Welcome to the July issue of “Membership Moments,” the monthly e-newsletter from Spiritual Directors International.
What has spiritual direction opened for you?
This story was submitted by Mary Karp on the Spiritual Directors International Web site.
By the time I was in my mid 40's, I had established a career in Clinical Social Work; was comfortable with God and my faith of Quakerism; was married to my college sweetheart -- with a beautiful home, two fine boys, a Golden Retriever, and even two cars! I was set.
Then, in one dramatic 24-hour period, it all began to unravel. Within a short span of time, I was diagnosed first with Lupus SLE then with Parkinson’s: two life threatening, chronic diseases. At first, I tried to manage the chaos that the Lupus brought to our lives, all on my own. Within a short time, however, I was driven to the use of drugs and psychiatry for depression when, two years into the diagnosis, the Lupus inflamed my kidneys and my very life was suddenly on the line. It was after stabilizing on an experimental chemotherapy, that I stumbled across 'Spiritual Direction' and knew instinctively and immediately that that was my door to sanity, even as I had no idea what spiritual direction really was. In that critical
Moment, I knew only that I was exhausted, and that therapy could not touch the pain I was in – it was spiritual. I was spinning helplessly – in increasingly tight circles – desperate for relief from relentless questions:
WHERE WAS GOD?
WHAT HAD I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?!
HOW COULD I LIVE WITH THIS MEDICAL NIGHTMARE?
MY FAMILY SHOULD NOT HAVE TO LIVE WITH THIS LEVEL OF CHAOS AND LOSS –
IT IS NOT FAIR!!
WHY ME?!
GOD HAS BETRAYED ME!!
Spiritual direction has done nothing short of quieting me down, helping me to grow up and into my new reality, creating a container for my fears and extreme panic, and bringing me home to myself and my God. Spiritual direction has transformed my life to one of possibilities out of my now deepened and renewed relationship with the God-of-my-understanding.
With a deep bow of gratitude, we thank you, Mary, for letting people around the world and across traditions know about how spiritual direction has transformed your life.
In the comments section of the blog, please share your thoughts about how you practice exile.
<<<< >>>>
Spiritual Directors International is educating the public about the value of spiritual direction: living with a grateful heart, listening with compassion, around the world and across traditions.
Check out the blog,
Facebook, or
Twitter to see where.
<<<< >>>>
Scroll down to read the articles associated with July headlines.
1. NEW! Listen: A Seeker's Resource for Spiritual Direction is turning pages online!
2. NEW! Spiritual Directors International Learns From… series adds new videos!
3. Thank you to workshop discernment committee for Boston 2011
4. Interfaith Pilgrimage to Israel and Palestine Now Filled
5. Books, CDs, DVDs?
6. Welcome new editorial review panel member
7. Do you want to learn tips to find a spiritual director?
8. Spiritual Directors International blessed with new home office options
9. The Best of the Spiritual Directors International BLOG!
10. Connect with Spiritual Directors International on Facebook
11. July reflection by poet Christina Lovin
12. July blessing from the Executive DirectorClassified Ads: your retreat center, job opening, or book could be here!
Click here to learn about advertising in Membership Moments.
Required Reading: Finding Seekers--------------------------
1. NEW! Listen: A Seeker's Resource for Spiritual Direction is turning pages online!
A GIFT to everyone who wants a print or paperless version,
Listen is published quarterly. The July 2010 issue is now available in a digital, page-turning format, on six online-publishing Web sites. Please share
Listen with your online communities, or
add a link to your Web site so everyone can receive a free subscription.
You will now find a digital, page-turning, color, online issue of
Listen at these Web sites.
MyebookCommunity Books-Internet ArchiveYuduIssuuScribdSquidooSpiritual Directors International --------------------------
2. NEW! Spiritual Directors International Learns From… series adds new videos!Follow these links to new videos on YouTube. We post the videos on the Spiritual Directors International Web site so that you may watch the videos without the distraction of flashing YouTube advertising.
Conversation with Brother David Steindl-Rast, OSBBrother David: How to Find a Spiritual Guide, Sometimes It Can Be Difficult!Conversation with Rev. Jane VennardRev. Jane Vennard: What to Expect in Spiritual DirectionAnd a special video treat with snippets from five spiritual directors answering the question,
“As a spiritual director, what refreshes or nourishes you?” Looking for refreshment? Drink in wisdom from SDI spiritual directors.
--------------------------
3. Thank you to workshop discernment committee for Boston 2011
Cultivating Compassion Heartfelt gratitude for the 113 good, solid workshop proposals submitted for Spiritual Directors International educational events in Boston, Massachusetts, April 28 – May 1, 2011. Many thanks to the Workshop Discernment Committee for their hours of hard work selecting a balanced set of workshops that will be presented in Boston. Complete information and registration will be available online September 2010.
Save these dates!
Cultivating Compassion Leadership Institute, April 28, 2011
Conference, April 28-May 1, 2011
Spirituality and Health Care Institute, May 2
Contemplative retreats, May 3-6, 2011.
Keynote Speaker and Conference Spiritual Director for Cultivating Compassion in 2011…Dr. Janet Ruffing, RSM will be the keynote presenter for the Spiritual Directors International educational events in Boston, Massachusetts,
Wilkie Au, PhD will be the conference spiritual director.
Complete information and registration will be available online September 2010.
Sign up for e-mail to receive more information. Download a flyer to forward to your friends and colleagues.
--------------------------
4. Please pray for and with interfaith pilgrims from four continents
Interfaith Pilgrimage to Israel and Palestine Now FilledA Journey to the Heart:
Inner Paths to Compassion, Connection, and PeaceSpiritual Directors International Pilgrimage to Israel and Palestine is completely booked. Pilgrims from four continents will walk together for peace: from Africa, Europe, North America, South America. Please pray with and for the pilgrims as we prepare to Journey to the Heart. We will be holding you in prayer as we bring contemplative gifts of peace to the Middle East in October.
If you would like to put your name on the wait list for the pilgrimage, please contact Molly Bauthues in the Spiritual Directors International home office, membership@sdiworld.org or call +1-425-455-1565.
--------------------------
5. Books, CDs, DVDs?Are you a publisher or author with a book, CD, or DVD you would like to have considered for potential review in one of the Spiritual Directors International publications? Please e-mail Reviews [@] sdiworld.org for the accurate mailing address for all review materials.
--------------------------
6. Welcome new editorial review panel members
Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction is happy to announce one new member of the
editorial review panel.
Tim Noble is originally from England, but has lived since 2001 in the Czech Republic, in Prague, where he teaches at the International Baptist Theological Seminary. He has studied in universities in Liverpool, London and Manchester in the UK and also in the Jesuit Faculty of Theology in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Welcome!
--------------------------
7. Do you want to learn tips to find a spiritual director?
FREE Teleconference to learn to seek and find a spiritual director!Attend a FREE one hour a
teleconference designed to help everyone seek and find a spiritual director. Learn how to use the NEW and UPDATED online Seek and Find Guide. In the world today, we need to listen to one another. Spiritual direction can be a valuable path. Will you attend and share this valuable resource with people in your community?
August 24, 2010 12:00 EDT; 4:00 GMT/UTCFREE Teleconference:
“How to Seek and Find a Spiritual Director”To RSVP and receive the telephone call-in number, paste this URL in your browser: http://www.sdiworld.org/events/spiritual-directors-international-outreach/teleconference.html. This is a Spiritual Directors International sponsored event for everyone who is interested.
Please share the FREE teleconference details with your colleagues, chaplains, or spiritual care department at your local hospital, local career center, within a faith community, or at a local retreat center. Post this event on twitter, Facebook, or any of your social networking sites. Everyone is welcome.
--------------------------
8. Spiritual Directors International blessed with new home office optionsThank you for your prayers! Many options are available for the new Spiritual Directors International home office. We are in discernment about the best new nest. Please continue to pray for the process of finding a new home office in the Bellevue, Washington, USA area. We need to move by August 31, 2010, so our July and August will be in transition.
After eight years of communing daily with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, Spiritual Directors International has to find a new home. The CSJPs will be tearing down the building where the SDI office is currently located to construct a new nursing facility for their elderly community members. It is with deep sadness and understanding that the home office of Spiritual Directors International will no longer be on the campus of the Peace and Spirituality Center. Our hearts are filled with gratefulness for the wonderful times we have shared together. We know God is guiding us to a new home office. We will miss the daily interactions and collaborative ministry with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace.
Please pray for the CSJP community as they undertake a building project to care for their elderly community members.
Please also pray for many unemployed people and businesses that went bankrupt during this global recession. Until looking for office space, I had not witnessed firsthand the extent of loss of local jobs. The reason Spiritual Directors International is blessed with several choices is because so many buildings in the Bellevue area are eerily vacant.
--------------------------
9. The Best of the Spiritual Directors International “Web + Log = BLOG”
Stop by the Spiritual Directors International Web site—new resources, articles, photographs, and reflections are added each week. www.sdiworld.org.
The Best of the Spiritual Directors International BLOG!Visit the Spiritual Directors International Web site—new resources, articles, photographs, and reflections are added each week. www.sdiworld.org.
"Focused Attention, Open Awareness""People want to be compassionate, but often they don't know how to go about it." --Karen ArmstrongIn Claremont, California, USA, "A rabbi, a minister and an imam walk into a classroom, and it's no joke."New VIDEO with Brother David Steindl-Rast, OSB, on Prayer, Spiritual Direction, GratefulnessIs spiritual direction a worthy solution? The National Catholic Reporter reports…--------------------------
10. Connect with Spiritual Directors International on Facebook
Join the conversation and contemplative learning community online at
“Spiritual Directors International for spiritual care”.
--------------------------
11. July reflection by poet Christina LovinThis poem won an honorable mention in the 2009-2010
Presence poetry contest.
Brushing My Mother's Teeth Not what you might think. Not those
that I remember only from photos
of a gap-toothed young woman.
Solid, these are held in my hand: soiled—
yellow and caked with starch from nursing
home food. The brush sends out specks that stick
to the faucet, spot the break-proof mirror
in the tiny shared toilet. Another woman
mumbles incoherently on the other side
of the cheap laminate door while water runs
clear now around the precise shape
of my mother's shrunken gums, sloughing
the smooth channel, rinsing clean each tooth,
perfect save for the chip hewn from the left front
incisor; and I remember her foot—
wet, dripping warm, scented
water back into an enamel basin,
then gently rubbed, lovingly patted
dry to be followed by the other.
The foot washer rising, untying
the long linen towel kept just for this
sacred observance. I see my mother accept the cloth,
winding it around her waist, then kneel
before the next woman in the circle.
Takes her foot, lifts it by a callused heel
into the washbowl between them.
I watch bored, too young to participate,
not understanding then those offices of humility
one will stoop to out of duty or tradition,
and on occasion, some reverent level of love.
--------------------------
12. July blessing from the Executive DirectorSending you love. And more love. Pass love around. Your loving presence is contagious. The fish and oil-soaked egrets in the Gulf of Mexico need your love. So do the black-maned lions of Africa and bright yellow Gerber daisies of tropical Asia. Your loving presence is transforming the world.
Peace be with you,
Liz Budd Ellmann, MDiv
CLASSIFIED ADSRequired Reading: Finding Seekers: Recruitment Methods for Developing a Spiritual Direction Practice from Beginning to Full-Time Employment by Dr. Bruce Tallman. For expert testimonies, full Table of Contents, and to download this exciting new e-book, go to
www.brucetallman.com and click on “Store.”
If you would like to place a classified announcement or advertisement about your programs or new books, etc., in Membership Moments,
fill out the form on the Web site.
