Welcome to SSJE
We are a community of men giving our whole selves over to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Rooted in the ancient monastic traditions of prayer and community life, and critically engaged with contemporary culture, we seek to know and share an authentic experience of God’s love and mercy. We live a common life shaped by worship, prayer, and our Rule of Life.
We invite you to explore these pages to learn more about how we live and pray, the tradition that grounds us, and the call that draws us onward day by day.
Worship Schedule | Rule of Life | Meeting Jesus | Catch the Life
For St. Alban, “faithful unto death” meant being tortured and beheaded. For us, it will mean something quite different. Alban’s Christian life was brief, but our calling to be “faithful unto death” may well stretch over decades of time.
-Br. David Vryhof, SSJE
Monastery Chapel
Silence. Flickering candlelight. Sunlight streaming through stained glass. Soak in the beauty of our sanctuary, open morning to night. Pray, ponder, or participate in the Brothers’ daily office. Service Schedule >
Guesthouse
Sleep in. Pray. Savor wholesome food. Nap. Read. How might a stay in our Monastery Guesthouse recharge you and open you to God’s call? Workshops & Retreats >
Emery House
Birdsong. Meadow grasses waving in the breeze. Stars overhead. At our rural retreat house, we invite you to pray as you hike, light a fire, weed the garden, and bask in the beauty of Creation. Retreat information>
Recent Sermons from the Chapel
Teach us to unravel the familiar – Br. Sean Glenn
“More than familiar words of comfort, this prayer challenges our easy temptations to imagine that we ourselves are the authors of our own salvation and the world’s.”
Br. Sean Glenn unravels the familiar words of the Lord’s Prayer to uncover its difficult revelation.
Living Loving – Br. Curtis Almquist
“We should not be surprised in life that we encounter enemies or, at the very least, very difficult people. What to do with them? Love them. And if that’s an unimaginable stretch, then at least turn in that direction.”
Br. Curtis Almquist acknowledges the impossible challenge of Jesus’ command to “Love your enemies,” and then encourages us to attempt it anyway, with God’s help.
Called to Greatness: The Call of David – Br. Geoffrey Tristram
“In God’s Kingdom, seeds planted secretly by God grow to greatness. A small, obscure shepherd becomes the greatest of all the kings of Israel. And that deep truth about God’s kingdom is also about us.”
Br. Geoffrey Tristram urges us to recognize and call forth greatness in others and ourselves.
What is God calling you from? – Br. Lucas Hall
“When our resting places have become places of fear, complacency, or stagnation, God comes to us in the depths of our hearts, our inner hiding places, our caves, and asks, “What are you doing here?”
Br. Lucas Hall considers how God, our refuge, often calls us away from comfort, toward our greater conversion.
Keeping the Sabbath Wholly – Br. Curtis Almquist
“We are the most medicated, depressed people the world has ever produced. We are overworked, over-stimulated, over-entertained and over-the-top exhausted. We need to discover – or re-discover – the purpose of the sabbath.”
Br. Curtis Almquist commends the essential, scriptural, counter-cultural practice of Sabbath keeping: claiming and revering space for rest and re-creation, which is of our God-given essence and absolutely essential for living a whole life.