Israeli bookstore owners have a spiritual conundrum.

 

 

 

The international launch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the latest in the series about the adventures of the world's most famous teenage wizard, falls at 2:01 a.m. local time this Saturday, on the Jewish Sabbath, when the law in Israel requires most businesses to close.

Click here to read what Steimatzky, Israel's biggest bookstore chain, and many other bookstore owners are planning to do.

[via DallasNews Religion]

A self-described "frustrated member of Western form of Biblical faith" writes about the need for spiritual discipline. His orientation is Christian, but his questions could be applied to any spiritual practice.

 

 

 

Could it be possible that there is more to our understanding of the spiritual life than what we now possess? Could it be that we need the help of a more objective, caring fellow-disciple to see through our smokescreens and help us begin to get REAL before God? Could it be that there's actually something to these "disciplines" that the old-time spiritual freaks used to get all wound up about? Could it be that we're desperately in need of spiritual direction? Could it be?

Read the entire post here.

 

 

 

Perhaps you think that spiritual direction is complete when you have found a teacher, a religion, a discipline using it to instruct, guide and re-enforce your inner commitment. As essential as these may be to you, Life's questions and opportunities to grow in Wisdom are embedded in your daily living, and for you to feel truly involved with your spiritual development you must draw upon your particular life circumstance for clarity and depth. The introspective method of keeping a journal can place you in your living world where all of the questions about the meaning and mystery of Life reside. A life explored on paper will mirror and solidify internal processes.

Read more here.

Wellspring, a spirituality blog for Unitarian Universalists, describes writing as a spiritual practice.

 

 

When I write to save my soul, it’s not pretty our polished. The pen scrawls across the page as I search for the words that are going to crack my heart open, just a bit, so I can see inside. Some days, the writing is fruitful and I learn the mysteries of god. Other days, it’s more like drinking a strong cup of coffee; I become alert and attend to the trouble in my life with clarity. And some days, I think my writing is the prayer in my soul that needs air and its appearance on the page surprises me more than anything.

To read more and for a list of writing resources, click here.

[via Looking for Faith]

Christine Valters Paintner posted this reflection on time on her Abbey of the Arts blog:

 

 

 

I bristle against externally imposed schedules, part of why I so enjoy working from home and waking without an alarm on most days (as Michael Meade says, why would we want to alarm ourselves first thing in the morning). This rhythm helps to feed an organic approach to prayer which is so life-giving for me, learning to listen deeply to the rhythms of my body and spirit and responding out of those. And yet, there are certainly times when I perhaps need to hear the sound of the church bells or the voice calling me to prayer from the minaret. Times when I am still asleep. Walking by all of those decorative clocks in Ireland reminded me of my dream, how I was trying to save the clock tower, and connected me to a longing for that sacred sense of time and a deeper embrace of the hinge moments in my own day.

Read her entire reflection here.

Anglican solitary and author Maggie Ross writes:

 

 

In so-called spiritual direction, for example, there is often the temptation to move someone into the light when they are in fact in darkness. However well-intentioned, this is a move into false light; the move itself is a lie, and if not properly discerned can become demonic. If we measure ourselves or others against any false horizon, or use a false horizon for discernment, we are in illusion. Transformation takes place out of our sight by grace and can be measured only by the coordinates of grace.

Read more of her thoughts here.

Spiritual Directors International member Douglas Gregg wrote the following reflection for a bi-monthly newsletter he sends out for Christian Formation & Direction Ministries:

In this article about the "call" to spiritual direction, I want to address a tension inherent spiritual formation, the tension between growth and decay. We would all agree, I think, that growth is basic to all life. But then, what kind of growth are we talking about, and to what effect? Cancer is growth out of control that weakens and kills. And growth often seems to end in decay, so we are tempted to live out the popular adage, reinforced mightily by our culture: “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” But the push to grow spiritually is there; it is inherent in human nature. St. Augustine puts it succinctly: “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” Our potential for spiritual development, for growth in our inner person, is immense; we are made to be “Grand Canyons” inside. So grow we will, but what kind of growth will we have? Will we have growth that is haphazard and out of control or growth that constitutes genuine “formation” of our souls? (More)

A recent USA Today article notes a growing trend for young adults to become more religious than their parents.

 

Though Gallup polls dating to the '50s say young adults are less likely to attend services or say religion is very important in their lives, clergy of all stripes say they are seeing a small wave of young adults who are more pious than their parents.

What's your experience? Are you noticiing an increase in younger directees?

The official Kabbalah Blog of the Bnei Baruch World Center for Kabbalah Studies has posted a three minute video that describes the role of a spiritual teacher in Kabbalah. Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, discusses the role of a Kabbalist teacher and spiritual attainment with European MTV host Eden Harel.

An auto body shop owner and spiritual follower blogs about the value of spiritual direction. He notes that anyone in a ministerial leadership position should have a spiritual director. He also lists some components of spiritual direction that new directees need to be aware of, including:

5. Understand the difference between spiritual direction and counselling. The focus of spiritual direction isn’t to fix you. The focus is on God, listening to him and discerning together what he is doing one’s life. There is value to both. It is just important going in to understand the difference.

To read more, click here.

Spiritual Directors International member, Ron Rolheiser, OMI, was honored for his 25 years of teaching summer courses in theology and spirituality at Seattle University. Coordinating Council member Terry Moran, CSSR, and Executive Director, Liz Ellmann, MDiv, attended a dinner in Ron’s honor. Many spiritual directors in the Seattle area attended Ron’s talk about “Secularity and the Gospel: Being Missionaries to Our Own Children.”

You can listen to or view the lecture here.

Spiritual Directors International member, Ann Winsor, visited Liz Ellmann during her recent visit to Seattle, Washington, USA for the Episcopal Conference Ministry Conference. Liz and Ann talked about ways spiritual directors might support young adults in their faith development.

The Dallas News Religion blog recently reported on a Gallup poll that found, in the United States, confidence in religious institutions is waning.

The confidence level is one of the lowest for institutionalized religion in the 30-plus years that Gallup has conducted the poll. Peaking at 68 percent in May 1975, the figure bottomed out at 45 percent in June 2003.

Read more here.

Workers will soon start hanging thin fishing line high above Palo Alto. Though nearly invisible to most people, it will ease the lives of hundreds of Orthodox Jews while leaving a few others uneasy about the intersection of government and religion.



People who strictly observe Jewish law are prohibited from working on the Jewish Sabbath, which runs from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. "Working" includes driving and carrying or pushing items between private and public domains - for instance, from one's home to the outdoors....







The fishing line will help define an eruv, a symbolic wall surrounding a community that expands the concept of private space, where carrying and pushing - but not driving - are allowed.

Read more about how the Jewish community of Palo Alto, California, USA, is easing the strictures of the Sabbath. Click here.

Emily Wilmer of the Julian Group in Ithaca, New York, USA, has been using a covenant agreement with her directees for about ten years. "It seems to get the message across to potential directees," she says, "of what I can and cannot do vis-a-vis what they are hoping for."

To share your own experiences of clarifying directees' expectations, click here.

To read Emily's covenant agreement, click

 (More)