- A comparison & contrast between how Guenther and Barry:
- define spiritual direction and why they think it is needed
- identify the most significant challenges to this ministry and what they see as important resources for embodying it in our day.
- How Guenther helps you “image” spiritual direction.
- How Barry helps you think theologically about spiritual direction.
- How Adesanya helps you think about contemplation and everyday life?
I find that both Guenther and Barry have similar goals in their philosophies of spiritual direction, which is to help those who desire to find God in the world around them. Berry writes “Spiritual directors take it as their central task to help people to develop their relationship with God and to live out the consequences of that relationship, as we have repeatedly stated. They enter into a deep relationship with those they direct in order to serve the latters’ relationships with God.”(98 Barry 2004) Guenther writes that “The director’s task is to help connect the individual’s story to the story and thereby help the directee to recognize and claim identity in Christ, discern the action of the Holy Spirit.”(32 Guenther 1992)
While both of these authors ultimately end up at the same goal, there seems to a different approach to the finish line. Guenther relies heavily on the natural order of life as viewed through the process of birthing and midwifery, whereas Barry focuses heavily on philosophy and theology. Both are quite valid and ultimately important, but separated, they do capture the fullness of the experience of what it means to be a spiritual being. What I appreciated most about Guenther’s writing was the focus on “hearing” beyond the rigidity of theology. Barry does write a lot about experience, but it is not quite the same. Hopefully, through openness and a willingness of any spiritual director to listen with intention, there will be a community of trust and holiness, ultimately recognizing that if there is any “division” it is because of intentionality for growth, and not out of fear of self preservation.(125 Guenther 1992)
Another similarity I find between Guenther and Barry is the challenge of the reader to be available and present to the current realities of the moment. Spiritual direction requires a self awareness of the moment (or at least an awareness of the director towards the directee) and what God could possibly be doing in that space. They both also highlight the need for humility on the part of the director to be humble and engaged in their own spiritual direction. One can not be a spiritual leader when their own house is in disorder.
Guenther’s imagery of the birth of a child and the work of the midwife captivated me because it is an experience I got to witness firsthand with my two children. We had both of our children in our home with a midwife of many years. She was amazing, and seeing her in action was literally seeing an agent of God in the midst of chaos. The thing that really made her stand out was the contrast between her and the interns she had at each birth. The interns, newer to the process still had some anxiety and rushed, while Barb (the midwife) would sit in a chair outside of the room reading a book. When it was time to do something serious, she would clip her hair back and take charge of the situation.
When Guenther spoke of the director knowing the proper time to give feedback and when to hold it, Barb came to my mind because she acted in exactly the way that the situation required at the exact time, all while guiding the process of new life. Barb embodied this sentence written by Guenther: “As a faithful midwife, the director can see patterns and form in seeming formlessness.”(104 Guenther 1992)
While Guenther highlighted the practicality of ushering new life in, Barry had me thinking deeply about the presence of God in the world. I appreciated many of his thoughts, and even recognized some of my own words, particularly when he writes about tuning our lives to God’s presence. (87 Barry 2004). His ability to continually bring the focus back to the one action of God helped me to connect with all of creation in a much deeper way than I had before. It helps to intertwine that we all are connected, but in a way that points back to the God the creator, and less about the randomness of other existence theories.
Early in the chapter of Adesanya’s writing, there is a reflection on the prayer written by Thurman in which it is written: “Our sight accesses not only the object of our focus, but also the foreground and the background of the object. We see the periphery surrounding the object, and we see the movement? the changes in the object.”(56 Adesanya 2019) I wrote a note next to it that says “kind of like photographic composition.” And the reason I wrote that is because when I hold a camera up I can still see the scene in front of me, but ultimately I will be deciding what I want the focus of the photo to be, and not only in that moment, but for as long as that photo exists.
Everything matters, but also nothing matters because I can not control what the viewer of a photo sees, I can only hope to impart my vision into the photo I take. This reflection, along with reading her chapter after the other two passages, helps me to create in a way that shares my journey, while also leaving room for other’s interpretations, and ultimately finding appreciation and beauty in what they see that I did not. If I am open to receiving what other’s are perceiving, it makes the experience of our interaction much richer and meaningful.