by Bill Haley | Jan 4, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Creation, Liturgical Seasons
Almost 10 years ago, we moved from the inner-city of Washington to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. There are at least two things I haven’t gotten used to yet, and hope I never will be. Both are arresting. Both can stop you in your tracks with a sense of awe,...
by Bill Haley | Nov 9, 2018 | Contemplative Life
At the end of a week when our eyes have been focused on the mid-term elections of 2018 in the United States, we can be grateful that our country’s governmental model–based on the checks and balance of power–worked yet again. For those most concerned about the...
by Karla Petty | Oct 14, 2018 | For the World, Pilgrimage
Hello friends! Our team is now fully assembled and diving into our pilgrimage here in Nepal. Most of us landed on Friday in Kathmandu and have enjoyed getting to know one another as well as familiarizing ourselves with the rhythms, sounds, and people around us. ...
by Coracle | Aug 31, 2018 | Contemplative Life, Spiritual Direction
Dear Friends, Two years ago, with the help of an amazing team, the Coracle Community-Baltimore started. Perhaps now more than ever, God is drawing together community in Baltimore around the motto of Spiritual Formation for Kingdom Action. Our oft-used image is that of...
by Coracle | Jun 25, 2018 | Pilgrimage
By David Brubaker Abbeys… Trees… Trails… Hills… Valleys… Cows… Sheep… Inns… Food… Prayers… Silence… Connection… Peace… Surrender. Each summer I schedule something to nourish my soul. I have done 8-day silent retreats at a Jesuit Retreat Center in Pennsylvania and...
by Bill Haley | May 7, 2018 | For the World, Justice and Mercy
What follows is Bill Haley’s reflection on the Life of Martin Luther King, given at the Trinity Forum Community Conversation on April 30, 2018 in Washington, DC. This event was co-hosted by Coracle and featured David Bailey of Arrabon and Rev. Dr. Cheryl...
by Karla Petty | May 4, 2018 | Contemplative Life, Creation
“A cold spring: the violet was flawed on the lawn. For two weeks or more the trees hesitated; the little leaves waited, carefully indicating their characteristics. Finally a grave green dust settled over your big and aimless hills… The infant oak-leaves swung through...
by Coracle | Apr 24, 2018 | Contemplative Life
By: Judith James “ ‘Let NOT the wise man glory in his wisdom; let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising...
by Karla Petty | Apr 2, 2018 | Contemplative Life, For the World
One of the primary features of living Christianity as Christ has called us to live it is being a part of community. Whatever Myers-Briggs personality type you are, or where you fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum, there is no getting around the fact that Christ...
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 Karla Petty | Jan 16, 2018 | Contemplative Life
For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. ~ Proverbs 2:6 Time and again, the bible instructs us to seek wisdom. In Proverbs 8, wisdom is personified as a woman who calls out to the “children of man”. For many of us, seeking wisdom...
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 Karla Petty | Oct 13, 2017 | Contemplative Life
It’s doubtful that people ever actually want to meditate on suffering. But these mediations do come in the course of our lives, through direct or indirect circumstances. About two years ago, I wrote to you about the death of my cousin, Brian. In early Spring, I wrote...
by Karla Petty | Oct 6, 2017 | Contemplative Life
In the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, there is a running gag featuring monks in sombre garments, trudging through streets, chanting mirthlessly and monotonously in Latin, hitting themselves on the head with boards in between cadences of their chant. Despite...
by Wade Ballou | Sep 18, 2017 | Contemplative Life, Coracle News
“War, sin, killing and a robbing — they say that the world is one big problem. I’ve got one, I tell you now, I can’t find my guernsey cow. I didn’t write no constitution but I got one good solution: drink a little wine, drink a little booze, sit on the back porch and...
by Coracle | Apr 20, 2017 | Contemplative Life, Pilgrimage
by: Katie Kallam Going into my pilgrimage to the Holy Land, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I knew that I would encounter holy places, sites where Jesus walked, where he lived and died, but I knew very little about the modern Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I...
by Erin Clifford | Mar 1, 2017 | Contemplative Life
Thomas Merton said: “We are not converted only once in our lives but many times, and this endless series of large and small conversions, inner revolutions, leads to our transformation in Christ.” As a child, I was considered a Pollyanna in our family. A...
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 Coracle | Jan 10, 2017 | Contemplative Life
By: Yonce Shelton Coracle Spiritual Director December 2016 I believe because I go to the woods and am met. I go not to get away from, but to draw closer to. I go with desire. Or a question. Or the sense that I carry something. Or three words on a sticky note. I...
