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If you are here to explore working with a Spiritual Director, you may well be in the right place. Explore the site -- go to the GETTING STARTED (FAQ) page where many of your questions may already be answered; read the blog and listen to how you feel; follow some of the links to learn more; find out a little something about my background. If you'd like to contact me -- either to set up an appointment or ask a questions, there's a contact form on the right side of each page that you can use to MAKE A CONNECTION.

Most simply, though, the spirit of my practice can be summed up in these words (adapted from Robert Mabry Doss): For those who come here seeking God ... may God go with you. For those who come embracing life ... may life return your affection. And for those who come to seek a path ... may a way be found, and the courage to take it step by step.

Monday, April 30, 2018

Faithful Practices

On Wednesday I praised the book Everyday Spiritual Practice: simple pathways for enriching your life.  Published by Skinner House Books in 1997, it has long been my go-to book when people ask me to recommend something they could read about spiritual practices.  I simply know of no other book that is both as expansive and as accessible.  More than any other book I've come across it helps people to see that they may already be doing something that might be understood as a spiritual practice and not even known it.  As the editor, the Rev. Scott Alexander, says in the Introduction:
"While working on this collection I was often asked, 'What makes an everyday spiritual practice different from a casual spiritual hobby, something worthwhile that one simply dabbles in when one feels like it?'  The answer is intentionality, regularly and depth.  Whether it is sitting zen, doing charitable giving, working with a spiritual director, or tending your relationship with loved ones, what shapes your efforts into an everyday spiritual practices is your commitment to making the activity a regular and significant part of your life."
Written from the perspective of "professional" religious people (aka, ordained clergy), and more "ordinary" (read, lay) people, part of what makes this book so powerful is that you not only read about how to do whatever practice the chapter is about, but also why the author engages the practices themselves, and why they think it might be of interest to anyone else.  Simply put, I've known of no other book on spiritual practices that I would recommend more highly.

Until now, that is.

This year Skinner House Books published a new anthology:  Faithful Practices: everyday ways to feed your spirit.  Like its predecessor, Faithful Practices is written by a collection of lay and ordained Unitarian Universalists, with each chapter describing both the how and the why of its author's own practice.  Two things, though, make it stand out for me:

First ... well ... I'm the editor.  I was really honored when the good folks at Skinner House reached out to me, saying that they were considering doing another book like Everyday Spiritual Practices and wondering if I'd be interested in submitting a proposal.  I am tremendously grateful that they saw in me someone they trusted to take on a project like this, and seriously humbled that they saw in my proposal a vision of what the book could be.  (As always, I cannot say enough how wonderful it is to work with editors like Marshall Hawkins and Mary Benard!  They turn manuscripts into books, and are really patient and kind.)

The second thing that makes Faithful Practices stand out is that it takes an even more broad view of what can be considered a spiritual practice.  Maintaining the perspective that anything a person does with "intentionality, regularity, and depth" has the potential to serve their spiritual growth, it goes places that will be for many truly surprising.  Here's the Table of Contents:


Practices Born in Tradition

  • Learning to Pray (Sue Magidson)
  • Finding a Teacher (Wayne B. Arnason)
  • How to Begin an Integral Transformative Practice (Arvid Straube)
  • Directed Mini-Retreats (Matt Alspaugh)
  • The Greatest of These is Love (Susan Maker)
  • The Silent Singing Alphabet or Setting the Altar (Laurie Bushbaum)
  • Enloightenment in the Dressing Room (Jaelynn P Scott)
  • Entering the Labyrinth (Leia Durland-Jones)
  • The Cosmala (Jon Cleland Host)


Practices Born in Play

  • Making Magical Moments and Letting Them Go (Lynn M. Aquafondata)
  • Instagram as Spiritual Practice (Cynthia Cain)
  • Playing with My Dolls (Erik Walker Wikstrom)
  • Roller Derby (Dawn Skjei Cooley)


Practices Born in Daily Life

  • The Spiritual Practice of Chop, Chop, Chopping (Linnea Nelson)
  • The Bloom of the Present Moment (Barry Andrews)
  • The Whole of the Spiritual Life:  A Meditation on Friendship (James Ishmael Ford)
  • On the Days I Eat (Colleen McDonald)
  • Walking as a Spiritual Discipline (Jonalu Johnstone)
  • Making Art (Amy Zucker Morgenstern)
  • Creating Community (Jessica Lin)
  • Collecting Joy as a Spiritual Practice (Ann Richards)
  • Integrating Technology into Spiritual Practice (Aaron M. Stockwell)


Yes, along with walking the labyrinth, there's a chapter about walking in your neighborhood.  In addition to a chapter about making art, there's one about using Instagram.  Along with prayer there's an exploration of playing with superhero action figures (aka, "dolls") as a spiritual practice.  And then, of course, there's the not-usually-mentioned spiritual discipline of playing roller derby!

Each chapter in Faithful Practices not only describes the particular practice of its author and why they consider it meaningful, but at the end of each chapter are several questions for you to consider including, "how can you see integrating this practice into your life?"

Pax tecum,

RevWik





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