In a world where people struggle with despair, how do spiritual directors listen with a heart of hope and trust, and offer hope to directees? As we experience political upheaval, the climate crisis, and the fraying of social structures, directees may bring to their sessions a lot of pain, fear, and hopelessness.
Spiritual directors wrestle with these things too! How do we maintain spaciousness of heart, to listen with grace to people who are suffering, struggling, and hurting—with the same anxieties we ourselves face? How do we listen and engage without being either glib or depressing? How do we maintain honest hope, and not just smiley-face optimism?
In this one-day retreat we’ll explore deep listening as a sign of the Reign of God, the practice of hope as a spiritual discipline, the prayerful work of strengthening our spiritual imagination, and how we can hope blessing into being. The goal of this retreat is not new information, but the experience that even in hard times “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Steve Garnaas-Holmes is a retired United Methodist pastor, songwriter, composer of church music and author of Unfolding Light, a collection of inspirational and moving poems. He currently lives in Maine with his wife Beth, a spiritual director.
Please consider co-sponsoring this event to help defray the costs of bringing Steve here.
Suggested Donation: $100; $80 SDAO; $60 Wellstreams students