Spiritual Direction by Gordon Smith

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A Guide to Giving & Receiving Direction

S P I R I T U A L

D I R E C T I O N

G O R D O N T . S M I T H

“A perfectly cut gem of a book.” —Mark Buchanan



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S P I R I T U A L

D I R E C T I O NA Guide to Giving & Receiving Direction

GORDON T. SMITH

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InterVarsity PressP.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426

World Wide Web: www.ivpress.comEmail: [email protected]

©2014 by Gordon T. Smith

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission fromInterVarsity Press.

InterVarsity Press® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®, amovement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools ofnursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship ofEvangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, write Public Relations Dept.,

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, 6400 Schroeder Rd., P.O. Box 7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895,or visit the IVCF website at www.intervarsity.org.

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from theNew Revised Standard Version of the Bible,copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches ofChrist in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

While all stories in this book are true, some names and identifying information in this book have beenchanged to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.

Cover design: Cindy KipleInterior design: Beth HagenbergImages: Leaf illustration © mxtama/iStockphoto

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ISBN 978-0-8308-3579-9 (print)ISBN 978-0-8308-6470-6 (digital)

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

P 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Y 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14




Contents

1 The Ministry of Spiritual Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2 Theological Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

3 Focused Conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

4 Attending to What Is Happening in Our Prayers . . . . 51

5 A Spiritual Direction Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

6 Pastoral Ministry, Evangelism and Friendship . . . . . . 69

7 The Qualities and Character of a Director . . . . . . . . 81

8 The Qualities and Character of a Directee . . . . . . . . 89

9 The Holy Spirit as Spiritual Director . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

For Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99




1

The Ministry of Spiritual Direction

We are not alone—or, better put, we do not need to be aloand we are not meant to be alone, particularly when it comto our attempts to make sense of God’s presence in our liv

We each need to take personal responsibility for our ogrowth in faith, hope and love. A maturing Christian will deto push deeper into studying Scripture and not expect to spoon-fed Bible teaching. Likewise, each of us is called inmature adult faith in Christ. We grow in condence as wdiscern and make the key decisions that guide our lives.

And yet, while we each live the Christian life to which are personally and individually called, we are not alone in journey. We are part of the faith community; we have the of knowing others on the road who support us, encourage

teach us, guide us and provide correction as necessary. Indas we grow into an adult faith we learn, at each stage of thethat we cannot make it on our own.

There is a certain irony here: the more mature we are in oCopyrighted Material. www.ivpress.com/permissions



10 S P I R I T U A L D I R E C T I O N

faith, the more we recognize our need for others—com-

panions, friends, pastors and spiritual directors. Each of theseis a gift from God, a means by which we might appropriateGod’s grace and respond to God’s call on our lives. Potentially,one of the more signicant of these gifts is the ministry ofspiritual direction.

T M S D

A spiritual directoroffers spiritual guidance and companionshipto help us make sense of our faith journey, interpret with us thesignicant markers on the road, and encourage us, particularlythrough the more difcult transitions and valleys of our pil-grimage. Most of all, a spiritual director helps us make sense ofthe witness of the Spirit—assisting us to respond well to the

question, How is God present to me and how is God, throughthe ministry of the Spirit, at work in my life?Even if we have been Christians and maturing in our faith

for many years, we still need the encouragement and guidancethat might come through spiritual direction. Only pride wouldlead us to think we could go it alone. Genuine humility is evi- dent in our realization that we need a companion, a fellowpilgrim and Christian, who can help us discern and foster anattentiveness to God’s presence in our lives. This is the gift ofspiritual direction.

Some might prefer that we use a different designation todescribe this ministry. They suggest that the termdirector seemstoo authoritative or invasive, that the language of direction im-

plies more actual direction than is appropriate—for only Christis Lord and thus only Christ should actually direct. Manysuggest that spiritual mentor might be a better designation, orperhaps spiritual companion or spiritual friend. As Simon




The Ministry of Spiritual Direction 11

Chan notes, there are some who resist the implied authority

the termdirector and prefer something more obviously egaltarian, something that connotes the other as one who comalongside but does not actually “direct.”1

I concur with Chan’s observation that the language of sp tual friendship suggests another kind of relationship—equally important one, but a different ministry and relations As I will discuss in chapter two, the mentoring relationshalso a different grace in our lives. And whilecompanion mightbe an appropriate way to speak of direction, the issue with of these alternatives is the resistance to the idea of real authin the life of the Christian believer.

To some degree, of course, the concern is legitimate. Ayetspiritual direction is a tested and in a sense ancient desig-

nation. Further, all ministries, regardless of their name—bpastor or apostle or evangelist—are open to abuse and theposition of one person’s will on that of another. Changinstandard label does not remove that potential problem. Bmore specically, the language of direction is so very appriate in the sense that to direct is to be a companion witvery specic agenda: to help the other direct heart and minlisten to the one most needed, Christ Jesus. We are like Eli wurged—indeed, directed—the young man Samuel to be tentive, to recognize the presence and voice of God and tospond appropriately. William Barry and William Connolly The Practice of Spiritual Direction, suggest that the language ofdirection implies that this conversation, in particular, is casual, aimless or incidentally “along the way,” but focusedintentional.2

Spiritual direction has a very clear agenda: directing our at-tention to the presence of God in our lives. The language of di-





rection seems to be a recent development. But this is an anc

practice, and for many chapters in the history of the churcwas an integral part of pastoral ministry. We know of remartales of fourth- and fth-century Christians heading into desert to seek the insight and counsel of the desert fathers mothers. And over the centuries this has been, for many Chtians of many different theological and spiritual traditionmeans by which they have found substantive guidance aencouragement. The renewal of this practice for contemporChristians gives us the opportunity to draw on the wisdomthe church, to learn how it can be most fruitful for us in ocurrent circumstances and, in so doing, to encourage one other in the Christian journey.

What I share in this book is very dependent on this herit

in the church, and certain voices are particularly notewortMost of these are from the Roman Catholic side of the Chris“neighborhood.” There is no doubt that the Roman Cathotheological and spiritual heritage has given more attentionspiritual direction over the centuries. Within this traditionpremiere importance is the work of Ignatius Loyola. Ignaspirituality nds its anchor piece in theSpiritual Exercises,which is essentially a guide to prayer—indeed, a guidebooa spiritual director who monitors and encourages the prayeanother. Ignatius was the founder of the Society of Jesus, cally called the Jesuits. Until recently, the vast majority ofitual directors were either Jesuits or were trained by JesuitI draw on this tradition, I am particularly indebted to twothors: Thomas H. Green, SJ, who for many years was therector of spiritual formation at San Jose Seminary in ManPhilippines; and John English, SJ, former retreat directoLoyola House in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.





Another key and indispensable voice is that of John of the

Cross who, like Ignatius Loyola, was a religious leader in six-teenth-century Spain. Ignatius, John of the Cross and Teresa of Ávila, his contemporary, were the three major voices of reformand renewal from within the sixteenth-century church. It ishelpful to think of them as the southern Reformers: counter-parts to Protestant Reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin,and southern in that they largely ministered in the church ofmodern-day Spain, southern France and Italy. They remainedin and sought renewal for the Church of Rome. In his LivingFlame of Love John of the Cross gives major attention to theministry of spiritual direction, and his advice and counsel tocontemporary spiritual directors is invaluable.

There are also ne contributions to the practice of spiritual

direction from the Catholic Benedictines and Salesians (heirsto St. Francis de Sales), as well as Eastern Orthodox, Anglicanand Puritan-Reformed traditions.3 And yet, while much of thisbook draws on wisdom from more than one stream in thehistory of the church, three things bring many of us in thisministry back to the Ignatian tradition as a baseline for guidance.Each of these three is particularly valuable to someone whoapproaches this ministry as an evangelical Christian. First, wend the clear and dening focus on Christ Jesus. Second is theunique use of the Scriptures, particularly the Gospels, inguiding our prayers. Third, so very noteworthy in Ignatius andtheSpiritual Exercisesis the invaluable instruction on the par-ticular place of the affections—the movements of the heart—for those who seek to respond to God’s presence in the worldand in their lives.

And yet, each of these streams naturally and obviously buildson the precedent that is set by Scripture. We have, for example,





the words of St. Paul offered in correspondence with a you

pastor and leader, Timothy. In many respects, the book Timothy is a model of spiritual direction—as Paul writeTimothy in direct response to themes and issues that wclearly particular to Timothy. While in this letter we wisdom for Christians in each culture and generation, it woriginally directed to an individual: Paul, writing to Timoin response to the specics of his life. When we draw onclassics of our spiritual heritage, we simply gain further ininto how we might similarly participate in this invaluable mistry in the life of an individual Christian believer.

A P M Paul’s ministry to Timothy, in Timothy, is particular. This

the genius of spiritual direction—wisdom and guidance aencouragement forthis pilgrim who is on the way, seeking togrow in faith, hope and love. In our spiritual journey, we ngood teaching and effective preaching. We need to be in tcompany of others and receive the liturgical leadership of thwho preside at worship. But we also nd much value in situal direction as the counterpart to each of these group mitries. Spiritual direction makes the diverse ministries of churchpersonal and individual. Spiritual direction is the min-istry of attention to one person, this person, at this time and inthis place. While there is a limited place for group directigenerally to speak of spiritual direction is to highlight thatis a one-to-one ministry: one person, present to another,

tentive to the work of the Spirit in this person’s life, relatships, work and especially prayers.I stress this individuality without hesitation. Yes, we n

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the assembly of God’s people, the church, for worship: for the

ministry of the Word, as we respond to preaching and teaching,and for the shared participation in the Lord’s Supper. Partici-pation in the communal exercise of life in Christ—the activ-ities of the faith community—is indispensable. But the beautyof spiritual direction is precisely that at this time and in thisplace, one person is being considered—not alone, but in thecompany of one other, a spiritual director. While they are notalone, it is just one who is the focus of reection, the one re-ceiving direction. If you are the one receiving direction, youcan now, in this time and space, give purposeful, focused at-tention to the state of your own soul. Without apology. And forthe director, the call of the moment is to be present to another,just one other.

Many nd value in group spiritual direction. But in thesepages I am highlighting the indispensability of a conversationwhere just one child of God is the focus of attention beforeGod and in the presence of a spiritual “father” or “mother”who comes in the name of Christ to listen. With a group, thenetwork of relationships, while valuable, is immediately morecomplicated. Indeed, it is challenging enough to listen to oneperson with the kind of focused attention of which I will bespeaking here.

While personal and particular, spiritual direction alwaysassumes an external reference—the triune God, present to usin Christ Jesus, and the witness, guidance and encouragementof the Scriptures. Indeed, in many respects, spiritual directionis nothing but two things—assisting the other to make senseof their experience of Christ, and assisting the other to makeapplication of the Scriptures to their specic circumstances.But it is important to stress that spiritual direction is notmerely


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