Sacred Companions: The Gift of Spiritual Friendship & Direction by David G. Benner

Author:David G. Benner [Benner, David G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion, Christian Life, Spiritual Growth
ISBN: 9780830876808
Google: kghZBAAAQBAJ
Amazon: B001HL0EZM
Publisher: IVP Books
Published: 2002-03-29T23:00:00+00:00

6

A Portrait

of the Process

Pious chapters have included a number of fragments of spiritual direction dialogue. To better illustrate the way a spiritual direction relationship unfolds, this chapter presents an extended illustration.

Su Yin is a Chinese Christian living in a major city in Southeast Asia. Initially trained as a physician, she subsequently returned to seminary, was ordained and has for several years been serving as pastor of a growing evangelical church. I first met her when she attended a series of lectures I gave in her city. We spoke on several occasions over the course of these days, and she subsequently contacted me, asking if I would be willing to offer her spiritual direction by e-mail.

E-mail generally is not the preferred medium for spiritual direction. Because of the absence of nonverbal contextual cues, it forces reliance on the explicit and verbal dimensions of dialogue. It also leaves communication more open to misunderstanding. Yet I have often been surprised at how effective it can be. Sometimes it is the only way people can receive the help they desire. And some people come to feel that the advantages of being able to write whenever they have something to share and read the reply whenever is most convenient for them vastly outweigh any minor disadvantages.

What follows is a synopsis of my e-mail interaction with Su Yin as it unfolded over the course of approximately two years. Generally her messages came about once a week, with occasional intervals of two or three weeks. I began by suggesting that she tell me something of her present experience of God, as well as what she wanted from him. I also asked what she wanted from me. This got us immediately under way.

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