SSJE – A Monastic community in the Anglican Episcopal tradition.

Come, Pray - The Prayer I Need This Day: Lent 2021

After the last year in which churches around the world have been closed and congregations scattered, the SSJE Brothers invite you to “Come, Pray.” Join us in the receiving the daily gift of prayer – at home or wherever you find yourself. Across the weeks of Lent, listen in as Brothers discuss the rich and varied ways we pray, together in church and in our personal prayer. Then join us for worship, exploring a rich array of live-streamed services, culminating in the glories of Holy Week. “Come, pray in me the prayer I need this day.”

To sign up for the weekly email: SSJE.org/subscribe and select "Monastic Wisdom for everyday living".

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 | Catch the Life

Truly I Will Come

Children of the Light

What in your life could use a fresh start?

Lamps of a heavenly wisdom

And he answered me

Simple Acts

For all that has been – Thanks

The Hope of Unknowing

Mother of Sorrows

Hope in God

News from the Monastery & Emery House

Come, Pray: Lent 2021

Praying with the Gospel of John

Christmas Creche

Christmastide at the Monastery, 2020-21

Making Room—Allow Christ to be Reborn in you this Christmas

The Ordo Advent 2020 through Advent 2021

Fall Cowley: Answering God’s Call

Initial Profession Sean Glenn

Upcoming: Initial Profession

Evening Prayer Resumes

Br. David Allen: Funeral Arrangements

Br. Luke’s Ordination

Brother, Give Us A Word

A daily meditation to start your day. Subscribe here >

Storm

Next time your heart sinks, your stomach flips, you strain at the oars, battling the wind and waves of life, don’t be afraid to cry out, as did the disciples, ‘Teacher, do you not care that [I am] perishing?’ And then open your ears. You might just hear, above the noise of your fear, Jesus speaking words of peace: ‘Peace! Be still!’ And you will know that your life is being saved.

-Br. James Koester, SSJE

Recent Sermons from the Chapel

A Face, Searched out and Known – Br. Sean Glenn

By Br. Sean Glenn | January 17, 2021 |

“History begs us to be clear eyed: we have come to the edge of a very real precipice. The days and months ahead will likely not be easy. We will still have to find a way to live with one another in this night of disunion. This epiphany of our shared sickness begs us to ask ourselves uncomfortable questions. We will have to meet God and one another as the broken creatures we are.”

Br. Sean Glenn grapples with the events in the US Capitol on January 6th, as their own kind of Epiphany.

Here to Heal – Br. Luke Ditewig

By Br. Luke Ditewig | January 16, 2021 |

“Sharp like a scalpel, scripture cuts through our pride, confusion, and the made-up stories we tell ourselves to reveal the truth. Scripture convicts us, reveals what we lack, what we’re grasping and need to let go. Scripture points to our deep need and to God’s great love.”

Br. Luke Ditewig invites us to sit with the challenges Scripture issues to us, confident in the knowledge that Jesus speaks to us in these words and bears through them the ability to heal.

The Possibility of Humankind – Br. Jim Woodrum

By Br. Jim Woodrum | January 16, 2021 |

“Jesus gospel message was that we were all created in the image of God, with the capacity to mirror the same loving-kindness that is God’s essence. We show this by following his example: by being merciful, engaging each other with compassion, listening to each other intently, and when necessary asking God for the courage to speak truth to power. When we do, we join God’s mission of justice, healing, and restoration so that we may all have sabbath in Him.”

Br. Jim Woodrum points us to our God-given capacity for loving-kindness, which is of God’s essence, and ours.

This is who we are! – Br. Geoffrey Tristram

By Br. Geoffrey Tristram | January 10, 2021 |

“More precious than my two passports, is my baptismal certificate, which states that I was baptized, actually on January 10th, at St Isan’s church, Llanishen, in Cardiff. My passports tell me who I am. My baptismal certificate tells me WHOSE I am: ‘I am Christ’s own forever.’ For when we know whom we belong to, we know most profoundly who we are.”

Br. Geoffrey Tristram reflects with joy on the identity and belonging we have received in baptism.

New life in Jesus’ Name – Br. Geoffrey Tristram

By Br. Geoffrey Tristram | January 1, 2021 |

“On this day we look back to the year that has passed. But above all, at the start of this new year, we look forward; forward to the challenges of these next twelve months. Where will God invite me to share in the work of creation? Where will we have the opportunity to serve God in the work to which we have each been called – by name?”

Br. Geoffrey Tristram encourages us to lo ok forward as we listen for our name being called by God.