Posts by Emery Brothers
Holy Places
For several years, we Brothers have been listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in regard to our ministry at Emery House. We have also been listening to one another, and we have been listening to the land itself in discerning a path forward.
Over the past year, with the assistance of wise and generous advisors, a vision statement has emerged that crystallizes the essence of that calling. The language that bubbled to the surface pointed again and again to a central theme. Emery House is not just a historic farmhouse & retreat center surrounded by some woods, fields, and rivers. It is, for us, a holy place for all people to experience the boundless love of God made manifest in creation.
Some holy places are world famous and attract pilgrims from around the globe: Jerusalem, Rome, Iona, Lourdes. Some are local or regional treasures where people have found palpable healing and solace. Some embody our bonds of human kinship; they are repositories of sacred memory where our ancestors walk among us. Still others are known only to ourselves. They are imbued with sacred power and peace over time, as we visit and revisit them, in joy and sorrow, celebration and perplexity. To enter their presence is like the familiar embrace of a close friend or the weight of a beloved blanket.
These places of everyday holiness beckon me on all sides as I walk this sacred ground we call Emery House: ancient trees that I listen to as wise elders; the stream that gurgles from marsh to forest thicket to join its big sister, the Merrimack; a gathering of riverbank stones where I pray at sunrise; a patch of meadow where I first met a new flower or gazed up at a new star; the birch that held my back when I wept in the dark or laughed under the full moon. Each of us Brothers have our own holy places here. No two lists are exactly alike. It is beautiful, humbling, and deeply sustaining to hear the stories of visitors, new and old, that echo these experiences. The Spirit breathes, burns, and shines forth in ten-thousand places, eagerly waiting for each of us.
We live in a time when so many are alienated from this living earth and despairing at its ecological crucifixion. The experience of displacement is tragically common. In response, we are called to bear witness to a life-giving alternative: to renew the sacred bond (both joy and responsibility) that comes from belonging to a place. That belonging is born over time, and not without pain. It asks for our hearts.
This land is not a resource, but a vast network of sacred relationships. As we read God’s signs and presence within and alongside the web of all life that resides here, we discover there is room for each of us. There is a place prepared for all who enter in love, attention, and expectancy.
And there is an invitation: to go out into the world to find, for the first or ten-thousandth time, the places waiting for our love and blessing to reveal the holiness they’ve held all along.
May Christ, God’s wisdom and word, go before and behind us on the Way!
Brother Keith, SSJE
FULL – Praying in Darkness: December 14-17, 2023
An Advent Retreat
Location: Emery House in West Newbury
Thursday 6:00 pm – Sunday 2:00 pm, December 14-17, 2023
Offered by Br. Jack Crowley, SSJE
At the darkest time of the year, we will explore what it means to pray with the darkness inside and outside of ourselves. Through a mixture of discussion, silent contemplation, and worship (both indoors and outdoors), we will prayerfully attend to the cycles of light and darkness as we await the coming of Christ.
FULL – Practicing Hope in an Age of Ecological Crucifixion: November 30 – December 3, 2023
Location: Emery House in West Newbury
NOTE NEW DATES: Thursday 6:00 pm – Sunday 2:00 pm, November 30 – December 3, 2023
Offered by the Rev. Steve Blackmer, with Emery House Brothers
Learning from scripture, science, each other, and contact with the Earth herself, we will explore how the pattern of Christ shows a way of hope amidst climate and ecological catastrophe. We begin in awe and wonder at the beauty of the world. As we face suffering and grief at her wounds, we will hear a prophetic voice calling us to new ways and renewed faith. Complicit in death, we will stand by the cross and weep at the tomb. As bearers of hope, we will look for signs of new beginning. From creation to re-creation, we will enter more deeply into Earth’s cycles of life, death, and love.
Rev. Stephen Blackmer is resident priest at Church of the Woods in Canterbury, NH. Trained as a forest ecologist at Yale, he worked for 25 years to protect forests, mountains and rivers in his native New England. After a Voice called him to be a priest (notwithstanding that he had never been to church), he returned to Yale to study religion and ecology and be trained as an Episcopal priest. He founded Church of the Woods in 2014 as an outdoor community of prayer embracing all creatures and beings of the land—humans included.
We strive to make retreat time available to all who seek it, and so the suggested fees cover only a portion of the expenses for making our facilities available. As such, we are always grateful for any additional donations in support of our retreat ministry.
$465.00 per person for this program retreat
$230.00 for students/young adults
Contemplating the Cross: November 16-19, 2023
Location: Emery House in West Newbury
Thursday 6:00 pm – Sunday 2:00 pm, November 16-19, 2023
The Rev. adwoa Wilson, with Emery House Brothers
Our cultural conditioning tells us that suffering is, at best, an unfortunate weigh station on the path to progress, from which to fearfully draw back, quickly pass over, or urgently eradicate. It is not a place to dwell with or discern God. It holds no wisdom. Contrary to this, St. Paul sees in the cross the very wisdom and power of God. Can this really be so in the areas of our own failure, pain, or marginalization?
This retreat is for those who wish to examine their theologies about suffering. Through the companionship of various contemplative theologians and scripture, we will bring a stable gaze on some particular area of our own suffering that we have habitually avoided. We ask can God be contemplated even in this? If so, what wisdom is waiting to reveal itself to us as courageous contemplatives of our own experiences of the cross?
The Rev. adwoa Wilson is an Episcopal priest and has been an Oblate of the Episcopal Order of Julian of Norwich since 2010. Through parish ministry, retreats, community chaplaincy, and teaching she enjoys supporting spiritual formation to help ordinary Christians strengthen their connection with God, one another, and the beauty and needs of the world. She watches birds, does amateur pottery, and is nourished by her many godchildren and most four-footed friends. She resides in Vermont.
We strive to make retreat time available to all who seek it, and so the suggested fees cover only a portion of the expenses for making our facilities available. As such, we are always grateful for any additional donations in support of our retreat ministry.
$465.00 per person for this program retreat
$230.00 for students/young adults
Suggested fees can be reduced in cases of financial hardship.
Reservations are confirmed only upon receipt of a non-refundable deposit equal to 50% of your total fee.
Contemplating the Cross: November 16-19, 2023
Reservation requests are not being accepted.
Living in Creation’s Rhythm: November 10-12, 2023
Location: Emery House in West Newbury
- Friday 6:00 pm – Sunday 2:00 pm, November 10-12, 2023
Offered by Brothers resident at Emery House
These seasonal, weekend retreats offer a balanced rhythm of activity and rest as participants form a small, temporary community alongside the Brothers. We offer guided engagement with the natural world, work in our garden, prayerful conversation, monastic worship, and restorative solitude. We particularly welcome those who are new to Emery House, interested in learning more about our new vision for inhabiting this corner of God’s creation, or making a retreat for the first time.
We strive to make retreat time available to all who seek it, and so the suggested fees cover only a portion of the expenses for making our facilities available. As such, we are always grateful for any additional donations in support of our retreat ministry.
$465.00 per person for this program retreat
$230.00 for students/young adults
Suggested fees can be reduced in cases of financial hardship.
Reservations are confirmed only upon receipt of a non-refundable deposit equal to 50% of your total fee.
Living in Creation’s Rhythm: November 10-12, 2023
Reservation requests are not being accepted.