Life
By: Heather Strube Coracle Spiritual Director Baltimore, MD “Friendship forms. Friendship is a much underestimated aspect of spirituality. It’s every bit as significant as prayer and fasting. Like the sacramental use of water and bread and wine, friendship...
by Coracle | Jan 13, 2017 | Contemplative Life
By: Giovanna Meek (Coracle Intern, Summer 2016) “Spiritual Formation” often gets a bad rap: considered some new age, non-Christ-centered effort or, alternatively, raised to the level of the most important aspect of a Christian’s life, but to be pursued in an...
by Karla Petty | Jan 11, 2017 | Contemplative Life
Right on the heels of Epiphany, appropriately, I’d like to ask: Has something familiar ever suddenly, or maybe over time, become totally new to you? Have you ever asked yourself what shifted that allowed that newness to flood into something so familiar? For me, it was...
by Coracle | Jan 10, 2017 | Contemplative Life
By: Yonce Shelton Coracle Spiritual Director December 2016 I believe because I go to the woods and am met. I go not to get away from, but to draw closer to. I go with desire. Or a question. Or the sense that I carry something. Or three words on a sticky note. I...
by Bill Haley | Jan 3, 2017 | Contemplative Life
2017 is going to be a big, strange year, full of challenges, with much uncertainty. You feel it. We all do. I do, deeply. And just like it is true at the beginning of every new year, the world needs more people who are alive and strong in God to powerfully be his...
