Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly features "February 26, 2010: Spiritual Directors" showcasing spiritual direction, prayer, and members of Spiritual Directors International. Airs Friday, February 26 through Monday, March 1, 2010, showing on almost all PBS stations. You will also be able to see it streaming on the RENW Web site after approximately 7:00 p.m. EST on Friday, February 26, 2010. 

 

• "February 26, 2010: Spiritual Directors" episode with video, text, and photographs.
  
  
• The show is available in a videocast and podcast through iTunes. To download the episode go to the Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly homepage. In the right column, locate and click the button for either "Watch Now" or "ListenNow" to link to the appropriate site.
  
  To learn when the show will play in your locale, click this PBS link: Check your local listings to see when Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly airs in your area.
  
  

A little background:
Filming in Seattle, Washington, USA
In November 2009, PBS Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly came to Seattle, Washington, to film a story about prayer and spiritual direction. PBS filmed interviews, a retreat, a spiritual direction session, and a seminary "Introduction to Spiritual Direction" class. Why? To tell the story of how people are learning to pray and how spiritual direction contributes to cultivating prayer and compassion in communities. SDI shares the story and photographs of filming in this blog post: "How Do People Pray Today? Where Do People Learn to Pray?"

Thank you to everyone who participated in the filming, production, and editing process.

We pray that the message of the PBS television segment will embrace people of all faiths. We pray this film will communicate the power that prayer and spiritual direction offer for healing, for nourishing exhausted hearts, for building capacity for compassion in community, and for connecting us with the source of compassion and peace. We pray the segment will provide encouragement and hope for the weary and downtrodden.

Please tune in, and share what you think about the show.

Ann Rodgers, reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, offers an invitation to spiritual seekers: "Ashes, which many Christians will receive on their foreheads today to mark the beginning of Lent, are intended to encourage repentance and renewal. Those who want guidance in that process can turn to spiritual directors. Most clergy aren't spiritual directors and not all spiritual directors are clergy. They have special training in guiding others into a deeper life of prayer and in seeking God's will."

Exploring reasons why a person might seek spiritual direction, and how to locate a spiritual director, Rodgers interviews Sister Ardath C. Blake, HM, an active member of Spiritual Directors International, Liz Ellmann, executive director of Spiritual Directors International, Dr. Susan Muto, and Rev. Graham Standish. Excellent insights about spiritual direction are offered, and include:

"Praying from the heart can be difficult for those raised primarily on memorized prayers." --Sister Ardath C. Blake, HM

"Life-changing events--such as a serious illness--can lead people to seek spiritual direction. And over the past year, job loss has had a similar effect. People are asking, is the work I was doing really my calling?" --Liz Ellmann

"You don't entrust your soul to just anybody, you need to make sure they've got a good background and didn't just go to a summer camp for spiritual directors." --Susan Muto

To read the entire article, click here: "More People Turning to Spiritual Directors: Specialists provide guidance to those seeking deeper faith."

 

 

Spiritual Directors International is grateful to reporter Ann Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for helping to educate everyone about the ministry and service of spiritual direction. Thank you!

Please contribute to the conversation by adding your comments to this blog post.

Wednesday, 17 February, marks Ash Wednesday, when the Season of Lent begins for Christians. What makes Ash Wednesday and Lent significant, year after year?

A Christian Response
I engage in daily prayer and meditation. Over dozens of years, a variety of spiritual practices have, at one time or another, given life, been shed, and occasionally re-embraced. A consistent thread is to make deliberate time periods for intentional reflection and turning toward God. Why is this important? In this time of my life I want to be a whole person, delightfully alive, and hallowed into radical authenticity and vivid presence. I know that God unabashedly loves me—and everyone who I desire to serve with mutuality, friendship, and compassionate care. I want to participate as fully as I can in God's ongoing love affair with humanity and all of the cosmos.

Spirituality is not a separate part of who I am every day—it is embodied and experienced through my senses and life particulars. I welcome the defined time period of Lent to turn to God with my whole self. This turning is ultimately toward the world.

An Olympic Story
Tonight I watched Olympic figure skating, pondered Lent, and allowed the Hebrew Scripture, “Return to me with your whole heart” (Jl 2:12) to glide within me. I looked at ice dancers become grace in motion—turning, spinning, twirling, arching, moving towards, away, tucking and reaching. I visually experienced the spiritual journey. Surely it encompasses all these moves. We are not meant to be spectators in life! We are invited to engage, participate, train, fall, glide, spin, embrace, and turn towards one another and God. Music dances through our soul, as rhythm glides into expression in our body and daily life.

Spiritual Guidance
Ash Wednesday and Lent invite a fresh turning—or return—to God’s embrace. As much as each of us is on a solitary journey, it is also communal. Meeting with a spiritual director can encourage genuine seeking and conversion. During spiritual direction we are accompanied in our turning to God with our whole heart, broken heart, or dancing heart.

Will you join me in turning toward spiritual practice, a daily discipline, and a radical acceptance of wholeness and connection with all of creation? Lent can spring the frozen places in our heart and actions, thaw our resistance to compassionate love, and grow our sacred dance with the Beloved.  

If you are seeking a spiritual director to accompany you, click here to discover good questions and spiritual directors to interview through the online, searchable: Seek and Find: A Worldwide Resource Guide of Available Spiritual Directors.

Pegge Bernecker is the editor Listen: A Seekers Resource for Spiritual Direction, published by Spiritual Directors International. To read more articles like this one, check out past issues of Listen, or click here to request your free quarterly Listen subscription.

Photos from Google images.

I ask for your supportive prayer as I prepare for left knee surgery on 3-3-10. I have been & continue to trust in our loving GOD. The knee is important but it is surrounded by a live sciatica nerve & other complications. I am trusting in the Infinte One to take care of it all. I feel his Presence deeply but sometimes lose my focus. Sending Light & Energy my way will be appreciative from all of you. Blessings, Joan

 

Enrichment, Formation and Training Program Locator

Are you searching for a program to learn about spiritual direction, or receive formation, training, or enrichment opportunities? Finding a program to discern your call to the ministry and service of spiritual direction is an important part of your spiritual journey. If possible, you might want to contact several programs to determine which one is right for you.

Spiritual Directors International provides the best Web site in the world to locate a program or institution, with the specific criteria that you seek.

Each of these links provides valuable tips or searchable maps. Simply click on the highlighted text.

Helpful tips when it is time to research, choose, and interview potential spiritual direction formation and training programs.

The SDI interactive Google map allows you to search anywhere in the world for an "Enrichment, Formation, or Training" program for spiritual directors or guides.

Suggestions about how to use the Enrichment, Formation, and Training Program Locator map.

"What is Spiritual Direction?"

Are you a trainer? Add your Enrichment, Formation or Training Program to the SDI Web site locator.

SDI is committed to providing excellent educational resources. Please comment about what you find helpful, and what you want more of!

A member of Spiritual Directors International, Alexander J. Shaia, PhD, contributes a "Guest Voice" to the On Faith blog at The Washington Post! He is one of the plenary keynote presenters during the SDI "Gratefulness: The Heart of Spiritual Care" educational events in San Francisco, California, USA.

Writing for our times with a fresh understanding of Christian gospels, Shaia explains in "Where is God Now" post:

But there are four paths to the journey; moving through suffering is only one. We know that there are times in our past and there will be times in our future characterized by stability and then change. We also know there are great moments of epiphany and joy. But in between, there are times of trial and suffering, and we all know that in those times, it can feel like it is overwhelming, never-ending, and that there is now way out.

Click here to read the full article, "Where is God Now?"

Come to San Francisco in April 2010 to learn with Dr. Shaia and all the other stellar presenters and attendees!

I used to think that spiritual directors were for clergy and students at seminary school. Over the past few years, however, I've learned that spiritual direction is a time honored tradition for anyone who wants to grow spiritually. As with coaches, it is important pick one whose strengths match your needs. (Not only is a hockey coach of little use to a golf player, but even a life coach or business coach needs proficiency in your areas of concern. Likewise, different Spiritual Directors will be of more or less help throughout your journey...) And, as they say, when the student is ready, the teacher will come.

I first enlisted the aid of a spiritual director when I was planning on going to Germany. While there were many things I was giving up (including my faith community and especially EfM (Education for Ministry)), I was looking forward to the opportunity to study Reformation history and visit cathedrals in Europe. I wanted someone to keep me accountable to my goals and help me to process where my journey led. I didn't get to move to Germany last year, but my life has moved through many challenges and (on days when I can set aside my impatience) I am generally amazed by how much I've learned and grown during this time. Through most of the past year, I met with my spiritual director (almost monthly) and we explored the new places my spiritual journey was taking me. (Fortunate for me, she has also provided sage professional coaching during these long months where my career sits poised on the edge of so much opportunity and challenge...) Perhaps my most significant epiphany in 2009 was the realization that my life is truly integrated and different parts are interconnected in ways I hadn't seen previously.

I no longer view my life as secular versus spiritual and the old "us vs them" philosophy (which I find to be a common worldview in our culture) is antithematic to who I am now. I can finally see where the gifts God has given me are brought into their fullness when used wisely throughout all aspects of my life - day or night...Sunday or any day...at church, home, work or in the world at large - and that I am happiest when I share my time and talent among many varied interests. EfM played a pivotal role in my development and I carry the tools I've learned there with me into other areas of my life. The "exercise" of Theological Reflection (TR) is an excellent example. I've never been one to make rash decisions. That's not to say that my decisions don't seem rash at times, but that's because I'm a very analytical person and I've usually given a great deal of thought to a problem or scenario I've already seen coming, when others involved are usually unaware and caught off-guard. But spiritual direction (and the reading, self-exploration, retreats and prayer practices which go hand-in-hand with SD) have given me a new way to "analyze" and "reflect" on my life.

When my spiritual director asked a few months ago what I get out of spiritual direction, I offered that these sessions were like "Weigh Stations" in my journey... Like any long haul trucker, you need to stop and refuel, but it would be dangerous to just "gas and go." (I'll keep this metaphor focused on the mechanics of the vehicle for I am still a "drive thru" omnivore and my spiritual growth hasn't quite worked through that problem...yet.) It's important to check under the hood and walk around the vehicle, verifying that everything is in working order and prepared for the "little bumps along the highway." If your tires are low on air or almost treadbare, a little pothole along the road could make for a major calamity. Or you may start your journey with a clean windshield, but a few bugs or bird droppings can totally obscure your vision if your reservior isn't filled and ready to clear up the situation. Likewise, having these periodic opportunities to examine the workings of our spiritual life help us to know that we are prepared for the little bumps which might come are way or (when we're not) help us to get prepared in case they occur. Of course, there are some things for which we cannot truly prepare. But routine maintenance of our spiritual toolbox will help us to trust that we are in good hands - both metaphorically and practically speaking, through our faith community. It's been a few months since I've met with my spiritual director (We've both been very busy with life and the holidays...), but routine maintenance keeps things humming along nicely. In many ways, the experience of sharing with a SD has made it easier to share with others. And, as a life long learner and seeker, I am always stretching myself with new challenges and opportunities.

--Heather Hall
Submitted to Stories via the SDI BLOG