Spiritual Direction Can Solve (almost) All of the World's Problems.
Can it?
This is the first part of two episodes introducing our new series, the Invitation "Forum on Spiritual Direction' where Cami Mann and Josh Banner invite you into a long conversation to consider the vital, healing need of contemplative listening especially today. In this forum Josh and Cami attempt to talk about spiritual direction through a practice of spiritual direction. That is to say, these are vulnerable, self-disclosive contemplative conversations where Josh and Cami attempt to listen and respond to the movements of the Holy Spirit in each other. They share their enthusiasm and insight, yet they also share their struggles, doubts, and fears.
You are invited to engage at least two zoom conversations and to even attend an in-person retreat. Details on these events along with a working outline of the Forum can be found HERE.
This part of the conversation is an honest, confessional exploration into the nature of what has become the Invitation Center in and through Josh, the founder and lead of the Invitation. In part two of this introduction, the focus turns to Cami's trauma-informed practice of direction and the story of how she came to her practice.
Josh and Cami serve as the co-directors of the Invitation School of Contemplative Listening, a study and practice of spiritual direction at the vital intersection of contemplation and justice.
I stayed off the news and social media last week and hope to remain off through Thanksgiving at least. But I peeked today and saw that on the day after mid-term elections, the world continues under the heavy, oppressive weight of strife, infighting, polarization.
The only solution, the best solution is contemplative listening.
The warden of my facility still has not allowed volunteers back into the prison. It’s been almost three years since I’ve been able to practice contemplative listening with my incarcerated brothers. That intimate community and our shared practices had been my grounding space. Ironically, two days a month in the prison helped me stay sane. Without access to that holy communion, the School of Prayer and the School of Contemplative Listening have emerged to offer other spaces of sanity, grounding, healing, hope. Both the SOP and the SOCL are expressions of what I learned from my six years in the prison.
With this Forum on Spiritual Direction, I’m attempting to extend that holy, sacred space that began in the prison to you. I truly do believe that spiritual direction can solve (almost) all the world’s problems. I will dare to say that what Cami Mann and I are learning to see, what we are tasting, touching, practicing, and inviting you into—this is the most valuable, precious, healing, and therefore vital “meaning of life” conversation I can offer you.
Please understand there is nothing new here. It’s just taken me a long time, suffering, extensive successes and failures to better see the extent of Jesus’ life and teaching. The prison conversations had served as an incubator, ironically the prison as a greenhouse to nurture what has been emerging in me and the Invitation. Without access to the prison the SOP, SOCL, and especially Cami have served in lieu of the prison in this capacity. Cami is especially gifted as a midwife to help me and indeed all of us involved in the Invitation with this work of integration and discovery.
We are not claiming our own genius or to be unique messengers either. What we can offer you is a glimpse into how we are today, at this current time in our current place are learning to respond to the Holy Spirit in and through what we’ve learned from St Ignatius and Thomas Merton, Theresa of Avila and Howard Thurman, St John of the Cross and Fr Martin Laird, St Francis and James Cone, The desert Abbas and Ammas as well as Willie James Jennings (and more).
I encourage you to spend time with Ephesians 5:16 today: “Make most of your time for the days are evil.”
Eugene Peterson gives this passage more breadth in his Message translation:
I believe something like spiritual direction, contemplative, deep listening, a sharing of my depths with your depths, to linger in careful God conversation—this is how we make most of our time. This is what we were created for. This is how we heal and grow together.
I hope and pray you will not only pursue your own healing, but that you will become a wounded healer!
Love & Peace,
Josh