Do you have an anamchara, the Celtic word for "soul friend" or "spiritual director"? Tracy Balzer's second chapter, in Thin Places
Here are our questions: Do you have any experience with spiritual direction? Either as the director or the one receiving direction? Experience with spiritual friendships or soul friends?
St. Camgall of Bangor, a 7th Century saint, said "it is not good to be your own guide." Many of us are. Do we need to rethink our independence, our rugged individualism, and consider having an anamchara? St. Brigid, a 6th Century saint, said "a person without a soul friend is like a body without a head."
A soul friend provides sanctuary -- a safe place to reveal, to ponder, and to learn -- and confession -- so that the words may be heard in an audible way making us more aware of our sins and accountability.
We lack safe places today and we grow restless in spirit -- we are afraid to voice our honest questions because of fear of condemnation. An anamchara can help.
Tracy tells the story of a friend who spoke to her students about the "power of the secret" (life) and the need to "break the secret."
The anamchara asks questions and listens well. In essence, the anamchara enables a person to hear from God, listen to God, and to walk the life of faith better.
It is not good to be your own guide... that statement, at the close of the chapter, was for me the best thing said.
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P.S. - Of course, there's that verse, "In the multitude of counselors there is safety," so once again I probably don't know what I'm talking about.
Bob,
Your post (#30) gave me a laugh and reminds me of what my husband said when I was reading Embracing Grace aloud to him on the way to pick our boys up from camp last summer. (Have I mentioned that my husband is a saint to put up with me?) He said with words like perichoretic and eikon, Scot is never going to attract the kind of mass audience as Rick Warren in The Purpose-Driven Life. His suggestion (not seriously of course) was that Scot needed to dumb it down more to produce his NYTimes best seller. But, Scot, I think you've found good middle ground in these books.
Thought I'd comment here, since it's on topic, that the curriculum for North Park's certificate in direction, which Scott linked to in his Saturday "Weekly Meanderings" post, looks first-rate. I definitely don't think anyone needs to worry about *their* graduates selling ministry and lattes at a tropical market, being "uncalled and untrained," or confusing direction with the modern counseling professions ;-)
Mariam,
Spiritual direction is a realllly old practice. If Americans have caught on at all, they are just new comers to a party that has been going on for a long time.
Scot,
I have been trained as a spiritual director and also see a director for my ongoing growth and development. Having pastored for 22 years and also overseeing pastors for over a decade, I believe that a spiritual director can be very helpful to anyone, but especially those involved in vocational ministry. So many leaders are isolated and lacking in deep friendships. The relentless busyness of ministry often robs leaders of the time necessary to nurture a rich and growing relationship with God. A spiritual director can help one to slow down, reflect and begin to see the ever present, but often subtle, activity of God in ones life. For those who are fearful of the term "director", as if it implies some sort of authoritarian position, the following quote from Merton puts a director's role in proper perspective...
"the director is not to be regarded as a magical machine for solving cases and declaring the holy will of God beyond all hope of appeal, but a trusted friend who, in an atmosphere of sympathetic understanding, helps and strengthens us in our groping efforts to correspond with the grace of the Holy Spirit, who alone is the true Director in the fullest sense of the word."
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