How does God engage with us? This issue of Cowley magazine discovers God’s engagement in places we might not think to look: a childhood stutter; the calling of sickness; the heartbreaking challenge of climate grief. The SSJE Brothers invite us to explore the many ways God that engages us, even – perhaps especially – in the challenges we face.

This issue is the second of a three-part series on "What does it mean to be the Church today?" Check out the other two issues on:

  • Credo - What does it mean to believe? 
  • CommunityWhat does it mean to belong?

Selected Articles

Letter from the Superior – Ascension 2022

By Br. James Koester

“These have indeed been challenging times for all of us, but when we review those challenges calmly, dispassionately, dutifully, we may discover that God’s invitation lies within.”

Letter from the FSJ – Tammy Iralu

By Curator

“Here, at the intersection of pain and hope, we find the place from which we all, like flowers, can turn toward the light.”

“But I am slow of speech and slow of tongue”: Engaging with God in Challenge

By Br. Jack Crowley

“It may sound crazy to say that I am grateful to God for my stutter, but it is true. Looking back at my life, I can see how God has engaged with me through the challenges I faced.”

Sufficient Grace: Praying with the Calling of Sickness

By Br. Sean Glenn

“There is an unexpected invitation in our sufferings. This invitation is to know ourselves as participants in Christ’s life and love; to know in the midst of pain that God has not withdrawn from us, but has perhaps instead come closer than we could ever imagine.”

Letter from the Editor – Ascension 2022

By Curator

“As we struggle, we shall become more and more the person God created us to be.”

Between Good & Evil: The Practice of Spiritual Discernment

By Br. David Vryhof

“The spiritual skill of discernment enables us not only to resist the lure of those voices that would distract and distance us from God, but also to perceive directly God’s engagement with us in the circumstances of our lives as we navigate the many decisions that crop up along our way.”

A Heart of Flesh in Place of Stone: God-with-us in the Midst of Climate Grief

By Br. Keith Nelson

“What if the awakening of our conscience to profound new layers of the world’s pain is a sign – not of God’s absence, but of the Spirit of God excavating strata of our personhood and our collective attention that we are now called to engage? And what if the path of grief thus sensed could become a sober and conscious choice – claimed and lived, come what may, as the cost of our full becoming?”

Formation in Practice

By Curator

“Think about the struggles that you are facing right now. How might you embrace them as the place of God’s engagement with you? How is God calling to you through them?”

1 Comment

  1. Margo on June 17, 2022 at 14:22

    The cover of this issue sets up such longing for me. Please open Emery House again soon. Love Br. Luke’s Green and blue picture. Margo

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