by Coracle | Jan 6, 2023 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
In this “Space for God: Advent,” Wanda Bickers (Coracle Spiritual Director), guides us through a time of visio divina, or prayerfully encountering God through a combination of visual art and scripture. She focuses on Luke 1:25-40, and draws our attention...
by Kristy Wallace Grant | Dec 20, 2022 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me. He shows...
by Bill Haley | Dec 16, 2022 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons, Vocation
In the early 2000s, in the dead of winter, Tara and I spent several weeks in eastern Romania, serving street kids there and those who work with them. While we were there, we attended an Orthodox Church, which architecturally and visually was similar to every other...
by Bill Haley | Dec 14, 2022 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
Tis the season for Advent and Christmas Carols, and as much as the tunes themselves, even more so I’m deeply inspired by the words of them. At the core of the songs are poems. In her recent New York Times column, Anglican priest Tish Warren Harrison explores...
by Coracle | Dec 8, 2022 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
In this “Space for God: Advent,” Susan Ward guides us through a time combining the practices of lectio divina and visio divina to draw us into the story of the Annunciation to Mary in Luke 1. Through repeated scripture readings accompanied by beautiful...
by Coracle | Dec 1, 2022 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
In this “Space for God,” Debra Donnelly-Barton (Coracle Spiritual Director) guides us through the Ignatian Spiritual Exercise of Imaginative Gospel Reading. She helps us encounter with all of our senses the story of Jesus with Mary and Martha from Luke 10 as a way...
by Coracle | Dec 21, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
In this “Space for God: Advent,” Rev. Skip Ryan draws us into the life-changing, creation-blessing mystery of the Incarnation. He highlights the unique and even scandalous claim that God became flesh in Jesus and shows how that reality invites us...
by Ken Wettig | Dec 21, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
“It was not a silent night.” I still remember the moment I first heard those words. I was at a fundraising concert for a local non-profit and a young female singer-songwriter with a voice like glass opened her set with those words from Andrew Peterson’s song “Labor...
by Bill Haley | Dec 15, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
In this “Space for God: Advent,” Bill Haley (Coracle Executive Director) guides us through an encounter with the beauty of Advent music. Specifically, he focuses our attention on the expressive power and range of the cello as we journey through familiar...
by Danny Nasry | Dec 14, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
“Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.” –Simone Weil I’ve been sitting with the above quotation in this Advent season. “Waiting patiently in expectation.” It’s so simple and accessible, and yet what could be more difficult...
by Coracle | Dec 9, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
In this “Space for God: BIBLE” study, Dr. Vincent Bacote (Professor and Director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College) invites us into a close look at Hebrews 1 during the Advent season. Dr. Bacote unpacks how this chapter exalts...
by Scott Buresh | Dec 7, 2021 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
I carry many magical childhood memories of anticipating Christmas. As I’ve grown older, married, had children of my own, and now grandchildren, my wonder has only increased. I resonate with Mary’s pondering what is impossible for her to comprehend, that she would be...
by Coracle | Dec 2, 2021 | Contemplative Life
This special Advent offering features music, reflections, and storytelling from Seth Crissman of The Walking Roots Band. He sets Scripture to music, repurposes old hymns, and shares some of his own compositions from The Soil and The Seed Project in this sweet time of...
by Danny Nasry | Dec 2, 2021 | Contemplative Life
In this “Space for God: Advent” reflection, Danny Nasry (Coracle Community Minister) guides us through the spiritual practice of “Welcoming Prayer” with an angle towards the highs and lows that can accompany the Advent season. Whatever...
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 | 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...
