Spiritual Direction at HPCUMC--
Finding God in the Ordinary

“In the simplest and most profound terms, the spiritual director is simultaneously a learner and a teacher of discernment…helping people tell their sacred stories every day.”
--Elizabeth Budd Ellman

Spiritual direction is an awareness-raising experience; a process through which one focuses on life’s ordinary events in order to deepen one’s awareness of and attentiveness to the presence of God and God’s grace. Persons who desire to pursue an intentional journey with God; deepen their relationships with God and others; integrate prayer and worship into daily life and engage in discernment may benefit from spiritual direction.

Spiritual direction is not:

Pastoral counseling
Therapy
Bible Study or prayer meeting

Spiritual directors are trained facilitators who are ethically obliged to participate regularly in peer supervision. To learn more about spiritual direction, visit  http://www.fumsdrl.org/ or  www.sdiworld.org 

Contact Pat Jenkins at jjenkins@fuse.net to obtain the names of HPCUMC members who offer this specialized service.


Companioning/Spiritual Direction

Companioning is about honoring the spirit;
it is not about focusing on the intellect.

Companioning is about curiosity;
it is not about expertise.

Companioning is about learning from others;
it is not about teaching them.

Companioning is about walking along side;
it is not about leading.

Companioning is about being still;
it is not about frantic movement forward.

Companioning is about discovering the gift of sacred silence;
it is not about filling every painful moment with words.

Companioning is about bearing witness to the struggles of others;
it is not about directing those struggles.

Companioning is about being present to another's pain;
it is not about taking away that pain.

Companioning is about going to the wilderness of the soul with another human
being;
it is not about thinking you are responsible for finding their way out.

Alan Wolfelt, Ph.D