Spiritual Direction

"A spiritual director devotes her/himself to assisting others deepen their relationship with and devotion to God, often exploring questions like: Who is God? How can I discern God's voice? How will I be transformed as I grow in relationship with God? Whereas counseling focuses on restoring broken relationships, improving one's self-worth, and helping individuals become functional, spiritual direction concentrates on a person's dynamic relationship with God."

"Spiritual direction, an ancient ministry of the church, is a relationship in which one person assists another, or others, in attending to God’s presence and call. Spiritual direction has been, and remains, particularly strong within Roman Catholic and Orthodox religious orders, and over the past twenty years Anglican and Protestant traditions have begun to recover it more fully. There is also growing interest in spiritual direction among other faith traditions, such as Judaism and Buddhism. Throughout Christian history, spiritual direction has traditionally been practiced by ordained clergy alone. In recent years, however, this practice has widened to embrace the spiritual gifts of non-ordained persons as well. Today, spiritual direction is regarded as a ministry open to all, not an order or office reserved for the few." (Presbyterian Church, USA)

"Spiritual theology has to do with living the Christian life instead of thinking about it.... The counseling movement, even within the church, became heavily psychologized and became almost exclusively therapeutic, so what people were dealing with were problems. If you had a problem you went to a counselor. But spiritual direction in a sense doesn't begin with a problem. Spiritual direction deals much more out of health and an identity of Christian holiness, so I think it's an obvious response to the failure to transcend." (Excerpted from a 1995 interview of Eugene H. Peterson, Evangelical, Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada).

"The greatest teacher is silence. To come out of interior silence and to practice its radiance, its love, its concern for others, its submission to God's will, its trust in God even in tragic situations is the fruit of living from your inmost center, from the contemplative space within. The signs of coming from this space are a peace that is rarely upset by events, other people and our reactions to them, and a calm that is a stabilizing force in whatever environment you may be in. God gives us everything we need to be happy in the present moment, no matter what the evidence to the contrary may be. A good spiritual director helps us to sustain that trust. " (Father Thomas Keating, Summer 1997, Part II lecture notes)

"Spiritual direction is, in reality, nothing more than a way of leading us to see and obey the real Director — the Holy Spirit hidden in the depths of our soul. "(Thomas Merton, Trappist monk, USA)


I first learned about spiritual direction from Dr. Priscsilla Pope-Levison, one of my favorite theology profs while at SPU. She often told me about the spritual director she had for many years while living in Chicago. While preparing for the discernment pilgrimmage I took to Iona, Scotland, I met Margie Van Duzer, who currently works at SPU, is a member of my church, and is also a spiritual director.
I've been meeting with Margie for spiritual directon on a semi-regular basis since this past fall. We meet in the quiet, sunlit room off her kitchen that she reserves as sacred space for silence, solitude, and prayer. Our times together normally begin by discussing what has been going on in my life - if anything has been bothering me, where I think I may need guidance or direction, etc. Margie comes up with some of the most profound - yet simple - questions: "Where do you see God in the midst of this right now? Do you even see God right now? Is God near or far at this moment? Can you feel God's love for you?" We'll often stop in the middle of a discussion and pray in silence and listen for God's voice. And then we'll pray together and discuss some more. It's actually quite casual and comfortable, and I've experienced the Holy Spirit's presence in some very powerful ways through spiritual direction. I especially love that I am not walking this this path alone, and that I have someone like Margie who is able to take my hand and walk closely once in awhile.

May everyone be blessed with a Margie Van Duzer.



Margie Van Duzer
SPU Chaplain/Spiritual Director
Campus Ministries
Bio:

Margie grew up in Santa Cruz, California where she loved the beach and the Beatles. After the Beatles broke up, Margie devoted her high school days to some of the first ever environmental campaigns to save the beach. Moving on to UC Berkeley, in search of her surfer guy, she met Jeff instead. Graduating with a degree in Psychology, Margie and Jeff married and moved to New Haven (which has no beach worth saving). Margie completed her Masters degree at Yale Divinity School and began working on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Returning to the West Coast in 1980, and joining the Christian community at Bethany Presbyterian Church, she began exploring the ministry of spiritual direction. Margie now regularly meets with men and women of all ages to prayerfully look for God’s presence in their lives. It is one of her very favorite things in life. Since coming to Seattle, Margie’s three favorite moments were the birth of her first son, Andrew; the birth of her second son, Nate; and the 1995 Mariners Game 5 victory over the Yankees.

Baby Ella

And here are some baby Ella pictures for your viewing pleasure :)

Thoughts on Pentecost, Colorado, turning 25, and life in general...

Yep.

It's been a long time.

Sorry about that, and thank you to Tricia and Carrie for waking me up and reminding me to post!

I have a feeling this post may end up being long and somewhat random. Bear with me.

Let's see...

This Sunday is Pentecost! YES!! Pentecost is my favorite church holiday. I love it. I love that we ask everyone to wear red all day. I love our banners in church (see photo at bottom of post). I love the music we are singing in choir for Pentecost this year. I love the Holy Spirit. I love that at Pentecost all the playing fields were leveled: women and men received the Holy Spirit and prophesied, and some of the earliest Greek texts say that "men, women, and even children" prophesied. I love Pentecost. And I'm really excited :)

Colorado...

Well, I've finally been there now. I left two weeks ago for my sister's graduation from Naropa University in Boulder. I met up with my parents and grandma in Denver and we drove the hour to Boulder, where we stayed in a hotel that was pretty much right up alongside one of the mountains. Miracle of miracle, my sister's incredibly tiny, private, Buddhist school got Alice Walker to speak at their commencement. THE Alice Walker, as in she-wrote-The-Color-Purple-Alice-Walker. Yeah. She was amazing. I was floored to be in the same room with her and breathing the same air as her, let alone hear her speak. She has one of those voices so rich and soulful you could just listen to her speak or read all day. Amazing.

I'll admit it, Colorado is beautiful and I'd like to go back there. (I have a friend who works at Estes Park, so visiting her would be good.) Of course, I'm biased. Colorado is land-locked, which did not set right with this Seattle girl. I desperatley missed seeing large bodies of water wherever I went, and to be honest, I prefer the Olympics and Cascades to the Rockies, although they were very pretty. There is just something wonderful about active and/or dormant volcanoes that can't even compare to boring old mountains. That's right, I'm now a mountain snob!

So, for the record, here are all the states I've been to:

create your own personalized map of the USA

I just need to go to Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico to block our the rest of the continental west! woo hoo! Looks like I need to take a Grand Canyon trip next summer...

Moving on....

I turned 25 on May 8 and it was actually quite fun. My friends Emily, Kirsten, and I drove down to Portland, Oregon on May 7 for the Nickel Creek concert. Nickel Creek is one of my most favorite bands ever, and this was their last tour for awhile. They've decided to take a hiatus for awhile. The concert was amazing, of course, and I'm so glad that we went. We also got to stop by Powell's Books, the largest independently owned new and used bookstore in the world! It was awesome! While there, I picked up copies of favorite novels for a few bucks and an awesome "literature" nalgene bottle - instead of ounces labeled along the side, I have authors such as Tolstoy, Morrison, Bronte, Hemingway, and Dickens. They have a cool philosophy one, too. Check out powells.com

Ericka (my friend and boss) took me out to lunch on my birthday, which was fun, and everyone at work made me the sweetest card ever. Then Emily and I met friends down in Tacoma for dinner and walked along David Chihuly's Bridge of Glass. It was relaxing and pretty. Birthday celebrations will be extended until the end of June, when I head down to L.A. to visit Sara. She got us tickets to the Alison Krauss concert in Hollywood for my birthday, and we're also going to go to the beach and the San Diego Zoo. I can't wait!!!!

Life in general has been pretty good. Work is going strong. I took over for the manager above me last month when he went on vacation for a week and a half. I had a ton of fun being in charge in the stockroom, but I was also worn out from do both his job and my job at the same time. It was a great learning experience, though, and I accomplished a ton. And Ericka wrote me a note saying I daily surpassed all of her expectations. Awesome.

I'm currently knitting lots of baby stuff for my dear friend Lynne, who's little baby girl is due to arrive smack in the middle of July. Lynne is 41 and this is probably going to be her and Jim's only little one, so it's really really exciting!! I'm halfway through a blanket (but need more yarn) and have finished the cutest little booties ever and am now working on a simple hat. This little girl may end up with lots of knitted stuff from me. So much for getting Lynne something from Pottery Barn Kids!

I've been missing my "far away friends" a lot lately. Dear Karin is in the UK (I'm incredibly jealous and am hoping to visit next year) and I haven't seen her in almost a year! I'm planning to find a good international phone card and surprise her with a phone call for her birthday. My friend Andrea is in Grand Rapids and all of her wedding plans are well underway. I'm amazed at how much she's still been able to include me in planning, despite the 3,000 miles between us. I just wish I wasn't missing so much of it and really don't want to be the Maid of Honor who buys a plane ticket and a dress, writes a speech, and shows up. Sara is in Los Angeles, which Praise GOD is in the same time zone as Seattle! I don't know what we'd do if that weren't the case. I haven't seen Sara since New Year's, which was so long ago, considering I lived with her for three years. Crazy.

Not much else at the moment. I'm fading fast here and need to get some sleep. Sickness has been going around work and I'm finishing some antibiotics for a sinus infection. Oh, that's something new! I now have a real doctor in Seattle, not just the SPU Health Center - yay! I feel so grown up. Gotta love health insurance :)

Oh, here's the picture of the Pentecost banners we have a my church: