Shalem Institute

Coddiwomple

“It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” (Ursula Le Guin) Several years ago, I planned a road trip with a good friend to visit her son, my godson, during spring break. We had only four days to drive out to Idaho, visit […]

April 04, 2021 by Monica Maxon
Categories: Beloved Community, Community, Compassion, Contemplation in Action, Contemplative Living, Contemplative Reading, Contemplative Spirituality, Continuous Prayer, Coronavirus, Discernment, Listening, Love, Pandemic, Personal Spiritual Deepening, Pilgrimage, Prayer, Self Compassion, Solitude, Spiritual Deepening, spiritual discipline, spiritual growth, and spirituality in community. Tags: awareness, coddiwomple, community, compassion, contemplation, contemplative tradition, Covid-19, discernment, earth, God, grounding, healing, holy moments, hope, Inspiration, journey, joy, listening, love, Meditation, Monica Maxon, nature, openness, peace, pilgrimage, prayer, presence, retirement, retreat, Shalem staff, silence, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, spirituality, travel, trust, unexpected, and Ursula Le Guin. Formats: Friday Blog. Interest Areas: Friday Blog.

Desmond Tutu as Christian Mystic

The three-fold division of Christian mysticism (purgation, illumination, and union) is essential in understanding Desmond Tutu’s life. Purgation exemplifies Tutu’s formation as an institutional church leader, illumination exemplifies Tutu’s role as confessor, and union exemplifies Tutu’s elder years as sage. As Tutu’s life proceeds through purgation, illumination, and union, not only does mysticism describe Tutu’s […]

April 04, 2021 by Michael Battle
Categories: Beloved Community, clergy, Clergy & Congregation, Community, Compassion, Contemplation in Action, Contemplative Leadership, Contemplative Living, Contemplative Reading, Contemplative Spirituality, Continuous Prayer, Discernment, Gerald May Seminar, Grief, Listening, Loss, Love, Non-duality, Prayer, Race, Retreat time, Self Compassion, Service, social justice, Solitude, Spiritual Deepening, spiritual direction, spiritual discipline, spiritual growth, spirituality at work, and spirituality in community. Tags: Apartheid, awareness, Christian mysticism, clergy, community, compassion, contemplation, contemplative tradition, desmond tutu, discernment, Gerald May Seminar, God, grief, grounding, healing, hope, Inspiration, leadership, listening, love, Meditation, Michael Battle, mysticism, peace, prayer, presence, prophecy, prophet, racial equity, Reconciliation, religion, saint, silence, social justice, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, spirituality, suffering, and trust. Formats: eNews Article.

Prayer as Action: Loving the World

Does it ever seem that not much is happening when you pray? When that’s what it seems like to me, all I need to do is look back at the tracks of prayer in my life. The psalmist’s astonishment and relief at being “lifted out of the miry bog”- in all the bog’s various guises […]

April 04, 2021 by Barb Kelly
Categories: Beloved Community, Body Prayer, Breath, Community, Compassion, Contemplation in Action, Contemplative Leadership, Contemplative Living, Contemplative Reading, Contemplative Spirituality, Continuous Prayer, Discernment, Lent, Listening, Love, Personal Spiritual Deepening, Prayer, Self Compassion, Service, social justice, Spiritual Deepening, spiritual discipline, spiritual growth, and spirituality in community. Tags: 40 days in the desert, awareness, Barb Kelly, community, compassion, contemplation, contemplative prayer, contemplative tradition, discernment, God, grounding, healing, Jesus, justice, Lent, listening, Living in the Presence, love, mercy, ministry, moral action, prayer, presence, radical love, retreat, shadow work, silence, social justice, spiritual growth, spiritual practice, spirituality, tilden edwards, Transfiguration, transformation, and trust. Formats: Friday Blog. Interest Areas: Friday Blog.

Exhaling My Prayer Breath

On January 29th I received my first Pfizer vaccine shot. On February 19th, I received the second shot. Two weeks later, I could finally begin to breathe deeply again. How long had I been holding my prayer breath? I didn’t realize how long I had been shallow breathing… more than 11 months, beginning when we […]