Copyright: © 1995 Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. This document may be freely reproduced for non-commercial purposes with credit and mention of the Lift Up Your Hearts web site http://www.worship.ca/ as the source.

Pneuma is a journal on spiritual direction and formation in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

1. Margaret Dorgan writes in this issue of "Pneuma": "It is obvious from the whole tradition of direction that spiritual guides have always sought out and conferred with one another." We know that national boards and groups, or in our case a national association or a newsletter, are alone unable to replace the regional networking that needs to occur to sustain us on the journey. In Halifax there is, for example, a regular interfaith gathering of spiritual directors with a support and encouragement intention. We need to be vigilant for moments, locally and synodically, that encourage us in our ministry, like the visit this fall of Margaret Guenther (author of "Holy Listening" and a forthcoming book on spiritual direction at midlife) to Toronto on October 20. We might share by way of "Pneuma" how we are supported in our ministry locally by persons and such events.

2. Spiritual Directors International now publishes a new journal "Presence." The May issue has, for example, an essay by Tilden Edwards on "Immediate Givenness to God in the Spiritual Direction Relationship." It contains five feature articles, together with book reviews, poetry, shorter reflections, as well as promotions of workshops and symposia. A Canadian subscription is $26.95 for three issues a year. The contact is Ruth Blacksea, 1101 Stewart Road, Sacramento, CA 95864.

3. Don Johnson's "Praying the Catechism" was launched at the Winnipeg convention. "Here is the book of prayer which we have needed, here is prayer at the irreducible heart of Christian faith," writes Gordon Lathrop. Or, as I heard a delegate from Saskatchewan say at the catechumenate forum in Winnipeg, "For those who haven't had a chance to see this - good stuff!" It is available from Augsburg Fortress for $9.95.

4. A newsletter entitled "A Vision of Discipleship" will inform and encourage pastors and parishes in their ministry of "Living Witnesses." The twice a year mailing to all pastors by way of Communique comes from the National Task Force on the Adult Catechumenate. The first issue will contain an article by Rev. Cindy Halmarson on beginning the catechumenate in the parish.

5. Both at Discovery '95 in Mississauga in June and at the National Convention in Winnipeg in July we learned that nothing moves hearers so much as personal stories of the catechumenate. The narratives touch people, often with tears, as they hear of expansive hospitality and sensitive initiation. These stories even affect those in the parish who are not directly involved in the catechumenal process, telling us much of an unmet longing for a deeper initiation and membership. Voices at Winnipeg reminded us that the catechumenate offers "a transforming power within the congregation," and "the people themselves are deeply touched by this."

6. Some books of interest may include the following. "Witnessing to the Fire: Spiritual Direction and the Development of Director" by Madeline Birmingham and William J. Connolly ( Sheed and Ward, 1994, $16.95) is an accessible and enjoyable book about spiritual direction and the training and supervision of directors. Birmingham and Connolly have been on staff at the Centre for Religious Development in Cambridge since the 1970s and have compiled a book containing stories, dialogues, and anecdotes from the Centre. Although this is written about directors particularly, there is a section defining spiritual direction and why it is important in one's journey to wholeness.

   In "Looking into the Well: Supervision of Spiritual Directors" (Loyola University Press, 1995, $13.95), Maureen Conroy provides a valuable resource for the development of spiritual directors. Writing with their education in mind, she examines the purposes and process of supervision as well as suggests concrete ways to enhance one's skills in this area. Conroy offers numerous experiential learning opportunities including case studies, role-playing, and verbatim examples of dialogue between directors and supervisors. She also provides evaluation methods, questions for reflection, and prayer experiences.

7. This issue has featured Tilden Edwards' thoughts on the pastor as a spiritual director. To supplement this, you may want to check into the recent Alban Institute publication, "Spiritual Awakening: A Guide to Spiritual Life in Congregations" (1995). "The big hints come from God," but the minor hints are those John Ackerman makes for his parish's spiritual awakening. The author is a halftime pastor and a spiritual director who leads courses on spirituality. He is like many of those on our network listing who are both pastors and spiritual directors. Ackerman's minor hints would include (a) the need for leaders to work on their own spiritual journey, (b) joining or forming a group for communal discernment - outside of your parish, (c) learning about Myers-Briggs or adult development in some form, (d) asking often "Where do you sense the Spirit at work in our congregation?", (e) sharing your own experience and encouraging others to share theirs, (f) drafting a mission statement in your parish and using it until people are really familiar with it, (g) using a congregation-wide approach to spirituality for a season, (h) discerning where God is leading.

8. I have particularly enjoyed reading Harold Schulweis' "For Those Who Can't Believe: Overcoming the Obstacles to Faith" (HarperCollins, 1994). Writing for a Jewish audience, he dedicates the book to those who possess the wisdom to question and the courage to hear. The chapters include such matters as touching God, to whom and for what we pray, biblical revelation, the purpose of suffering, the faces of God, the reasons for being religious, etc. He observes in matters of religion that most people do not ask questions or seek answers. They assume a neither/nor neutrality: neither apostate nor believer, neither denier nor affirmer of their faith. Those we meet at the inquirer stage of the catechumenate, perhaps as catechists, or in spiritual direction are not these kinds of people. Schulweis helps us get in touch with those marvellous questions we pondered as children: What is time? What is space? What is eternity? As children we began with the "really" questions and later moved to the "if" questions. What happens to questions that are left ignored? He suggests that leaving questions unanswered makes the heart sick, and in the wake cavities of disbelief are formed. I am reminded of Rilke's advice to love the questions as Schulweis brings his book to a moving conclusion: "Honour the questions of your youth and do not forget them. They reveal the early promptings of your soul in search of what is real and what ought to be more real. Do not remain dependent on the answers you were or were not given in your youth. There are more and better things within tradition than you were taught. Do not dismiss your doubts as evidence of your lack of faith. There are doubts that challenge encrusted belief and cleanse it of its atrophied forms."

9. Thanks to Jim Garey for turning his story en route to the Pearson airport into an article for this issue. I know that Anne Keffer is in the midst of an article. Darryl Roste has submitted an essay as well. We also need your thoughts on the future directions of the spiritual directors network as the ELCIC undertakes structural change. Continue to share your stories, dreams, and "honour the questions."