Spiritual Direction in an Anxious World

Last updated on: June 30, 2017 at 4:46 am By Teresa Blythe

Spiritual direction is not a cure for anxiety but anxiety frequently comes up as people share their life stories with a spiritual director. In those moments of anxiety—even panic—the response of a caring, compassionate and non-anxious spiritual director can make a difference. The Mayo Clinic describes anxiety as “intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations.” Anxiety be mildly annoying or it can seriously impair a person. Much has been written lately about how the current decade is... Read more

Conversion from Hate to Love

Last updated on: June 19, 2017 at 7:44 am By Teresa Blythe

I’m always interested in how to change the world—especially how to assist people who are consumed with hate to convert to a spirituality based in love. And since hate-filled people rarely go to spiritual direction, and all my friends are of the loving variety, it took the resurfacing of a 2015 article in the New Yorker to show me the way. If you have not already seen this piece, I highly recommend you take a break today from the contentious... Read more

Keeping Faith in the Midst of Fear

Last updated on: June 7, 2017 at 6:35 am By Teresa Blythe

I’m going to get political here because, like a Cecily Strong character on Saturday Night Live said recently, “I want one day without a CNN alert that scares the hell out of me, all right?” Yes, I’m afraid and it’s hard to keep the faith. Most of the people I know are afraid and many of those I work with in spiritual direction are afraid or at least bothered by threatened cuts to Medicaid, health insurance benefits, disability insurance; a... Read more

Is Media Overload Dulling your Spirit?

Last updated on: May 22, 2017 at 1:58 pm By Teresa Blythe

Confession time. I’m addicted to refreshing my twitter feed. And the result is I’m on media overload, a spiritual condition many find themselves in these days. Media overload is when your eyes glaze over because you’ve been reading or watching too much news. It’s when you can’t stand to be away from your smartphone in case something new happened in the last five minutes. I felt it after 9/11, during the 2008 and 2016 presidential elections and I feel it... Read more

Who are we doing all this for? God-talk on The Leftovers

Last updated on: May 22, 2017 at 8:31 am By Teresa Blythe

The urge to speak with God face to face and understand great mysteries is a thread running through HBO’s third season of the dystopian religious drama “The Leftovers.” Last week, in episode 5 of the show’s final season, Episcopal priest Matt Jamison (played by Christopher Eccleston) finally gets a chance to unburden himself to God. Although the man in the red hat who calls himself God, David Burton, is pretty obviously not God (Matt saw him toss a man overboard on... Read more

What Clergy Need to Know about Spiritual Direction

Last updated on: May 1, 2017 at 12:05 pm By Teresa Blythe

Spiritual direction is a clergyperson’s best friend. Deep listening and discernment enhance the life of a congregation and its leaders, so if you are clergy, I hope you consider how this spiritual practice can be used or expanded in your work. If you are a layperson, please pass this good news along to the clergy in your life. What do clergy need to know about spiritual direction? You need it in your life! Spiritual direction is a contemplative, confidential... Read more

Spiritual Direction for the Resistance

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 4:58 pm By Teresa Blythe

A young minister colleague came to me last week and said, “we really need spiritual direction for the resistance–time to reflect on what we are so passionate about.” The resistance of which my friend speaks is made up of humanists, interfaith religious leaders and progressive Christians all fighting the creeping authoritarianism of the Trump administration. And it is deeper than politics, according to the General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ, Dr. John Dorhauer, who recently wrote... Read more

Why I Became a Spiritual Director

Last updated on: April 13, 2017 at 3:41 pm By Teresa Blythe

The practice of spiritual direction rescued me. I never felt I fit into the conservative church I grew up in, so I set out as a young adult to find a spiritual path that focused on God’s unconditional love of creation. The journey took considerable time. My new path had little to do with the institutional church. I didn’t discover it in worship, bible studies, social justice activism or through the adoption of a new theology. I found it by... Read more

Spiritual Direction and the Most Common Spiritual Block

Last updated on: March 21, 2017 at 1:22 pm By Teresa Blythe

If I were to poll spiritual directors and ask what is the most common concern people bring to direction, I’m guessing most would say “I want to pray more, but I just don’t.” Wanting to do something but not getting around to it is known as an action block. And with our sped-up, highly technological, “do-it-now” culture I’m not surprised that slowing down for prayer is a challenge. In fact, to be honest, it’s one of my biggest challenges. It’s... Read more

5 Ways to Observe Lent this Year

Last updated on: March 1, 2017 at 10:24 am By Teresa Blythe

Many Christians observe the season of Lent with 40 days of a spiritual practice of their choosing. Lent is traditionally the fast of 40 days before Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday, and it helps us clear out space in our lives for a deeper relationship with God. It’s a small way we honor the suffering of Jesus in the last days of his life. Throughout Christian history, Lent has been a time of taking responsibility for our failures and sin—penance—and... Read more

What happened to the golden calf?