“Mystery
has been edged aside for the many who find themselves defined by too many
things, too little time, and a desperate desire for order and control in a
world that seems chaotic. In such a
time, it becomes ever more important for those of us who do share a sense of
the necessity of human engagement with ultimate reality to listen to one
another with our hearts, even perhaps especially when our approaches and our
ways of speaking differ.” Tending the Holy: Spiritual Direction Across
Traditions edited by Norvene Vest
Last week I attended a workshop,
Congregational-Based Spiritual Direction. You might wonder what Spiritual Direction
is and why basing it in a congregation would be of any particular import. Liz Budd Ellmann, M.Div., Executive Director
of Spiritual Directors International, writes:
“Spiritual Direction explores a deeper relationship with the spiritual
aspect of being human. Simply put, Spiritual Direction is helping people tell
their sacred stories.” Spiritual Direction is not therapy, is not
about diagnosis, and is certainly not about an expert or anyone else giving you
advice. Spiritual Direction is about
going deeper within for what is sought, not looking for answers from outside
one’s self. Spiritual Direction is
present-centered with a focus toward the future. Spiritual Direction is about persevering
despite difficulties. With guidance of a trained Spiritual Director,
a person chooses to intentionally search within him/herself for direction,
wholeness, and/or the holy. The
Spiritual Director serves as a mentor, offering support, accountability, and
deep listening. Group Spiritual
Direction offers an opportunity for seekers to join together, with a Spiritual
Director or trained facilitator, in this process of support, accountability,
and deep listening.
This workshop (the first of three required
to be certified as a Congregational-Based Spiritual Director through the Center
for Congregational Spirituality) focused on the use of facilitated small
Spiritual Direction groups that would intentionally be short-term (4-6
sessions) and would take place within a congregation. Now this is not to say that Unitarian
Universalist churches don’t encourage already spiritual growth (our third
Principle: acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in
our congregations), but this type of group provides individuals the space to
stop in their busy lives and look within.
As a church, we are called to offer the opportunity for Spiritual
Direction to each of our members (at no cost), in the comfort of their own
congregations, with a minister or lay-minister whom they already know, in a
group of people with whom they are already in community.
How often have you taken a
significant amount of time to be silent, to listen to the voice within, and
then give voice to your life stories, to your heart felt yearnings, time to
attend to where your god is messing with you, or to explore those places within
that don’t feel whole? How often have
you carved out a chunk of time to reflect on the meaning of your experiences or
the purpose of your life? How often have
you given yourself the gift time to sit in a group of people with different
beliefs who are there to support and help you look within? I strongly believe that offering Spiritual
Direction groups is a way of growing our congregations—growing in the depth of
what we can offer our members and growing in the sharing we can do with one
another. I have talked with many people of
DuPage Unitarian Universalist Church and other Unitarian Universalist
congregations, and time and again I hear a yearning for an opportunity to look
within in a safe, accepting, supportive place.
Unitarian Universalist churches can be such places for the spiritually
diverse to give voice to that within them.
In the ancient Christian writing, the Gospel of Thomas, it is written: “If
you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you
do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy
you.” You have a sacred story to
discover, to learn, to tell. Come, come,
whoever you are, and let us explore a deeper relationship with the spiritual aspect
of being human.
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