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Spiritual Direction:Seminar Three

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Spiritual Direction: Seminar Three

Presented by Jenny Campbell

Name:

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CWR, Waverley Abbey House, Waverley Lane, Farnham, Surrey GU9 8EP, UK Tel: +44 (0)1252 784719 Email: courses@cwr.org.uk Website: cwr.org.uk Registered Charity No. 294387. Registered Limited Company No. 1990308. © CWR August 2017, CS. Not to be reproduced without permission. For more copyright information please refer to last page of notes.

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Looking to the future for my life and Spiritual Direction

Seminar Three

Three Reference Points

Seminar questions

1. How can I take spiritual maturity more seriously than before so that I fulfil my call?

2. Where do I find myself when it comes to accountability or spiritual check-ups?

‘Then we shall no longer be children […]. Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head.’ Ephesians 4: 14, 15 (GNT)

Accountability in Discernment of Vocation

VOCATION OR CALL

Vocation: a purpose to fulfil in my lifetime

The call of God: my intention is to lay hold of that purpose for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me (Phil 4).

Every person: all are called & we ought to test our call in the Lord.

Testing: invariably involves another person(s) be it to full time work or to serving in the church or community in some way.

Process of discernment: what does the call look like uniquely for this one made in God’s image?

Wrestling with God: a singular task & yet works itself out in community and/or with another significant other(s).

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Reading the signs: alone but tested in community or with a significant other, i.e. when to act, when to wait, when to be led.

LISTENING TO THE HEART

‘The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?’ ( Jer 17: 9)

Know yourself: listen to feelings, temptations, rhythms of the soul, watch the movements of your soul.

Know yourself before God: place yourself in all your vulnerability before him & allow him to heal, guide & quieten you with his love.

Know yourself with others: place yourself in community & allow it to heal, confound & teach you.

READING THE SIGNS IN DAILY LIFE

• Discernment & reading the signs are not the same as decision-making, which is comparatively straightforward as we consider goals, pros & cons & actions.

• Discern our true vocation when we surrender our own ego-driven view of reality & this process often requires the intervention of another godly person (as well as God).

• Discernment with regard to vocation should proceed from a person’s grounded and ordinary life.

• Discernment with another person is listening and responding to that place within us where our deepest desires align with God’s desire – sift through motives & impulses to discover which ones lead to divine compassion & love for ourselves & others & which lead us away.

• Discernment with a spiritual director is to invite the Holy Spirit into the chaos – the worries, fears & loss – not toughing it out but going through it with Jesus who lives in wisdom in another person.

• Discernment flowers from the deep centre of the Holy Spirit as we, ‘born of the Spirit’, keep scanning our lives (at times with another) for the voice of the beloved & our lives become less chaotic.

• Discernment with another is a discipline, practice & habit

(c.f. Jonas. In Nouwen, 2013, xv -xxiii)

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Giving permission to another/Spiritual Director

To be directed means to open the self to participation in the love of God. Involves attachment to rather than detachment from those outside the self. That at times the way of knowledge is through attachment & relational.

(c.f. Green, 1991, 150)

BECOMING A GOOD SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR

Realising the gift of God within, a charism not asked for but bestowed by divine grace (not able to be bought).

Entails being a host & offering abundant hospitality to another person.

Means sharing our space, sharing the silence & the unspoken, listening to the story.

Being prepared for self-disclosure.

Involves practising ‘forgetting’ & resisting turning people into ‘cases’

Being a midwife, allowing gestation & not hurrying the birth of the new, present at the pushing & pulling – judging timing, confronting & celebrating.

Seeking guidance and direction to keep one’s own house clean & tidy.

(See Guenther, 1998, 6-41, 84-111)

Three Reference Points

1. LOOK WITHIN TO THE HEART

Who will answer my questions? What questions are people asking? Embark on a quest. Who am I? Where am I going?I am the beloved of God – affirmation & an invitation to return.The role of the spiritual director – a friend not a counsellor – creating free space to think & pray.

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2. LOOK TO GOD IN THE BOOK

God: be still and know that I am God; looking for us; with us; encountering us personally.

The living Word of God: speaking it out of silence; hearing it through meditation; learning it through repetition & regular meditation (lectio divina)

Prayer: can be unceasing; crying out to God (the Psalms); conversation; contemplation; discipline.

3. LOOK TO OTHERS IN COMMUNITY

Where do I belong? Finding my way home; finding myself in community.

Life together in community: forgiveness, celebration & love.

How can I be of service? Voluntarily downward mobility, ministering.

EXERCISES IN SPIRITUAL DIRECTION OF THE HEART

• The Book of Job: Write down your questions in your journal; recall a time when a question was treated glibly.

• What other questions could you explore with a spiritual director?• Log in a prayer diary the times when God has spoken.• Do this over a period of a year & note the changes in your soul.• Plan to attend a guided retreat & journal your reflections, breakthroughs.

EXERCISES IN SPIRITUAL DIRECTION FROM THE BOOK

• Guided meditation Psalm 46:10.• Finding God in a passage of Scripture – write Jesus a love letter.• Pray for ten minutes a day for a week, dealing with discipline &

distractions & journal & discuss with a friend/spiritual director.

EXERCISES IN SPIRITUAL DIRECTION IN COMMUNITY

• Look for ways to build community by listening to others & discerning the way ahead.

• Leaders to look to build prayerful accountability by listening to the Word & discerning the gifts in others.

• Look for ways to move from hostility to hospitality.

OPEN-ENDED DISCUSSION & PRAYER

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FURTHER READING

K. Anderson, R. Reese (1999). Spiritual Mentoring: A Guide for Seeking and Giving Direction, Guildford, Eagle.

M. Guenther (1998). Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction. London, Darton, Longman & Todd.

D. Green (1991). Evelyn Underhill: Artist of the Infinite Life. London: Darton, Longman and Todd.

H. Nouwen (1998). Reaching Out. London, Fount.

H. Nouwen (2013). Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life. London, SPCK.

H. Nouwen (2011). Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith. London, SPCK.

R. Foster (1978). Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. New York, Harper & Row.

COPYRIGHT OF CWR COURSE MATERIAL

We are often asked if there are any restrictions put by CWR on the use of the material taught on our courses. The insights, illustrations and ideas are free for all to use but what we require of our students is that when insights and ideas are taken from the course and are used to teach others, students use their own creativity in expanding and presenting these and do not simply quote from CWR text. It is always good to quote sources whenever possible and thus give credit to the individual or organisation concerned.

It is permissible to use short extracts from CWR material for teaching purposes, provided you acknowledge CWR as the source of the material and the owner of the copyright in it. It is not otherwise permissible to copy from CWR courses. Copying cannot be done by any means of a reprographic process.

If you wish to use ideas taught on our courses, then we would encourage you to present them in a form which reflects an identity of its own, and not a slightly amended version of a CWR course. Some have simply re-arranged the points made on our courses and then have presented them as their own, believing this meets our requirements, which it does not. Also, CWR has sometimes been quoted as teaching a certain principle when in fact the interpretation given by others was not what was taught by CWR.

What we expect of everyone who has gone through a CWR course is first to assimilate the material, and then to apply it to their own lives before attempting to teach it to others, and to be as creative as possible in that expression. We would stress once again that the unauthorised reproduction of pages from CWR courses is a violation of our copyright.

It is requested that you maintain Christian integrity over this issue.

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