by Danny Nasry | Jul 6, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Creation
I hope your summer thus far has been a gift, and full of the promise of more gifts just around the corner. Perhaps you have a little getaway coming up, or you just returned from a 4th of July celebration. Or maybe you’re enjoying simpler gifts, like the powerful...
by Danny Nasry | Apr 27, 2021 | Creation
“No matter how urban our life, our bodies live by farming; we come from the earth and return to it, and so we live in agriculture as we live in flesh.” – Wendell Berry (The Art of the Commonplace) One of the most important questions a professor asked me in...
by Coracle | Apr 21, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Creation
86. From Aurora LeighBy Elizabeth Barrett Browning TRUTH, so far, in my book;—the truth which drawsThrough all things upwards,—that a twofold worldMust go to a perfect cosmos. Natural thingsAnd spiritual,—who separates those twoIn art, in morals, or the social...
by Bill Haley | Oct 22, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Creation
I sojourned to south-central Montana in mid-September. The break came at the end of an unexpectedly intense seven weeks, and before a seven-week stretch that I knew would be intense, and unexpectedly became much more so. I needed this time to rest, to immerse myself...
by Tara Haley | May 27, 2020 | Creation, Justice and Mercy
“The name of our proper connection to the earth is ‘good work,’ for good work involves much giving of honor. It honors the source of its materials; it honors the place where it is done; it honors the art by which it is done; it honors the thing that...
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 | 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 Sarah Kohrs | Mar 23, 2020 | Creation, Justice and Mercy
I love puddles. On my way to volunteer with the local food pantry recently, every road into town had a puddle here or there. Plump robins and similar spring-happy birds were ruffling in the water, droplets careening off their feathers into splashes that mimicked the...
by Sarah Kohrs | Oct 14, 2019 | Creation
Graveyard. When you hear that word, what comes to mind? Perhaps neatly mown grass—short blades interrupted by granite headstones carved with names and scrollwork. Perhaps vases of flowers, trinkets, or similar tributes to the dead settled near the stones? Perhaps...
by Drew Masterson | Sep 24, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Creation
Robert Frost once defined poetry as a “way of remembering what it would impoverish us to forget.” Poetry emerged as the first form of literary writing in human history way back in the 3rd Millennium BCE, and indeed the vast majority of ancient literature comes down to...
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 Bill Haley | Sep 20, 2019 | Creation
It was surely a surprise 10 years ago when God invited us to move from the inner-city of DC to rural Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley. It was unexpected, and unexpectedly good, a grace. It was as if the Lord was saying to us, “Thank you for your heart and service...
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 Drew Masterson | Jul 1, 2019 | Creation, For the World, Justice and Mercy, Peacemaking, Pilgrimage, Vocation
Whether you are new to the Coracle community or have been journeying with Coracle for a decade, at some point I imagine you have been struck by the broad array of offerings and causes this ministry has chosen to make available and to pursue. I might as well list them...
by Rick Mastroianni | Jul 9, 2018 | Contemplative Life, Creation
On June 30, Kit and Greg Elmer hosted a creation retreat for some nature-starved urban pilgrims. I was seeking refuge from my fast-paced electronic, mechanical and artificial world. The Elmer’s home has a backyard gate that’s like Professor Kirke’s wardrobe...
by Sarah Kohrs | May 27, 2015 | Creation, Justice and Mercy
As we gathered up the tools, rain splattered the tarp, stretched tightly across the tools on the Haley’s farm truck. Rain doused the orange flames, which sizzled and popped among the remaining embers of the burn pile. Rain drenched like a cleansing shower as I took...
by Tara Haley | May 26, 2014 | Creation
Rhubarb is coming, and it’s coming fast this year in the Corhaven Garden. Last weekend, during our Creation Care Retreat, retreatants made this recipe and a complete meal with fresh produce. In case you were not there, here is the recipe we used for this...
by Tara Haley | Feb 4, 2014 | Creation
Retreatants often ask about the food that is served at our retreats. As the Director of Creative Care, I make our meals using ingredients from local farms and gardens, including the garden here at Corhaven. Here are a couple of the recipes from recent retreats:...
by Coracle | Oct 9, 2013 | Creation, Vocation
Who knew a farm could be so interesting? Coracle gathered a group of us for a tour of Polyface Farm in August, where they are taking a lead from God’s design of nature to produce delicious food, excellent in every respect. Polyface, nestled in a beautiful area of...
by Coracle | May 30, 2013 | Creation
Once again, the recent spring Field to Fork meal was remarkable, a feast for all the senses. Every time people come to Corhaven for an event, I feel a sense of relief. Finally I can meet the people I have been contacting for some time, and everyone has such an easy...
