Copyright: © 1996 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.

Ollie Miller of the
Spiritual Directors Network

A fifth child born to older parents in a depression and drought, Ollie was baptized Olive Johnson. Her name, meaning "one who brings peace," was not from her family, but for a tree that produces anointing oils.

In her parents' home of bright, dynamic, and driven individuals, Ollie learned to escape to her inner, mystic self to communicate with her God and creation. Ollie became part of a challenging marriage to Al over forty years ago. In the home she and her husband established, she raised four children in various parsonages across Canada, sometimes escaping to God's Spirit from a busy household.

Yet another home, the Church, is always part of her life whether United, Lutheran, Anglican (where Al, her Lutheran clergy spouse, currently serves in an Anglican parish in Surrey, BC). Ollie says she is invited by the Church to take whatever opportunities she can to keep the flame of the Spirit alive within her. But she finds the Spirit outside the church, too.

Ollie escapes to other homes to be fed: ecumenical communities in the Women's Inter-Church Council of Canada and women's "Decade" groups. Studies at the World Council of Churches in Geneva (1985-86), the Vancouver School of Theology (spiritual direction and contemporary theology), and the 1995 "Kirchentag" also nurture her.

Books provide a wondrous home, too. Ollie is thankful for Margaret Guenther's "Holy Listening," Kathleen Fischer's "Women at the Well," Marcus Borg's "Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time," Joyce Rupp's "Praying Our Goodbyes," John Spong's "Born of a Woman," plus many, many more.

Travels through South East Asia and Europe expand Al and Ollie's interests in interfaith dialoguing. At her workplace, her Jewish boss provides rich conversations. Through these experiences she is able to serve currently on the Anglican Inter-Faith Commission.

Ollie is at home within herself, thanks to her spiritual friend. She begins to anoint it with contemplative retreats, affirming her woman's experiences with images, stories, dreams, rituals, and mantras. These, with her imaginative listening, allow her to become a spiritual friend to others.

Thankful for health, for family and friends all over the globe, and for these communities of faith, Ollie rejoices over her coming of age, accepting the gifts God has given her, and over opportunities to celebrate them.