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In recent years, many Christian clergy, laity and mental health professionals have rediscovered the ancient practices of spiritual direction. Seen as a refreshing alternative to the techniques and limitations of modern psychology, such practices offer new insights for pastoral care. But many remain unclear on what spiritual direction is and whether its methods are applicable to their own clients and parishioners. Spiritual direction is a practice of Christian soul care that is found most notably in the Catholic, Orthodox and Episcopal traditions but is also present in Wesleyan/Holiness, Pentecostal/charismatic, social justice and Reformed communities. Predating modern counseling and psychoth...
This friendly, accessible book is about the age-old hunger in human hearts to open, and deepen, and grow towards faithful intimacy with the Source of all that is. This spiritual journey is radically personal, but it is not meant to be entirely solitary. It can be supported at crucial times by friendship with someone who has learned how to listen, through a life of prayer, for the guidance of God’s Spirit in their own soul and in the soul of another. Long ago, in Celtic Christian Ireland, such a person was called an anam cara—a soul friend. “Every soul, from time to time on its mysterious trek towards union with God, needs a human friend for encouragement on the way.” In Discovering t...
A unique resource for identifying issues involved in Protestant pastoral ministry and adjusting pastoral approach to those issues.
The practice of spiritual direction assumes a theology of the Holy Spirit, a theology of revelation and of the Church, and a theology of prayer. Seeking God in All Things explores each of these themes as the underpinnings of spiritual direction and examines what makes the Christian religious experience distinctive. Since not every experience of God bears a Christian imprint, William Reiser, SJ, asks whether and in what way a Christian might be ale to assist someone who is not Christian in developing his or her interior life. This question looks beyond suggesting the concrete steps a person might take in initiating, nurturing, and solidifying a way of praying. It looks, rather, toward the fun...
Offering solace and encouragement to those who grieve is a critical aspect of the church’s ministry of mercy and love. To find your place within grief ministry and plan this important ministry from first response to spiritual guidance, there is no better mentor than Fr. Terence Curley. In this guide, Fr. Curley pays attention to all of the factors contributing to a grief minister's multifaceted work, including parish support and his or her own loss history. Symptoms of loss, trust, and hints for conversations with the grieving are topics touched by this detailed and sensitive guide. This book, a fully revised edition of Fr. Curley’s earlier book The Ministry of Consolers, is a necessary tool for parishes, hospices, educational institutions, and all those attending to the bereaved.
Parishioners today look to their congregations to feed their spiritual hunger. But many members and clergy are not sure how the words "congregation" and "spirituality" fit together. Author Celia Hahn interviewed 30 lay people and clergy from five Episcopal congregations to discover their stories of congregational spirituality and to help them identify the congregation's gifts for spiritual development. Hahn becomes a spiritual companion and resource for the searching congregation, guiding the church as it begins to discover its gifts. How is God at work in our congregation? How do members empowered by the transforming Spirit minister in their workplaces, neighborhoods, and families? How do members move into a deeper relationship with one another and with God?
Basic Types of Pastoral Care and Counseling remains the standard in pastoral care and counseling. This third edition is enlarged and revised with updated resources, methods, exercises, and illustrations from actual counseling sessions. This book will help readers be sensitive to cultural diversity, ethical issues, and power dynamics as they practice holistic, growth-oriented pastoral care and counseling in the parish.
What Is Your Practice? presents a variety of foundational Christian ascetical practices, translated into contemporary idiom. Instead of relying on imperatives and fixed answers, readers are encouraged to experiment with and commit to sustained practices that can help them to live faithfully with important questions during unsettled times.
At one time or another, each of us must deal with the inner wounds left in the wake of life’s changes, transitions, and losses. These challenging experiences affect every part of who we are: body, mind, and spirit. In Healing the Wounds of Change, Dr. Brady Reinsmith provides a practical guide to helping us understand and heal our wounds of change. She shares meaningful insights and suggestions that can help us move confidently forward, toward personal and spiritual renewal, and toward a more satisfying life. She suggests that we begin with a deeper understanding of the significance of change, of its many "faces.” She then focuses on dealing with the stress of change, on the relational nature of change, the fears and anxieties it generates, and its opportunities for holistic renewal. Healing the Wounds of Change presents an inclusive approach to personal and spiritual renewal. It includes relevant information from the disciplines of psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, theology, and spirituality, and suggests ways that we can generate inner peace and joy – for ourselves and for others.
Supplication captures a universal, cross-cultural approach to spirituality. Authored by Dr. Patricia Brown, The Supplicate Order defines supplication as an expression for the laws and principles that guide a spiritual aspirant toward communion with the sacred (mysteries), progressing toward an expanded perception of life and grateful reception of blessings, positive creativity, healing, and wisdom. It shows how humanity bridges the manifest explicate order and the unmanifest implicate order. Offering a fresh perspective on supplication, The Supplicate Order carries four messages that pertain to spiritual aspirants at any level: Dont abandon yourself (to self-loathing or to another persons or...