Word Made Flesh is a contemplative community. One of the ways that we contemplate what God is doing in the world and in our lives is through the reflection articles that we write. We invite you to read, learn, and celebrate with us.
The Cry for Submission: Letter from the Editor by Emily Fales
Thoughts during the Word Made Flesh Gathering
August 2010 At this very moment, I am sitting in a beautiful hotel in Nebraska, enjoying the heat, the tumble of trees outside, and delicious fruits of an American summer. Every three years the American Word Made Flesh staff from all around the world pull themselves together for ten days to refocus, re-envision,…
Conversations
May 2010 These are parts of priceless conversations I’ve had with the women of Suti Sana since we started last month: “I can’t forgive him. Does God WANT me to forgive him when every night he keeps doing bad things to my kids and me?” “Am I understanding this prayer things…
Suti Sana Starts
April 2010 Tomorrow I will see the culmination of three years of dreaming and planning and hoping! Tomorrow we get to welcome five women into a new life in our community. Tomorrow is the first day of Suti Sana! For the last few months, we have been slogging through details and preparations for…
Weddings
February 2010 I know you have all forgiven my long hiatus from writing you, the humble excuse being my getting married. And since I never do things by halves, Mache and I did not get married just once. No, no. There were three ceremonies in total. For legal reasons, Mache and I began…
Eye of the Storm
December 2009 Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Matthew 14:27-29 A few weeks ago a friend was praying over me and saw an image of Jesus pouring a…
Engaged
July 2009 Here’s a little love story for you. About three years ago, I wandered into the church that is now my church home in Bolivia. I took one look at the cute keyboard player and thought, “Clearly God is doing great things in this church. I better stick around.” But of…
A Pox on Delays
June 1, 2009 Dear friends, How ridiculously bogged down things can get in a majority world country. I claim to be a nonviolent person until I get stuck in Migration Services or hear about our legal battles to keep our tax-exempt status. At those times, if I had a medieval broadsword, I might…
Transit Cops
October 2009 Because I don’t drive in Bolivia, opting instead for the haphazard public transport system, I’ve never dealt with one of the most corrupt facets of Bolivian society—Transit Cops. But my fiancée just bought his first car, an ’81 bile green Beetle, and ran into trouble his first day driving. At a…
Voluntary Displacement
May 2009 Through voluntary displacement, we counteract the tendency to become settled in a false comfort and to forget the fundamentally unsettled position that we share with all people. Voluntary displacement leads us to the existential recognition of our inner brokenness and thus brings us to a deeper solidarity with the brokenness of our fellow…
January Update 2013
I’m not bringing any special message for 2013. God is always with us and all I want for us all is to be aware of it every second of our lives. Another year passed, another year found us happy or not, content or not. 2012 was especially marked by news regarding the end of the…