Journal

Bono and Eugene Peterson on the Psalms

I’m tempted to say that there is nothing more important that you could be doing with the next 20 minutes of your life than watching this 20 minute documentary of a conversation between Eugene Peterson and U2’s frontman Bono on the Psalms.  This is very...

Christ in the High Places After the Earthquake

You cannot see what you didn’t know was there. Bill Deiss and I are visiting Kathmandu on behalf of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund on the one year anniversary of a devastating earthquake that measured 7.8 on the scale. Christine Jones wrote of this, “The...
The Kingdom and the Sabbath

The Kingdom and the Sabbath

Coracle · The Kingdom and Sabbath   “The Kingdom and the Sabbath”, Luke 6.1-11, Hebrews 4.1-10 Bill’s sermon from Sunday April 17th, given at Bishop O’Connell High School for The Falls Church Anglican.

On the Journey with Spiritual Direction

Bishop Eric Menees of the Diocese of San Joaquin in California shares a reflection on his 36-year journey with Spiritual Direction.  What it is, what it has been to him, and some encouragement to decide whether or not it might be something you are being invited to...

A Song of Spring

The coming of spring inspires line after line of verse, note after note of melody, and with very good reason. This year, winter seems reluctant to release its icy grip on the Washington Area and the Shenandoah Valley (which the Montgomery County Police have coped with...

Online Resources We ♥

Check out this list of resources we love and avail yourself of some of them! We have found their help significant in making the word of God, its wisdom, and its application more accessible in our lives.  We hope you will enjoy them too! Printable PDF accessible here,...

The Road to Emmaus

We had such a great time celebrating with our friends at Christ Church Vienna on April 3.  You can listen to the sermon here, or you can download it from CCV’s website here. Some of our favorite soundbytes: “Disillusionment can be a great gift”...

There is a Balm in Gilead

In anticipation of the Corhaven Graveyard’s Dedication on April 30th, and in commemoration of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968, I wanted to share this beautiful traditional African American spiritual with our audiences.  Listen, for...

God Sightings at Corhaven

 It wasn’t too long after Bill and Tara Haley moved to Corhaven in the Shenandoah Valley and began hosting spiritual retreats that they realized that when you create the space for God to show up, he shows up!  It makes sense.  When one of his beloved sons or daughters...

Easter Monday Devotion

EASTER MONDAY, 2016 by John S. Gardner The first Lent and first Easter since my parents’ deaths has been a time for reflection, a time of necessary busyness, welcome return to work, and sometimes enforced rest (“I am become like one who has no strength,” Ps. 88:4), a...

A Song for Good Friday

Many of us know this traditional African-American spiritual, passed down for many generations since the 19th century. First printed in 1899, it was the first spiritual to be published in a major American hymnal (1940 in the Episcopal Church hymnal). We invite you to...
Loving the Body God Gave You

Loving the Body God Gave You

Join us on April 16th for a retreat led by Margot Eyring, Spiritual Director with Coracle, and Faith Evans, a pastor in Harrisonburg, VA.  See the details about the retreat and more information about the leaders in the flyer below and click anywhere on it for a link...

Palm Sunday Poem

We’re borrowing from G.K. Chesterton and posting a poem told from the perspective of the animal on which Jesus entered Jerusalem.  Welcome to Holy Week everyone! The Donkey BY G. K. CHESTERTON When fishes flew and forests walked    And figs grew upon thorn, Some...

Rest from Restlessness

I’ve been feeling restless recently. I chalked it up to the fact that it was my last semester of grad school and that I was juggling a demanding part-time job with school work and decisions about the future. That it was just this season and my circumstances –...

Deepening Prayer Retreat – April 2

The word “contemplative” can seem incongruous in our lightning-fast world, sounding painstakingly slow, or even archaic. For many, life is about results, and the results that count are tangible, quantifiable ones. Prayer doesn’t always produce those,...