“Someone asked Antony, founder of desert monasticism, 'What must one do in order to please God?' Antony said to stay focused on God, live according to Scripture, and 'in whatever place you find yourself, do not easily leave it.' Then and now we are prone to leave. There is a hunger for and wisdom in stability: remain, stick it out, and keep finding God here.” On the feast of Saint Matthais, Br. Luke Ditewig encourages us to embrace the wisdom of stability, trusting God will provide for us here.

“Why come to church? In an era of declining membership in mainline churches, in a time when more and more people – not just young people – are exercising the option not to attend church services, why do we keep coming back?” Br. David Vryhof ponders the outrageous, impractical, unrealistic, impossible stance of being Christian in today's world.

“Healing often takes time, and that includes the healing of our perception. How you see things now is probably very differently from how you saw things then. Jesus seems to have all the time in the world for us… and for others. He is not in a rush. Healing takes time, maybe a lifetime, maybe this lifetime and the next.” Br. Curtis Almquist offers encouraging words as we face the truth of our blindness and anticipate the new heart and new eyes promised by the resurrected Christ.

“In the sea voyages of life, it is easy to forget, or to choose not to remember. Whether sealed, like Noah, in the cramped and crowded stench of the ark or struggling to navigate more familar waters, the passage between seasons of gracious sustenance can feel equally perilous. Where is the sun? Where is the wind? Will I have enough food? Will the waters ever recede? Will I see dry land again? Where am I going? Where is my God?” Br. Keith Nelson explores the essential, strange practice of sacred storytelling, which answers God's call to remembrance.

“We have no reason to fear when the heat comes, when the drought comes, because when we love our God with all our heart, we fall in love with Love, and we begin to see the world as God sees it. Nourished by the river of Christ’s Light, we let ourselves rest in the Oneness of God’s being. And then we find God’s presence everywhere, whatever the weather of the world happens to be doing.” In this poetic sermon drawing on scriptural images of trees, Br. Nicholas Bartoli invites us to put down our roots and drink deep from the eternal river of Christ's Light.

“As a people we are beginning to ask ourselves what kind of freedom our common life enshrines. One of the many assumptions our culture relies upon is the idea that freedom is chiefly about “choice.” The Spirit asks us to consider the freedom we rightly celebrate as Christians, compared with the world’s many pseudo-freedoms.” Br. Sean Glenn returns to Genesis for a revelation of what freedom really looks like.

“We have lost touch with the power of the natural world to speak to us of God. We have become alienated from the natural world. The deepest danger is that we lose our sense of the sacredness of the world.” In this ode to the natural world, Br. Geoffrey Tristram invites us to rediscover God's glorious creation and be touched by the very hand of God.

“The version of the Gospel which probably has greatest authority for you is the Gospel according to You. What has been revealed to you, what has proven inviting and necessary for you? What is the essence of Jesus’ work and words embodied within you? That is so important for you to hear, remember, and claim. It’s your vocation. It’s why you are still alive, today.” Br. Curtis Almquist urges us to listen for our vocation, which means accepting our true self.

“There is a lesson for us and for our culture in this morning’s gospel, and it requires us to train ourselves to let go of the control we think we have. It asks us to admit we need one another.” Br. Sean Glenn recognizes our deep need for relationship and cooperation with others, who teach us, challenge us, and reveal God to us.

“Wisdom is not a skill, it does not form on demand, it is not a pill to swallow, nor gleaned from an academic course or best-selling book. Wisdom is a gift from God, a gift that needs to be cultivated.” Br. Curtis Almquist offers practical suggestions for cultivating God's gift of wisdom.