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
We have lost, I think, our proper sense of outrage, and what God does is often outrageous for no matter how much we think we know how God will act, God frequently acts in other incomprehensible and outrageous ways.
-Br. James Koester, 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
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.
Sermon for The Restoration of Religious Life in the Anglican Communion – Br. David Allen
“Will you pray with us for more vocations to the Religious life? Pray also for a deeper understanding of that life and of all that it stands for in the life of the whole Church.”
Br. David Allen celebrates the restoration of Religious Life in the Anglican Communion on June 5 1841.
Beyond Knowledge – Br. Luke Ditewig
“A childlike perspective is playful. Open to questions. Exploring possibilities widely. To play is to gaze in wonder. To do something simply because it delights.”
On Trinity Sunday, Br. Luke Ditewig invites us to pray playfully, delighting in how we discover God in the mystery beyond knowledge.
Whosoever Will Be Saved – Br. James Koester
“What Scripture proclaims, what the Creeds declare, and what Christians have affirmed about God over the last two millennia, is not some mathematical riddle the tells us that 3 = 1, but that God is a God who communicates with the creation; that God was revealed to us in the person of Jesus; and that God continues to be known to the people of God, even today.”
On Trinity Sunday, Br. James Koester strips away the obscuring “mumbo jumbo” that can cloak the reality the Trinity reveals: that God is known, loving, and forever present.
Worship that Includes – Br. David Vryhof
“The Church’s worship is not for us alone, but for everyone, regardless of language or culture or race. It is meant to unite rather than divide.”
On the Feast of the First Book of Common Prayer, Br. David Vryhof gives thanks for visionaries – from Thomas Cranmer to Dick Mahaffy, a friend of SSJE and president of the Episcopal Conference of the Deaf – who work to offer accessible worship to all people.