Journal

Category: Contemplative Life

A Letter from God

Our friend Jay Jakub found this awhile back and was kind enough to pass it on. How encouraging! How true! My Child, You may not know me, but I know everything about you. Psalm 139:1 I know when you sit down and when you rise up. Psalm 139:2 I am familiar with all your...

A Prayer to Open Lent

This is one of my all-time favorite poems and prayers, from a man well-acquainted with God, and with sin.  Regarding sin, who cannot agree with his refrain, “I have more”. Yet it ends in hope and freedom from fear, which is precisely the destination of journey of Lent...

Take, Eat, Be : Living the Eucharist

Mother Teresa said once “If I can give you any advice, I beg you to get closer to the Eucharist.” JRR Tolkien wrote in a letter to his son Christopher, “Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the...

A Good Man, A Good Life, A Good Death

On December 31, 2013, Bill Scherer, father to Tara and father-in-law to me, entered the larger Life.  He was a founding board member of Coracle, and instrumental in enabling Corhaven to come into reality, among so many other things.  Below is the homily that I...
And He Came

And He Came

Almost 20 years ago, I had three weeks in between graduating from college and heading off to seminary.   And one of those weeks I spent with my dad, canoeing the chain of 10,000 lakes in the vast, wild, and absolutely unpeopled Boundary Waters between Minnesota and...

Stars in Spiral Song

“Stars in Spiral Song” Penetrate me with passion, pure and holy flame. Wild and free, galaxies spin cast forth, strewn like dice loaded and shot wide; a sweep and stars dance comets sing, take flight on sparkling wing to find wonders, and praise Your name....

It Spreads for Thee

It Spreads for Thee by Bill Haley Dark and warmly damp waits the wood While white mist hovers thick with scent. Solace and solitude kiss Give rise to strength and rebirth To dance again. Hidden ‘tween the trunks of trees Protected lies the slitted door, Veiled in the...

Come and See

I recently had the privilege of leading a small memorial service for my great aunt and uncle and shared these words below. I hope they minister to you, as they ministered to me and my family in our time of grief. I was reading scripture earlier this week and God led...

The Stones of Prayers and Dreams

The Stones of Prayers and Dreams by Bill Haley We walked through rain and dripping heather Conscious of the gift of the place, Aware that “together” was our greatest gift. So the weather could not dampen our joy On that Emerald Isle, The place of prayers and dreams....

A Transforming Internship

When Bill asked me to write about my experience as an intern this summer, I felt overwhelmed. How could I begin to put into words the gift that was my ten weeks at Corhaven? I can’t. However, I can tell you one thing and that is this: my internship at Corhaven...