Update: Livestream Services Resume this Week

After a few weeks away, we are glad to announce that livestream services will resume this week, beginning tonight with Holy Eucharist at 5:30 pm EDT.

Join us via Facebook Live or on our website at ssje.org/chapel.

This week’s worship schedule:

Tue 2/8:

  • 5:30 pm Holy Eucharist

Wed 2/9:

  • 6:00 pm Evensong

Thu 2/10:

  • 6:00 pm Evensong
  • 8:30 pm Compline

Fri 2/11:

  • 6:00 pm Evensong
  • 8:30 pm Compline

Sat 2/12:

  • 6:00 pm Evensong
  • 8:30 pm Compline

Sun 2/13:

  • 9:00 am Holy Eucharist
  • 4:00 pm Evensong

Singleness of Heart – Br. Lucas Hall

Br. Lucas Hall

Matthew 5:21-37

I moved into the monastery on January 9th, 2017, about a week and a half before the inauguration of the current president. Several friends told me I was very lucky, as they couldn’t imagine a better time to enclose oneself away from the troubles and instabilities of the world, insulated from a constant torrent of news coverage.

They weren’t completely wrong. But I must confess, I speak today from a place of intense distraction, here in the midst of the longest and most stressful election of my lifetime. But it’s not just the fault of the media. Nobody requires me to have multiple tabs open on my computer, reading through various news sources, then, when I get to the end, going back to the first and refreshing the page, “just in case.”

No, the voracious consumption of this stuff is a symptom, not a cause. An unending appetite for junk points to a deeper dissatisfaction, deep-seated feelings of powerlessness, anxiety, isolation, confusion, frustration. I think our culture right now is very prone to this. And maybe your “junk” is not election news. Maybe it’s news about the coronavirus. Maybe it’s not news media, but the endless stimulation of social media. Maybe it’s work, ceaselessly giving yourself external tasks to complete. Or maybe it’s more embodied; maybe it’s alcohol, or porn, or literal junk food. It doesn’t matter. Maybe I didn’t list yours here, but there are myriad varieties of this experience, and I am convinced that they come from the same source of division, dissatisfaction, and a desire to be comforted in our inmost fears.

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Lenten Prayer Journals

Our Lenten series, “Meeting Jesus in the Gospel of John,” begins on Sunday, February 11.  A beautiful journal has been produced to accompany the six-week program of daily videos from the brothers. The journal can be purchased individually or in packs of ten on Amazon, or you can pick one up at the Monastery. You can also download printable versions from the website (including a large-print edition). We hope you will join us for this transformative offering.