by Wade Ballou | Mar 15, 2018 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
The season of Lent often coincides with tax season and these days we can find ourselves sorting through receipts and bank statements taking stock of our year financially, as well as taking stock of our interior lives. Any examination connected to federal income taxes...
by Bill Haley | Feb 9, 2018 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. – John 15:9 As we move into Lent next Wednesday, here are some thoughts that are helpful to keep firmly in mind and heart. When you’re going to truly consider and climb down into the depth of...
by Coracle | Feb 7, 2018 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
As we approach the season of Lent one week from today, please see this printable PDF that we put together of some resources we really like. We want to particularly point you toward An American Lent, an online tool which we helped develop to dive into this season of...
by Karla Petty | Feb 2, 2018 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
With Lent beginning on Valentine’s day, and Easter falling on April 1 (April Fool’s day) it’s already a struggle to enter in to an important liturgical season, even before it has started. Even without competing with greeting card holidays, it’s...
by Bill Haley | Jan 29, 2018 | For the World, Justice and Mercy, Liturgical Seasons
In every way Jesus was the Great Reconciler, bridging the gap between God and us, and also bringing together disparate and divided people into community and even family. To follow this man is to sign up to be a reconciler and peacemaker, especially in places and times...
by Scott Buresh | Jan 24, 2018 | For the World, Justice and Mercy, Liturgical Seasons
One of the greatest gifts God has given me through Coracle is an invitation to respond meaningfully to the ongoing process of healing the lasting legacy of racial injustice in the United States. As much as I would wish that we were a city and country where love and...
by Bill Haley | Dec 26, 2017 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
In the very early hours of December 24, 2017, my mom –JoAnn Neburka Haley– passed on from this life to the next, having lived 83 years on this earth and forever in the world to come. It was not a surprise to us, we’d known it was coming these past two years and these...
by Wade Ballou | Dec 22, 2017 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
The year was 1933, deep into the Great Depression. In Murphy, NC, a small Appalachian town, a group of evangelicals seeking to raise funds had been ordered out of town. At one point before leaving: “A girl had stepped out to the edge of the little platform...
by Coracle | Nov 30, 2017 | Coracle News, Liturgical Seasons
Dear ones, I’m delighted to offer you Coracle’s Annual Report for 2017, and a look into 2018. Please take some time to look it through, thank God with us, and pray for us coming into 2018. SO many people are making Coracle possible, and you are amongst them. Thank...
by Kate Harris | Nov 16, 2017 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the...
by Erin Clifford | Jun 3, 2017 | Liturgical Seasons
“Just as the resurrection of Jesus opened up the unexpected world of God’s new creation, so the Spirit comes to us from that new world, the world waiting to be born, the world in which, according to the old prophets, peace and justice will flourish, and the wolf...
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 Wade Ballou | Dec 13, 2016 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
My first invitation to wonder about Jesus’ coming came when I was a boy, stealing away to my childhood living room and sitting alone among all the bright trimmings of the season. Without really knowing it was happening, the mystery of the season seeped into my soul....
by Coracle | Dec 13, 2016 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
Bill Haley’s sermon given at The Falls Church Anglican on December 11, 2016.
by Erin Clifford | Dec 9, 2016 | Liturgical Seasons
“What are you waiting for?” It’s a question that we might be asked by a stranger as we hold up a grocery story line or to a friend who we want to encourage to step out in faith. It’s normally a question that implies choosing to wait as the lesser choice. Advent, on...
by Coracle | Dec 8, 2016 | Liturgical Seasons
By: Todd Deatherage As 2016 moves to its end, many wish it had all been just an unpleasant dream. Our experiences this year, as in most, teach us that things are not right in the world, not as they should be. An ugly American election season has exposed deep fault...
by Coracle | Dec 2, 2016 | Liturgical Seasons
Last time I offered some Transcendence. This time I want to offer Sheer Joy! These few things fill my heart with laughter or happiness or wonder or all of them at the same time. Enjoy them! The first is probably my favorite minute and twenty-two seconds on Youtube....
by Scott Buresh | Nov 30, 2016 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
On my journey with Christ I have considered myself many things: a redeemed, rescued, forgiven, beloved child of God; Jesus’s friend; Jesus’s co-laborer in the world; God’s handiwork created in His image. But rarely have I identified with being a “contemplative,” one...
by Kate Harris | Nov 28, 2016 | Liturgical Seasons
Every year as Advent begins our family takes out its Christmas library – the loosely curated stash of books acquired over many years conveying the Christmas story and spirit in poetry, images, songs, and stories from across centuries and around the world. At the...