When singing the St. Matthew Passion with the Munich Bach choir one moment stood out: silence. The silence entered when our conductor intentionally held onto the rest after Jesus bowed his head and died. He stood still, with his arms in suspension, cradling the time. It was as though the whole audience sighed together, like our hearts stood still for a moment, pausing in unison. Since then I have known that conducting the pause is as important as conducting the whole Passion...

Apr 15
Apr 15 Let Spring remind us: New Beginnings take time.

Almut Furchert

midweek blessing

Jan 1
Jan 1 The Eighth Day of Christmas: Beginning Anew

Chuck Huff

12 Days of Christmas 2018

It is an historical accident of sorts that in the very season when we remember the birth of the holy one among us, we also celebrate the birth of the new year. On this day of new beginning, then, we will investigate another monastic room as we have done before: this time, the Novitiate, the process by which a person becomes a monastic.

Apr 19
Apr 19 Welcoming Spring: Hildegard on "viriditas" and the greening of the soul.

Almut Furchert

Hildegard of Bingen

There is likely no better time to ponder Hildegard of Bingen's concept of viriditas, the greening power of all creation, than a Minnesota spring. I am every year taken by surprise when dead looking branches finally, suddenly, purposely, sprout little green buds. And how full of potency do those red rhubarb heads look while pressing their new stems forcefully through the rock and cold mud? If we were only patient, we could watch their first green leaves slowly unfolding.