We believe passionately that God has given us a mission: to draw others to know and experience in their lives the love of God in Christ. Sharing this “Good News” is at the center of our call and our life. In our chapels and retreat houses, and our online teachings, we hope to offer a still point in the midst of the chaos of contemporary life. We hope that as you explore these pages, you’ll find “Good News” that will help you live authentically, responsive to God’s call of love.
No Live-Streaming: 4/5-4/9
Please note, the Monastery Chapel will be closed, and live-streaming worship will be interrupted, following Evensong on Easter Sunday, April 4. We welcome you to join us again for streaming worship beginning with Evensong on Saturday, April 10 at 6 pm. We wish you all a joyous Easter week!
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In the Midst of Death, We Are in Life – Br. James Koester
“We are good at dying. This past year alone, we’ve had lots of practice. We know what to do in the face of death. We know what’s expected, even when gripped by shock and grief. In the midst of death. What shocks, alarms, terrifies, amazes, and makes us afraid and speechless is life, and especially the kind of life Jesus offers us in the resurrection.”
On Easter Sunday, Br. James Koester invites us to join the women at the tomb and to be shocked, overcome, and speechless – not at death – but at the unpredictable, Spirit-filled, risky life of Jesus’ resurrection.
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Gone Is Thy Shame! – Br. Jim Woodrum
“The gospel news of the cross is that God took on our human nature in the face of Jesus and endured the shame of the cross for our sake. It is in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead that God restored our nature, giving us the ability to stare shame in the face and eradicate it with a different language: the language of love. But, we do have to face the cross as Jesus did. We have to summon the courage with God’s help to face what we know to be true, that we are worthy of love and belonging, that we are enough.”
On Good Friday, Br. Jim Woodrum invites us to leave our shame at the foot of the cross.
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God’s Longing – Br. Todd Blackham
“Allow yourself to be scandalized again at what Jesus is doing as though he were approaching your own feet. What act of service would shock you? Can you imagine coming home to find your spiritual director scrubbing the tile in your bathroom? Or a favorite teacher doing your laundry. The choir director and the coach cleaning the baseboards in the kitchen. The head of your department vacuuming under the couch. A mentor making your bed.
Shocking, uncomfortable, even embarrassing. But this is Jesus, who being in the very form of God didn’t consider equality to God as something to be clung on to. He emptied himself taking on the form of a slave.”
On Maundy Thursday, Br. Todd Blackham urges us to experience the depths to which Jesus has gone – moving heaven and earth – out of God’s profound longing to be reunited with us.
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Love and betrayal – Br. Geoffrey Tristram
“For many, betrayal marks the end of a relationship, the end of love. But the wonder of the Cross, what brings us to our knees in awe, is that Jesus on the Cross, betrayed, abandoned, alone, is able to forgive. No betrayal, no amount of darkness in men’s hearts, can extinguish that love which is immortal. Love and betrayal. They exist side by side. But love conquers all.”
On Wednesday in Holy Week, Br. Geoffrey Tristram weighs betrayal and love in the final days of Jesus – and in our own lives.
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United with Christ in Suffering and Glory – Br. Jonathan Maury
“We continue at present separated in longing by disease and death, grief and loss, fear and uncertainty. Yet we join in hope with those who went out of the holy city of Jerusalem to greet the humble Savior. We raise our cries, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” Together we hail Jesus, the Victor over death and evil, present among us now.”
On this second Palm Sunday in pandemic time, Br. Jonathan Maury encourages us to join in Holy Week with hope, knowing that, whatever our present circumstances, we will be supported and strengthened by the grace of our re-birth in Holy Baptism.
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Lose your life to find it – Br. Geoffrey Tristram
“Holy Week offers this powerful invitation, day by day, to let go – to loosen our fearful grip on our attachments, our illusions about ourselves, to strip ourselves of all that keeps us from receiving the new life that the crucified and risen Lord longs to give us.”
As we step into the shadow of the cross with Holy Week, Br. Geoffrey Tristram reminds us that we must lose our life to find it.
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Who Are You? – Br. James Koester
“The choice is ours, but answer the question we must: who are you? Whatever our answer, will shape who and what we see in the week to come. Indeed, the answer will shape our lives, not just for next week, but for all eternity.”
Br. James urges us to answer the ultimate question, not only about Jesus, but about ourselves.
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Behold Her Son – Br. Luke Ditewig
“Mary can help us see Jesus, and she models bearing God to the world through the long journey. Today we remember Mary’s courageous “yes” to the angel. She continued to say “yes” again and again in a life of love, sorrow, and wonder. With Mary, may we continue to behold her Son.”
As we remember the Annunciation, Br. Luke Ditewig marvels at all that Mary can teach us.
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Lifted up in Glory – Br. Todd Blackham
“Unless we lose our life in this world we cannot keep it to everlasting life. Unless the bread is broken it cannot be given. Bind yourself to Christ in his passion. Pray for the consolations of Christ in this home stretch of our pilgrimage.”
Br. Todd Blackham encourages us to preserve in the final days of Lent, as we draw ever nearer to the cross.
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