Contents:
Consideration of the True Self, where it resides, and how we can open into itIntroduction to the meditation, "Who Am I? How is it we learn to "walk a mile in another's shoes". How do we grow into recognizing that it's more helpful to "equalize ourselves and others". Practice of being gentle and loving unconditionally. How we can be honest about ourselves without judgment and false pride? How we do that with others? Walking into and being present with both?
Many paths to the same end.
A spiritual guide offers a listening ear so that the participant and guide can discern the work of God in the participant's life. Now that the hustle and bustle of the holiday season becomes a memory, it is a perfect time to reclaim a state of relaxation and ease. In such a climate, it is not surprising that enrollment levels for university and college religious studies courses have soared. Cooking demonstrations and samplings, too! Around the country, people are organizing vigils - with diverse faith communities and people of good will - to show our care and commitment publicly.
Importance of knowing self in order to experience "heaven". She also does workshops, seminars, and retreats. Or, bring your offering to register at event. Come to one or come to all… same offering please! Special Worship at 9: An Ayurvedic Teaching Sunday February 1st 1: An introduction to Ayurveda Can we really separate ourselves from the world around us? Ayurveda is a natural science dating back to the vedic period which looks at managing and maintaining our health through our relationship with nature.
Our food, environment and experiences shape our current self. During this introductory discussion, we will walk through the principles of Ayurveda and how to live and love our lives in harmony with our true nature and the world around us. Sunday February 8th 1: Now that the hustle and bustle of the holiday season becomes a memory, it is a perfect time to reclaim a state of relaxation and ease. During this workshop Carol will explain the basic principles of Ayurveda, provide a quiz to evaluate your stress level and type, advice on natural ways to manage your stress with food, lifestyle and practice relaxing breathing techniques.
Please email livingwatersclc aol. Her future goals are to continue my studies in India in the coming years. Carol operates her own Ayurveda consulting, teaching and bodywork business, called Bodhi Ayurveda. More information available at www. Bring your hoops, your friends, and your family out to Great exercise and fun and surrounded by holiness!
Wednesday Evenings Returning This Spring! Tippecanoe Church W. Hooping makes you pay attention to your body: The measured rhythm is soothing, almost meditative. Dancing and singing in a circle are ancient ways of worship and devotion. The circle is the source of the healing. Hula Hooping has been proven to reduce stress, ease depression and to center the mind improving concentration. Hula Hooping is an excellent aerobic workout burning calories an hour. Hooping improves coordination, stretches muscles and tones your entire body.
Winter Farmers' Market Sunday, January 25th Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church's "just. Last year over lbs. Cooking demonstrations during the market with seasonal produce. Live music with wandering minstrels and simple songs Paul notes that we see now as "in a glass darkly, but then we will see face to face.
In the first of these two sessions, we will explore the ways Christianity has used unknowing as a theological and spiritual technique. In the second, we will extend our treatment to include other theistic traditions like Judaism and Islam, as well as non-theistic traditions like Daoism and Buddhism.
Please enter side door by the garden and labyrinth, upstairs to the Parlor. Just want to know more? Want to begin to begin? Pastor Karen and Carol Long time Center-ers! An on-going Centering Prayer group will meet 2nd-5th Sundays at 6pm at Tippe. Come to play or just say and listen! Living Waters Contemplative Life Center Limited scholarships available so all can attend! To register, please email michele. F or pre-paid price, please send donation by September 12th to address below. Checks payable to Tippecanoe Church, W. All Welcome …kids too! And, please bring good eats to share!
Sunday August 31st 9: Please bring a lawn chair and potluck dish to share. Friday Night July 11th 6: Experience Walking the Labyrinth…an ancient holy ritual! Bring a lawn chair and picnic dinner! Donations welcome to support Divine Intervention Ministry to the Homeless! Hosted At Tippecanoe Church W. Taize Around The Labyrinth! Guest Artist and Musician: Mary Robertson Nestling into the quiet Becoming One With The Divine Walkingyour experience into the night, toward the cross and into life Lean into quiet conversation with friends over coffee and cookies.
Are we aware of the miraculous around us? How might we come to notice what may be beyond our usual awareness? May seeing have something to do with gratitude and kindness? Do we treat ourselves and each other with compassion? Do we live a life with gratitude for the extraordinary ordinary miracles that make up daily life?
Friday January 10th, 6: Cookies and drinks in the parlor. Experience Walking the Labyrinth… an ancient holy ritual! November 8th, 6: Live music By Guest Artist and Musician: Pray by candlelight guided by simple songs of the ecumenical Taize Community. Walk your experience into the night, into life Simple free will offering of gratitude appreciated! Next Meeting March 2! Each ancestor has an invisible string of energy connecting one to another and to you.
In your aliveness on this earth, you are tethered to these people in your family tree. You also have inherited their joys and sorrows, and you may be carrying pain, loss, anger, guilt, illness or other burdens from past generations that negatively impact your life today — even if you do not know exactly how or why. The Ancestors, Constellations and Healing groups are a new and profound way to help you connect and correct the past so that you can move forward with a sense of freedom, inner peace and love.
Each participant may be involved as much or as little as they are comfortable with, sharing general issues, not details. The group employs experiential methods including systemic constellations, an innovative method for perceiving the invisible architecture of human relationships. In the process, we find deep truths, new directions, resolution and profound healing.
Space is limited; interested persons MUST register by calling the office at or responding to this email with name and contact information. Intention to attend is commitment to support financially! Please enter church through front doors and go up to the sanctuary. Sunday, September 1, Join us atop the labyrinth for 9: A time of Threshold Singing and simple meditation including body prayers and healing holds. These transitions may also be marked by inner change, since most of us readily examine our faith life and relationship with God during such periods.
This new book helps people examine both the outward and the inward dimensions of major life changes. This blend of interior examination and attention to practical issues is shown in the questions that set the stage for the discernment process: The Spiritual Directors International Series — This book is part of a special series produced by Morehouse Publishing in cooperation with Spiritual Directors International SDI , a global network of some 6, spiritual directors and members.
Series titles thus far include:. Candlelight Illuminating the Art of Spiritual Direction. Christianity and the Mythic Journey , Embracing God: Awakening the Heart of Faith He lives in Syracuse, Indiana. For more information, visit his website: With insight born out of his own navigation of life transitions, he creates and nurtures a receptive space for persons and their fellow travelers to experience a prayerful climate of mutual listening and care as direction is discerned. In all stages of the journey Judy walks and waits with the reader, the discerner, and the persons who travel alongside, offering wisdom, questions for guidance, directing our gaze toward God who is with us always.
Clearly, a model such as this requires an intentional, long-term commitment of time at least ten years and resources human and fiscal from the congregation and its leadership. Even more critical is the development of a common set of core beliefs to undergird the formation of a spirituality center. Will spirituality be understood within a Christian framework or a multifaith context? Will spirituality be viewed as an individual or communal enterprise?
Will the primary focus be on spiritual care, psychological counseling, or an integration of both? The core beliefs will determine the goals and objectives of such a center for spiritual direction. In this case, the CCSD was founded on the assumption that the spiritual nurture of individuals will transfer over to the whole life of a church. Over time this assumption may be tested, but like most matters of the spirit, the winds of influence may blow in mysterious and immeasurable ways.
It remains to be seen whether all of this energy has positively and irrevocably transformed the soul of the cathedral, and if it will persist should it happen to face an unexpected shift in ministry staff. In its early years of existence, it was not yet possible to ascertain all the ways it might have a broader impact on other churches, clergy, denominations, local theological schools, the immediate church neighborhood, and the surrounding city and region. Nevertheless, the cathedral merits commendation for responding to the gifts for spiritual development ministry that have emerged from within.
The cathedral remains uniquely positioned to be an invaluable resource for people taking the spiritual path. While many factors contributed to congregational transformation, the minister's own spiritual life and development provided significant impetus for the spiritual renewal of the congregation.
Little did he know that this commitment would lead him to become the first minister of CCUMC, a congregation birthed from the amalgamation of two United Methodist congregations on June 29, To sustain himself spiritually in a longer pastorate, Jim made a personal commitment to deepen his own spiritual life by participating in some educational courses on servant-leadership, sponsored by the Church of the Savior, Washington, D.
These courses led Jim into deeper awareness of his own spiritual life and strengthened his disciplines of prayer, meditation, and devotional reading. For him, these became increasingly and integrally connected to worship, responsiveness to the claims of the poor, and a compassionate sharing of his resources and livelihood.
That the Church of the Savior significantly influenced Jim's self-understanding and style of ministry is reflected in the way spiritual development has happened at CCUMC. The congregation demonstrates a high degree of intentionality in all their processes, decisions, and actions. Correlating inward spiritual practices with outward expressions of compassionate service is an important touchstone for the congregation and its minister when assessing the church's spiritual health.
Although most members of CCUMC are middle-class, their commitment to society's marginalized persons is clearly apparent in their faith and practice. Further reflecting the Church of the Savior influence, and mindful of their Methodist heritage, the congregation is comfortable using religious language that includes such terms as call, commitment, discipleship, stewardship, discernment, and service. The church's mission statement expresses CCUMC's intent "to help people experience a vital relationship with God by providing a community in which 1 all people are welcomed, accepted, and loved; 2 people are invited, encouraged, and challenged to grow in Christian faith; 3 people openly express the love of Jesus Christ through the sharing of faith, gifts, and resources in service to others.
At CCUMC, the integration of pastoral care and spiritual direction occurs through a community development model. Pastoral care attends to the soul by helping people experience a community where God is present and known. As with any congregation, there are pastoral circumstances, such as bereavement or hospitalization, that require individual attention from the pastor and church members. But at CCUMC, primary attention is given to small groups, the core leadership, and communal processes in order to foster relationships with God and to listen for the presence and voice of God.
Whenever "two or three are gathered," or the entire community assembles, people are invited to notice that God is there and to discern whom God is calling them to be and what commitment God is asking them to make.
It is by the fruits that emerge from CCUMC's spirit that an assessment can be made as to whether souls have been nurtured. As one church member put it: For Christ UMC, changing neighborhood demographics, a declining membership, and a tightening financial situation prompted discussions with their neighboring congregation, Crossman UMC. The potential for a merger grew and the negotiations increasingly required more detailed investigation and planning in order to develop a merger proposal.
Each congregation was simultaneously invited into a process of spiritual discernment and prayer. A transition team, including clergy and lay representatives from each congregation, met regularly during the year prior to the merger. The congregations were living out the spiritual rhythm of death and resurrection.
Each church was experiencing the death of multiple facets of its ministry and each was being invited to listen for what was dying and to discern signs of life emerging in what was to become a new faith community. Throughout the merger year, the two churches' clergy exchanged pulpits and provided leadership to adult education classes in the other congregation. The congregations worshipped together occasionally and were invited to hold each other in prayer and to be open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Members from each church were given names of individuals, including children and teens, from the other congregation. They were invited to get to know these persons and to pray for them during the merger discussions and the decision-making year. The clergy from both congregations were invited to reflect with their district supervisor on their call to ministry and to discern the ways God was beckoning forth their gifts during the merger and beyond. It was clearly communicated and experienced that the merger was not merely an exercise in survival or an organizational process; it was an invitation to embark upon a spiritual journey.
The report submitted by the transition team and the governing bodies of the two churches testified that they were shaping a new faith community and were paying attention to the spiritual life and witness of that community. Setting their development in the context of their scriptural heritage, the writers of the report invited the community to prayer and discernment: God calls people to move out and follow God's direction into a future that appears to be uncertain and uncomfortable.
Yet the journey becomes the way to blessing because God provides what we truly need-God's presence and promises. When God became a person in Jesus Christ, he invited people to follow him. Each and every person who believes in God as revealed in Scripture is on a journey of faith with God and the people of God.
The people of Christ and Crossman United Methodist churches are at a special place in our journey with God. Through prayer and discernment, we believe that God is calling us to follow in a direction which is new for us. May we begin this new stage of our journey by recommitting ourselves as individuals and as a church to being open to the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. This is the way of blessing. This is the way of life. Not long after the merger, the newly elected leadership a mix of Crossman and Christ Church representatives and their newly called pastor Jim Melson went on a retreat together to deepen their sense of being a new faith community and to begin the process of moving from an inward focus to an outward one.
Led by an external facilitator and a church consultant, they set guidelines for the financial resources brought to the merger by the Christ Church. The focal question for this phase of the process was a spiritual one: Money, and its use, was defined as a communal spiritual matter. The leadership understood regular church giving and tithing to be a spiritual discipline and determined that money from the sale of the Christ Church facility and property was not to be used for the regular operating budget, but was to be directed toward mission and ministry development.
The congregational guidelines that emerged were based on a comprehensive decision to invest the money and apply its accrued interest for ministry development as follows: These guidelines demonstrate the spiritual development that was taking place and contributing to the shaping of a new faith community. Members were cultivating their relationship with God, praying that God would make them truly alive and reveal direction for their journey, and discovering that to be truly alive meant giving so that they would have enough while also sharing their abundance.
The congregation's inward spiritual journey was equally reflected in its commitment to an outward journey. One made the other possible. This process of spiritual discernment continued into the winter months following the merger and the leadership retreat. With the assistance of the same external church consultant, they planned a congregational event to determine specific areas for ministry and mission development.
As preparation for the event, they distributed a congregational survey to help identify possible areas of involvement. To assist in completing the survey, a small group of laity prepared and distributed a Lenten prayer and devotional guide to the entire congregation. People were invited to "ask God about the unfolding work in our personal and community lives," which again reinforced that the congregation was involved in far more than organizational reconstruction. In fact, it was participating in the formation of a vital relationship with God that contributed to the spiritual development of community.
The survey results revealed four potential ministries that were subsequently highlighted in a consciousness-raising mission fair held following a Sunday morning worship service: At the congregational event, the central question posed was, "Who feels called to ministry in this area? People were given the opportunity to identify their own gifts for ministry and to determine where their interests were best matched and where they felt energy for mission could be generated.
They were invited to make a commitment to one of the four areas for ministry and to follow-up in ways that would establish a spirit of cooperation among the four ministries. Fostering a congregational spirit of commitment and prayerful support for all of the ministries was an important part of the process. The community development model can be viewed as broadly inclusive in that it has the opportunity to appeal to all ages and has the potential to address all sorts and circumstances.
Caring for one another means caring about shaping a community that is alive in the Spirit and constantly discerning the presence, voice, movement, and invitations of God to be blessed and to join hands and hearts together to bless the world. To quote one church member: CCUMC may be unique in this regard, but the process it has used to move toward communal spiritual development need not be.
The process reflected in this model is generally transferable to other faith communities. A spiritually healthy faith community where people readily sense and acclaim that "God is here" is a community where people will repeatedly experience the invitation to find, know, and respond to the abundance of God. That abundance need not be tied to money. It can be connected to processes that foster a deeper listening for the beckoning voice of God.
As souls are attended to and emphasis is consistently placed on listening for God, the soul of a faith community is on the way to becoming ever more compassionate, other-centered and hospitable. The communal focus of this model is its strength and it holds great promise for the future, but several challenges also exist in this approach toward a soulful pastoral care.
Apparently, the language of call, prayer, and spiritual discernment is well suited to the denominational context of United Methodism. It is advantageous to spiritual development in this context because the language connects with the historical and cultural experience of the people. This may not be the case in other Protestant faith communities and the question of "what language shall we borrow" will need to be seriously asked and answered. What ought not to be compromised in the process is the foundational concept of commitment or intentionality as a way to nurture a vital spiritual existence.
At a basic level, one cannot be connected to God without a commitment to be in the company of God. Admittedly, fostering the notion of commitment in this era is somewhat countercultural. The challenge is to be deliberate and to use intentional communal processes that can help us to grow together in the spiritual life.
Fostering a self-conscious awareness that belonging to the Church is belonging to a distinct people who are called to be in the world but not of the world will be a difficult piece of the process. It will challenge our best intentions to be relevant and accommodating to the world. It will require of us a willingness to devote concentrated time to those prepared to experience the spiritual journey and to develop practices that nurture it. Developing the awareness in others that their primary life vocation is to be spiritual beings is a critical dimension that needs to be included in a pastoral care aiming to be soulful.
Another challenge of this community development model lies in the fact that, within a faith community, not everyone will choose to participate fully in the processes that lead to the development of community. Some may genuinely want to belong but may lack the will or means to become participatory agents in the development of a community that practices listening for the soul. On the one hand, a core group can serve to lead the way and mirror spiritual vitality for others. On the other hand, the existence of a core group may lead to the development of factions and the perception that some expressions of spirituality are inferior to others.
Still others may hang out on the fringes, either because they fear the implications of choosing spiritual vitality or because they harbor a hope that, by lingering on the edge, the vitality will rub off. Developing a spiritual community requires leaders who possess a spirituality that can be sustained in the midst of questions, flack, and fray. Active resistance or indifference inevitably will manifest within a community concerned with growing spiritually. Finding and practicing the ways and means to communicate about the practices and promises we affirm as brothers and sisters together is essential in addressing the challenge of who participates and who is absent from the spiritual work of community development.
It is important that we regularly remind covenant with one another that prayer, study, worship, tithing, and compassionate service are commitments that enable us to glimpse hope for renewal and the fullness of life. Its effectiveness, however, is contingent upon the quality and constancy of its leadership. Selecting a community development model requires either a long-term planting of leadership or growing seeds of dedicated, credible, and informed leadership from within.
Such leadership requires people who are willing to share their spiritual lives, to learn continually, and be willing to change and be accountable for the ways they nourish their spiritual lives and engage in ministry. Additionally, it is important to have access to leadership that is trained in the principles and processes of community development, especially collaborative and consensus building efforts. What distinguishes this model from the previous one is that such leadership need not necessarily be professional or salaried.
A community development model can be fully initiated and implemented by church members who hold fast to the vision that commitment to community is a way to be more connected to God. It is in your being with me that I come to know who I am and who God is. It is in our being together that it is possible to know that God has the power to change both of us and to be at work in us to make a difference in the world. Simultaneously enslaved to the Protestant work ethic and captivated by the desire for spiritual wholeness, congregations can fall into an all too familiar pattern-doing compassionate service in the wider community and world becomes busy work rather than spiritual vocation.
To be most effective in its practice of soulful pastoral care, a congregation using this model will want to balance the attention it gives to the church's programmatic outreach ministries and the laity's involvement in their daily work. Helping people relate their spiritual life to everyday life and work is an indispensable dimension of soulful pastoral care.
A Connection Model Spiritual Life and Daily Living [B]The Genesis of the Model Situated in a residential district near a major university, Harcourt Memorial United Church hereinafter HMUC is well-known for its spiritual orientation and the centrality of its focus on helping persons make connections between the spiritual life and daily living.
One may quickly see that there is a sense of spirituality in the congregation and a desire to make faith relevant to life's daily circumstances. As one church member said to me, "Spirituality is a way of life at Harcourt, and anyone who comes here finds that out very quickly. There are monthly services of healing, study groups, spirituality groups gender-specific and gender-mixed , a prayer circle, two monthly sacred circle dance groups, and several other regular and seasonal programmatic events, including workshops or retreats designed to nurture spiritual development and a life of prayer.
Church bulletin boards, newsletters, prayer request forms, devotional booklets written and assembled by members of the congregation , and meeting agendas all reflect attention to prayer and the spiritual life. An ethos of hospitality in the church building itself speaks of a spirituality that is prepared to stop, look, notice, listen, and pray for souls that enter there.
At the start of any weekday, ministry personnel, student interns, and administrative and janitorial staff can be found in a quiet room, gathered in a circle around a lighted candle, sharing where the presence or absence of God has been noticed in the last twenty-four hours, lifting up pastoral or personal concerns for the day, and praying spontaneously and in silence.
Office space, furnishings, hallway and sanctuary murals, and art and decor communicate spiritual themes and disciplines. Glass doors from the church sanctuary lead directly outside to the grass, flower, and herb gardens and the stone paths and sculptured art. In the midst of the garden sits what has become known to some as the prayer bench. Occasionally, someone can be found sitting there in quiet meditation and reflection. Whether at home or in church, a significant number of church members converse easily, openly, and authentically about what it means for them to relate an inner spiritual life of prayer and devotional disciplines with outward action in their daily lives.
In an unsolicited church newsletter article, a lay member voluntarily reflected on the place of prayer during a crisis in his family's life: Despair settled in that Saturday. We called relatives and friends to let them know what was going on. As the days went on, I could hear people in my head. Each was sharing her or his gifts of love and strength and hope with me. I knew that no matter what happened, God cared for [my son], for [my wife], and for me. I knew that he was giving to us your gifts which you had offered to God on our behalf.
Of course it does.
This kind of reflection on prayer is not at all unusual at HMUC. Rather, such reflection happens naturally and frequently. Many members speak openly about the importance of prayer and see a clear connection between the depth of their faith commitment and their intentional practice of spiritual disciplines. In seeking to integrate pastoral care and spiritual direction, this church developed a connection model whereby helping individuals connect daily living with the spiritual life is the primary goal for pastoral care.
HMUC did not get this way by coincidence, accident, or random acts. In large measure, the spiritual focus of the congregation was a direct result of the congregation's commitment to the long-term ministry of the Reverend John Buttars and the Reverend Jean Wright, each of whom has extensive experience, training, and daily practice in spiritual disciplines and the ministry of spiritual direction.
As a ministry team, it is clear that they believe what congregational members most need are real and intimate experiences with God. They do not see themselves as pastoral counselors but as ministers who "dip into the box" of spiritual direction and whose primary concern is for the quality of a person's relationship and prayer with God. As John expressed it, "God has not called me to the work of ministry but to love a particular group of people.
I see my call as inviting people into a rhythm of connecting with God, which is a ministry of absence and a ministry of presence. Their honesty and vulnerability about the dryness and the richness of their own prayer life with God is an enticement for others to deepen their connection with God. They declare that time for their own spiritual development is important and they plan with the congregation the times that they will each be away for a week of silent retreat. Each of them has a personal spiritual director with whom they meet at least monthly. They are honest about changes they make in their spiritual disciplines and that these are linked to their individual personalities, life issues, and personal growth.
As they seek to feed their souls on a daily basis, they continually ask themselves: Each of their job descriptions once placed "spiritual and personal development" at the bottom of the list with only 5 percent of their time allocated to it. Now it is rated as the second highest priority for each minister's time and attention, and in both cases, church administration has moved to the bottom of the list.
A key factor in the development of this congregation's self-declared focus on the spiritual life and prayer is its geographical location. It is extremely fortunate to be in close proximity to Loyola House, The Guelph Centre of Spirituality, which provides for the wider public several experiences based on the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius. Among these are traditional and contemporary Ignatian forms of retreats, spiritual direction, and training programs for spiritual directors.
Having access to this resource has not only contributed to the personal spiritual development of the Harcourt ministry team, but it has also enabled laypeople from HMUC to receive spiritual direction and to participate in training events to become spiritual directors. This relationship between Harcourt and Loyola House began in the late seventies and continues into the present. Sometimes the training of Harcourt laity through Loyola House programs happened as a result of direct encouragement from the ministry team. Others registered for events on their own initiative and then shared their experiences with friends at HMUC.
Over the years, a number of people have completed the Ignatian Exercises and now act as prayer guides within and outside the congregation. Both the ministry personnel and trained laypeople are now viewed as resources for referral by spiritual directors at Loyola House and vice versa. HMUC fosters a relationship with God through prayer by giving spiritual development a high priority in its rhythmic and programmatic congregational life. People are regularly given opportunities to participate in experiences that will stretch the soul and enable a deeper listening for God's presence and movement.
Among the many invitations presented to church members over the years, three stand out as intentional means to assist church members in deepening their connection with God and in making connections between their spiritual life and daily life: Groups; and 3 The Ministry of Spiritual Companionship.