Category: Clergy & Congregation Care

As I listen to messages from many corners of the church, I often sense that the words shared come from a place of fear or worry. But there’s another way to look at things.

Change. Transition. Transformation. Although these words sound like the same thing, each one expresses different aspects of our human experience.

One Thanksgiving Day morning in 2014 my wife, an ordained deacon at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, received a phone call from the rector’s wife. “I need you to come in to the ICU with me. Please come.”

“Will you give me a drink?” (John 4:7-NIV) With this simple request, a man and a woman begin a life-giving conversation that touches the depths of the woman’s heart. And when you look deeper, the exchange provides powerful insights on healthy boundaries.

We are in a unique time in the history of the church, a time that affords congregations the opportunity to honestly and openly reflect on who they are as a faith community and who they are being called to be.

Spiritual direction is not therapy. Instead, working with a spiritual director provides an opportunity to explore your questions, as well as any situations causing them.