Discover Emery House
Emery House is a place for all people to experience the boundless love of God made manifest in creation, entrusted to the Society of St. John the Evangelist.
We draw inspiration from the Emery family, who farmed, prayed, and welcomed guests and strangers on this land for generations.
We are learning to more deeply inhabit this place ― in the town of West Newbury, in the Merrimack River Watershed ― as we grow in communion with its human and ecological communities.
We are learning also to honor the memory of the Pennacook-Pawtucket people, and those who came before them, who fished and traveled these waters and planted along these shores before they were called the Merrimack or West Newbury.
We pray that all who are touched by this place will be transformed in the Spirit to love, heal, and bless the earth, in the name of Jesus Christ.
We invite you to learn, love, and serve alongside us as we:
Connect people to land
Contemplative disciplines of prayer ground us. The labor of our hands in the soil feeds us. The attunement of our senses to wild nature teaches us what we cannot learn indoors. In these ways, we are made participants in the land rather than stewards or consumers.
Welcome guests & offer spiritual formation
We welcome guests to this place for times of renewal and reconnection with God, and to work and pray alongside us. In this we continue the tradition of our Society: offering hospitality, spiritual guidance, silence, retreat, and our continual stream of monastic worship. At our altar and our table, we return our thanks for all that God has given us in creation.
Teach & lead retreats
We seek to create space alongside our regular retreat programming for new experiments, hosting and co-leading with guest teachers on a variety of topics at the intersection of Christian discipleship, spiritualities of land and place, and the values of simplicity, stability, and interdependence.
Serve God ― in and through our neighbors
Our service of God and neighbor flows from these commitments. As we come to understand how broad the definition of “neighbor” truly is, we listen for the call to serve here and now.
Ready to Request a Reservation at Emery?
We welcome guests to this place for times of renewal and reconnection with God, and to work and pray alongside us. In this we continue the tradition of our Society: offering hospitality, spiritual guidance, silence, retreat, and our continual stream of monastic worship. At our altar and our table, we return our thanks for all that God has given us in creation.
The garden is full of delight these days, dahlias are profuse, we gather juicy cucumbers by the armful each week, ears of corn are beginning to form on nine-foot stalks, and the salad bar has been stocked with all of our lettuce and tomatoes for the last month. It’s easy to be pleased when you’re…
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A few months ago, I was working on turning over the compost in one of our compost bins we have next to our garden at Emery House. I was moving the compost from one bin to another using a pitchfork. I took a deep stab and could feel the tines of the pitchfork slide through…
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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…
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