"The light in your home has changed so much since we first
got together last fall,” observed one of the graduate students at our final
gathering for group spiritual direction. The living room was flooded with a soft evening light, which lingered in
the space. I was surprised that this engineering graduate student would notice
such a thing, and yet it seemed to reflect the increasing attentiveness to
God’s presence each of the students had experienced over the months of our
gatherings. Within the complexity of their studies, issues on campus, issues
amongst the Christian student groups, and issues in the greater world, there
was a growing sense of abiding in Jesus’ love over the months. Yes, it was the light in a home’s living room,
but—more importantly—the Light of the Loving God in our midst was aglow.
Last September I spoke about group spiritual direction with
the UC Berkeley graduate student Christian groups meeting under the umbrella of
InterVarsity and Veritas Graduate Fellowship on campus. I explained that group spiritual direction is a
small gathering of four to six people, which meet once a month for
contemplative listening and prayer, and I serve as the director. Those who
participated would join in listening deeply to one another share about his or
her real life, while also joining together in times of silent prayer on behalf
of the person who shared, believing that God was in all of it. In extending the
invitation to the larger group, I also mentioned that our gatherings were a
safe and confidential space where all were welcomed.
Having had no prior experience with individual or group
spiritual direction, the five students (four women and one man) who showed up at
my house were clearly people of strong personal faith, as well as eager and
curious folks. Perhaps due to their
lives of commitment to their graduate studies at Berkeley, they were equally
committed to coming monthly and to diving wholeheartedly into the process.
We met in my home near the campus. The lighting of the
candle and a time of prayerful silence opened our monthly times together. This time of transition seemed crucial for
these busy, pressured students to be fully present to the Holy and to one
another. They each expressed how much they “live in their heads,” and that they
were hungry for the calm, restful, attentive space of such a group as this.
Over the course of the months, we engaged in various
spiritual disciplines, such as Lectio
Divina, St. Ignatius’ Prayer of Examen
(in which a day or a month is looked back upon, noticing where he or she was
drawn closer to God, or turned further away from God), along with various other
ways of noticing God in all of their lives.
As I reflect back on the year, what was most profound was not
the words, but the sense of God’s presence in the space, in the group, in the
love and in the care for one another. It was as though God was saying to us
all, “Yes, I love you regardless of what you accomplish or how you identify.” “Yes,
less is more.” “Yes, you are mine in all of life’s circumstances.”
The seeds of this awareness grew, starting with our first
group meeting which revealed the surprise of tension and tears expressed
especially by a couple of individuals in the group. I did not know the details
of the issues bringing these people to tears, but clearly there was pain and
sorrow being experienced by some of the students. I closed that first group time by saying these
words: “I don’t know what is behind all of these feelings and the issues, but
I’d like to say again that all are welcomed here, and I believe God is here in
our midst.”
What blossomed over the months was the ongoing commitment
within the group to honest sharing, to caring for one another, to seeking the
Holy Spirit in his or her life, to sharing the truth of each life even amongst
differences, to listening to each other and to the growing awareness of God’s
love for each of them. In the spaciousness, quiet, patient listening, and authenticity,
each student was truly heard and knew he or she belonged to a loving God. A
simple home’s living room and a regular gathering in trust that the Holy Spirit
is present, allowed the glow of the Holy to expand within and without us all.
