Gallery of topics covered by the groups
This wall of topics shows the subject matter covered in Coracle groups, broadly on the issue of faith transitions in life. Material gathered for those subjects over the years is being distilled into concise downloadable single page topic pdfs. The first pdf, for the topic A new space released in June 2016, is part of an ongoing project to make the subject matter more widely available and practically accessible. The intention is to provide a stream of pdfs that assist new groups to start up wherever you are whilst at the same time offering food for individual reflection. Here are some thoughts on running a group meeting (full or concise); these along with the directory of ideas (Topics brochure) and sample downloadable topic pdfs offer a starter pack. Email us for more specific support if you are looking to start a new group or run a series for your existing group.
Faith is a verb, a process of becoming, involving our loving, trusting, believing, acting, suffering, valuing, knowing, committing. Alan Jamieson
Picture: The Vendramin family, Titian
Accepting the life that is awaiting us
Photo: Annie Spratt, unsplash.com
I the middle of my winter I found an invincible summer. Daniel O'Leary
Photo: Kwang Mathurosemontri
Do some things get better as we age?
What might these be?
Picture: Self portrait with red flower wreath and chain, 1907. Paula Modersohn becke
Entering deeply in to the soul so as to enter more deeply in to humanity and the mystery of God himself. Peter Feldmeier
Photograph: Houses on clifftop, Jonas Lavoie-Levesque (unsplash.com)
A liquid society. Do we underestimate the effect of postmodern culture on our faith?
The impact of internalising the extroverted bias in culture.
Picture: Self portrait, 1901 Heinrich Kuhn
Torpor and the refusal of joy. The word literally means "not caring" or "being unable to care". Kathleen Norris
Picture: Elijah and the angel, Denic Bouts
Infatuation and enchantment - Nesting and manipulation - Crisis - Resolution and integration.
Picture: The entombment, 1612. Peter Paul Rubens
If we wish to live freely and expansively we must learn to die or diminish or take risks.
Photograph: Stephen Wood
Time for intuition, inklings and trusting the unconscious.
Everything is gestation and then rebirthing. Rainer Maria Rilke
Picture: Branches of an almond tree in blossom, Vincent van Gogh
Second growth: Discontent, restlessness, doubt, despair, longing as signs of growing pains.
Picture: Sven Schlager, unsplash.com
Click the Topics Brochure button for a pdf brochure which presents a fuller listing of the 100 topics; titles, thumbnails and excerpts.
Here is a fuller list of the topics we have covered. We plan to generate single page summaries of each for personal and group use and move these to the section above.
I wake to a perfect patience of mountains...To merciful Him whose only now is forever.
E. E. Cummings
Picture: Samuel Palmer
Our rootedness, our sense of place and space, is profoundly bodily.
God delights in being visible and tangible in human skin. The Blessed Trinity dwells deep within our bodies.
Daniel O'Leary
Photograph: Boots, Amanda Sandlin (unsplash.com)
Seen it all, done it all, heard it all,
Mid-life, no "no more bullshit passage".
Cynicism and the love of all things.
Picture: Niagara Falls, Pavel Svinyin
A consideration of the Beatitudes.
Photo: Clashing zebras, David Meier (picography.co)
Religion is always, in one sense or another, about making one out of two.
Picture: Man and woman on the beach, 1893. Thomas Pollack
It takes the four seasons of our life to develop the art of doing all things playfully; that is religiously.
Janice Brewi and Anne Brennan
Picture: Children's games, Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Disorientation...an abrupt or slowly dawning acknowledgement that constitutes a dismantling of the old known world and a relinquishment of safe, reliable, confidence in God's good creation.
Walter Bruggemann
Picture: The fall of Icarus, Peter Paul Rubens
This hidden life, this first courageous life, seems to speak from silence.
David Whyte
Photo: Underwater swimmer, Jacob Walti (unsplash.com)
To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, subtract things every day. Lao Tsu
Photo: Leaf, Grzegorz Mleczek (unsplash.com)
Everything is already given.
Richard Rohr
Picture: Waiting for the ferry, 1915. Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky
The signs of transition are a resurgence of immense fear, so the temptation is to return to the tried and tested. Which is half right.
Richard Rohr
Picture: Two crosses, Bridget MacAulay
It is morning, afternoon or evening. Begin.
Thomas Merton
Photo: Watch, Levi Saunders (unsplash.com)
Don't call this world adorable, or useful, that's not it. It's frisky, and a theatre for more than fair winds...Don't call this world an explanation, or even an education.
Mary Oliver
Picture: Winger Dance, 1903. Hugo Simberg
What does it feel like to be silent before God, and before others?
Picture: Morning in Riesengebirge, Caspar David Friedrich
The LORD had said to Abraham, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you."
Photograph: Stephen Wood
What imprints have landscapes made on your soul?
Photograph: Hill and village scene, Elaine Li (unsplash.com)
All of life is archetypal. Jesus has therefore within himself all the patterns of being, relating, growing and ministering that all people have.
Janice Brewi
Picture: Simeon's song, Rembrandt
Lord, transform our prejudice, nurture our growth, deepen our questions, widen our view, challenge our comforts.
May our thoughts make us explorers.
Picture: Stamp, wikicommons
Caring is the greatest thing, caring matters most. Frederick von Hugel
Picture: Kneeling man planting,1881. Vincent van Gogh
What and where is home?
Picture: Montfoucault, 1874 Camille Pissarro
Eucharist living. Liturgy and life.
Picture: Supper at Emmaus,1602, Caravaggio
The body is a doorway into inner space or presence.
Picture: Annunciation, Fra Angelico,
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
At the end of the day, how do you know you have done enough? Pete Edwards
Photo: Tangle of railway lines José Martín (unsplash.com)
I need to be humbled, cooked in the tears of loss for any deeper life to emerge.
And there was a new voice, which you slowly recognised as your own.
Roger Housden on a Mary Oliver poem
Picture: In front of the Isle Tudy, Maxime Maufra
What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah
Picture: Coalmine in the Borinage, 1879. van Gogh
Somewhere, somehow, we began to live as if we were separate, alone and in danger. Once afraid, we constructed a self out of that fear and have been steadfastly defending it ever since. Kabir Helminski
Picture: Sunlit bush, Lukasz Szmigiel (unsplash.com)
In the experience of beauty we awaken and surrender in the same act.
John O'Donohue
Photograph: Blue valley, Ales Krivec (unsplash.com)