by Danny Nasry | Nov 26, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.—Zephaniah 3:17“We must understand that God does not ‘love’ us without...
by Coracle | Nov 2, 2021 | Coracle News, Liturgical Seasons
by Coracle’s Community Ministers “For, indeed, everything about is marvelous, and wherever a man turns his gaze he sees the Godhead of the Word and is smitten with awe.” Athanasius of Alexandria In less than 4 weeks, Advent begins, as does a new Liturgical...
by Drew Masterson | May 25, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
The Disciples were in a rut. A week ago, they had been left on a hillside, stiff-necked and gawking into an empty sky after their Lord was taken up from among them to heaven. Before he left, Jesus had once again shattered all their paradigms. Following the...
by Danny Nasry | May 19, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
In this “Simple Soundings” Devotional, Danny Nasry (Coracle Community Minister) reflects on the account of Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven from the book of Acts. He highlights how disorienting this experience would have been for the disciples, who had...
by Bill Haley | Mar 30, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
Matthew 26:36-46 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My...
by Drew Masterson | Mar 29, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
In this “Simple Soundings,” Drew Masterson (Coracle Dir. of Comms & Development) offers a slow, prayerful reading of a classic of English Christian Poetry, “The Dream of the Rood.” The poem itself is an extended reflection on the...
by Drew Masterson | Mar 22, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
Perhaps it will be strange to hear that someone responsible for an organization’s communications might choose to give up words for Lent, but here we are. And while I cannot claim to have walled off every stream of words in my life, I have made a concerted effort to...
by Drew Masterson | Mar 11, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
In this “Space for God” devotional, Drew Masterson (Coracle Dir. of Comms & Development) guides us through the ancient Old English poem “The Dream of the Rood.” This anonymous poem dates back to the 8th Century and tells the story of the...
by Coracle | Jan 5, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
by Bill Simmons, President & CEO of American Leprosy Missions What is that nagging feeling I have? Why do I feel a heaviness in my heart? Something is clawing at my mind, clouding my eyes, preventing me from seeing the road ahead. As this year draws to a close,...
by Ken Wettig | Dec 24, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
Most Christians in America have experienced some variation of the following scene during a recent Christmas Eve. You just left a Christmas Eve service, having sung “O Holy Night” with all of your might, tears streaming down your face astounded by the...
by Coracle | Dec 21, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
In this Advent Offering– recorded on December 17, 2020– Bill Haley guides us through a worshipful experience of Advent and Christmas carols new and old, to help us encounter anew the gift of Christ’s birth and to whet our appetites for His second Advent. If...
by Bill Haley | Dec 17, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
It’s not a question of “If?” but rather “When?” and “Where?” Is it going to be in Safeway, or the Starbucks, or while wandering the hall of some shopping mall, past pilgrims lugging their gifts of Godiva, fragrances, and merino wool? It’ll probably happen after the...
by Coracle | Dec 11, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
On Dec 9th, Drew Masterson (Coracle Dir. of Communications & Development) and Rick Mastroianni (Coracle Spiritual Director) discussed the role of the imagination and creativity in the Christian life. They share Rick’s poem “Joseph Speaks” as an...
by Drew Masterson | Dec 2, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
The Advent Season presents us with the invitation to slow down, to shear away the clutter and noise of our lives enough to dwell on some of the richest themes in human existence. We can observe how these themes play out in the grand drama of Scripture, as well as in...
by Drew Masterson | Jun 9, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Justice and Mercy, Liturgical Seasons
“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind in...
by Ken Wettig | Apr 17, 2020 | Church Unity, Liturgical Seasons
“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” – Proverbs 16:9 We knew it was coming, but now that it has passed we can confirm it. This Easter was strange. What began suddenly as a strange season of Lent culminated in a...
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 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 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 Coracle | Jan 6, 2020 | Church Unity, Contemplative Life, For the World, Justice and Mercy, Liturgical Seasons, Pilgrimage
A Christmas Letter from Nate Bacon of InnerCHANGE, our partner ministry in Guatemala. Dear Family and Friends, Christmas as a time of giving is a beautiful thing! Sadly, our consumerist society has warped that wonderful ideal, into a bit of a buying frenzy which can...
