by Mary Gardner | Jan 28, 2021 | Contemplative Life
In this “Space for God” devotional, Rev. Mary Amendolia Gardner introduces us to the life of Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, a renowned African-American artist from the turn of the 20th Century who faced many obstacles and tragedies throughout her long life, but...
by Karla Petty | Jan 27, 2021 | Contemplative Life
In the mid 1990’s, you may recall, “Magic Eye” optical illusion books swept the nation featuring graphics (autostereograms) that, if seen correctly, would reveal a 3D shape or picture. Not for lack of trying, those 3D images never appeared to me. I would sit and...
by Coracle | Jan 19, 2021 | Contemplative Life
by Anna Holowinsky It was the summer of 2016. I stumbled upon a creative community in Charlottesville, VA, and within that space, I met a friend named Richard. Richard was a word artist. I had never heard of word art before, but I knew after rubbing...
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 Coracle | Nov 10, 2020 | Contemplative Life
On the evening of November 5th, 2020– two days after election day and two days before the election results would be called– we gathered for what we had been calling a “Post-Election Palette Cleanser.” This was an opportunity to tune-out all of the noise...
by Coracle | Nov 9, 2020 | Contemplative Life
by Lan-Vy Ngo I walk until I reach the bench I love and sit down. Relaxing against it, I feel completely at peace. Before me is the Rhone Valley of Switzerland, a breathtaking expanse of green plains, spruce trees, and wooden chalets spread out before the...
by Coracle | Jul 21, 2020 | Contemplative Life
On July 16th, 2020, Rev. Karen Curry of Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church offered a workshop on “Poetry as Spiritual Formation.” She facilitates a discussion of her own original poem “Holy, Wholly Holey Ground,” shares how lectio divina can be...
by Mary Gardner | May 28, 2020 | Contemplative Life
Download a Free Visio Divina Resource Guide from Mary » Right now, many of us are struggling to pay attention. Psychologist Curt Thompson recently wrote about fatigue and irritability and offered suggestions that may help during this time – including contemplative...
by Coracle | Apr 15, 2020 | Contemplative Life, Creation
by Ann Bodling, Coracle Spiritual Director In this strange, disorienting, sometimes-hopeful sometimes-fearful, sometimes-sad time, I can forget. The gifts are here, as always. The Presence of God is here, as always. To recognize them I need to notice, as always. And...
by Drew Masterson | Apr 14, 2020 | Contemplative Life
In this “Simple Soundings” reflection, Drew Masterson shares why we return to familiar stories even when we already know what will happen. He ends with a poem from Richard Wilbur, “The Reader.”Explore Other “Simple Soundings”...
by Mary Gardner | Apr 13, 2020 | Contemplative Life
How might we, as Christians, be a visible presence to the communities where we live? Aside from checking on our neighbors, family, and friends, what might we do to share the love of Jesus with others? As followers of Jesus, we are people of HOPE! We have good news...
by Drew Masterson | Jan 7, 2020 | Contemplative Life
At Coracle, we aim “to inspire and enable people to be the presence of God in the brokenness of the world through Spiritual Formation for Kingdom Action.” With that mission clearly stated, it is fair to wonder why we would choose to gather once a month to discuss a...
by Kate Harris | Dec 20, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.” Luke 2:6 (NIV) In an unknown town, a week’s distance from the womanly wisdom of mother, sisters, aunts, it began. Plodding heavily beside...
by Rick Mastroianni | Dec 16, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
She insisted on seeing me face-to-face, unveiled, defying all custom for the betrothed to remain apart until the wedding feast. I watched her eyes rain when she saw doubt and pain in mine. They said it was a good match: me from David’s royal line, she connected to...
by Drew Masterson | Dec 10, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Liturgical Seasons
Advent, when we allow it, transports us back in time to a relatively small and unheralded province of the Roman Empire where a people waited. This people had enjoyed millennia of imperfect but close communion with their God; He had walked with them, spoken to them,...
by Coracle | Dec 6, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Vocation
Poem and Reflection by Julie Harrison Eastwood Coracle Fellow, Class of 2019 Eucharist Song Prepare the fields lay them open and ready to receive graft and seed to be baptized with rain with tears as we wait in the hospitable silence Sing with the fields greening in...
by Drew Masterson | Sep 24, 2019 | Contemplative Life, Creation
Robert Frost once defined poetry as a “way of remembering what it would impoverish us to forget.” Poetry emerged as the first form of literary writing in human history way back in the 3rd Millennium BCE, and indeed the vast majority of ancient literature comes down to...
