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Thank You, Shalem
by Jean Link As I sit down to write about my experience of leaving the Spiritual Guidance Program staff this year, all that comes to me is to simply say, “Thank You.” Reflecting back on my 25-year experience with Shalem, I remember when I was first introduced to Shalem. Barbara Osborne, a long-time Shalem staff person, brought me to…
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Battlefields by Moonlight: A Shalem Odyssey
by Carolyn Metzler When I started Lent by offering a conversation about mortality to my congregation, I did not know how close I was to the subject! Subsequent events reshaped me spiritually, brought me face to face with the frailty of the human body and resilience of the human spirit. I was invited into a dark blessing, a holy…
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Be Still and Know that I am God
by Kathleen Moloney-Tarr On this second day of a silent retreat, alone in the North Carolina mountains, a line circles over and over in my mind. “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) This becomes the prayer of my day. As the words turn inside my head, they become a ribbon of comfort, an invitation to…
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A Case of the Mondays
by Amy Cole I woke up this morning with “A Case of the Mondays,” that morose condition of starting the day in a state of dread and disgust at the long list of things which must be done, appointments and commitments too long to list and too late to cancel. (Surely I could cancel them, but I don’t feel…
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And It Rained
by Rod Dugliss Reflections from Shalem’s West Coast Regional Gathering When I awoke early at Mercy Center to meet with the Shalem staff for the West Coast Regional Gathering final set up, I looked out my window to catch a huge, ivory-bright, full moon setting, briefly visible through a rift in roiling, dark clouds. After breakfast, fellow staff…
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The Congregation as a Place of Spiritual Formation
by Robert Duggan We Americans like to take care of things neatly and efficiently, preferably from a prepackaged solution that can get quick results with a minimum of hassle. Our cultural bias towards action and our get-the-job-done outlook impacts our approach to spiritual formation as much as it does a variety of other areas of life. Communities or individuals who…