Dec 24

Dec 24 May Christmas find you where you are: A Blessing for the night

What I most long for at Christmas is silence. When the hustle and bustle fades, the people go home and the lights go off. Left alone before the flicker of a last candle, wondering, even doubting, what this is all about…

Dec 19
Dec 19 Is it almost Christmas? Join us in birthing a new chapter at The Cloister

Almut Furchert

Nov 26
Nov 26 At the Threshold to new beginnings

Almut Furchert

Nov 9
Nov 9 November Blues: Hoping against Despair

Almut Furchert

Sep 4
Sep 4 On Homecoming, lake visits and discerning our labor

Almut Furchert

Jul 16
Jul 16 On strenuous hikes and gracious rewards

Almut Furchert

May 7
May 7 Meditations on Life together, viriditas, and on falling down and getting up

Almut Furchert

Apr 7
Apr 7 Holding contradictions. A Holy Friday Meditation

Almut Furchert

passion week 2023

Apr 6
Apr 6 Maundy Thursday. From Passion to Compassion

Almut Furchert

passion week 2023

One can hardly say anything more meaningful than is already said in this ethereal Aria of JS Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and the angelic earnestness of the interpretation by the male Alto Tim Mead and the Netherlands Bach Society. May you find comfort and healing in it and may it move you to shared compassion with those who suffer in these troubled times.

Apr 4
Apr 4 Holy Tuesday: Cradling your heart

Almut Furchert

passion week 2023

On this Holy Tuesday I want to invite you into a holy pause to cradle your heart. The Aria I have chosen from the Matthew Passion offers you an invitation to self-compassion. To be compassionate even with your “bleeding heart.”

Apr 3

Apr 3 Leaning into Mercy, or: Resisting Resistance

Almut Furchert

passion week 2023

The arias in Bach’s Passions are wells of deep emotion. Time stands still, while we follow a movement of heart to the depth of our soul. Bach’s aria “Have mercy, my God”, invites us almost to dance through our bitter weeping, to resist our resistance, and to open the heart to graceful mourning and the gentle desire for mercy.

Apr 2
Apr 2 Entering Passion Week, or: On the Art of Repetition.

Almut Furchert

passion week 2023

With his Passion JS Bach has created a grand lamentation. His music gives us a container for our sorrows and seduces us into the beauty of lamentation. Joining in this orchestrated experience of mourning can actually be self-soothing and a strategy for resilience in the face of tragedy.