Soul Care Practices

Curating my soul’s longings

Soul Care

Archie Honrado

SOUL

CARE

Soul Care for Urban Youth Workers

Soul Care - Curating spiritual practices to form a life-style of sabbath rest, and soul care retreat in incarnating and becoming like Jesus.

“ O God, you are my God! I long for you! my soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you,

in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” - Psalm 63:1

“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heartand with all soul, and with all your strength

and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” - Luke 10:27

When we first heard the call of God to serve, it was in a place of being in a relationship with God- in love with God, wasn’t it? It was in a place of longing and yearning to love and please our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, right?

Where are you with the Lord? Probably in a beautiful place of contentment and satisfaction in the Lord. Praise the Lord! Share your soul care practices to others.

Soul care are intentions and choices we make to cultivate, nurture and nourish our love for God.

REFLECTION: 1Has your love for God grown cold, have you ever felt spiritually dry, feeling distant from God or plateaued on your devotional life? A love grown cold for Jesus can lead to a legalistic kind of love, or lead us back to the fire of God.

Intro to slide # 2

VIDEO CLIP (2mins) What do you thirst for? How is your thirst quenched?

Activity:Give people time to read the paragraph and ask the questions below.

- Juxtapose your soul, ministry with the paragraph above. What does it look like?- Where can soulful spaces be in your daily living?- What soul care practices nourishes you?

Life in 3DDecompress, Defragment, Debrief

An illustration can be drawn out from a deep-water diving practice called “decompression stops”. Decompression stops are stops divers should make when returning to the surface to let the nitrogen in their blood dissolve safely out of their bodies. The practice prevents a diver from contracting decompression disease that can lead to death, confusion or memory loss, double vision, tunnel vision, unexplained extreme fatigue, just to name a few.

• Imagine how this illustrates our need to decompress from the intense pressures of ministry and life. What are your “decompression stops?”

“Hyde Park, London”, J.A. Hampton

Jumping from one activity, event, or ministry to the next without ‘decompression stops’ can lead to burn-out, and soullessness. When done over time, we’ll surely miss-out on the deeper meanings that can be found in our activities and actions.

Reflection on how we - decompress- debrief at the end of the day or after a retreat, camp, meeting, etc.- defrag

Defragment

• How do you “defrag” your life?

• View Pollock’s painting, how does it relate to your mind and soul?

• Do you take time to debrief your work, ministry, relationships?

Imagine your computer running slow, bogged down by cluttered and fragmented files; to fix these; you run a “defrag,” right?

How do you relate this to your soul, your private and public life, your exterior and interior life?

Life in 3DDecompress, Defragment, Debrief

SOUL CARE FOR URBAN YOUTH WORKERSIn the trenches of your personal and ministry battlefield, grow your soul care garden.

Soul care are means of grace in being incarnational and missional- in becoming like our Lord Jesus.

A healthy soul care practice leads to a quality life that yields quality service to people that deserves quality love from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Serving Our Lord Jesus is a noble pursuit, a call, a vocation, a long-term commitment, and not just a profession. It is 24/7 in your heart and mind – if not in your body, isn’t it? Really noble, sure, but going non-stop and ignoring regular sabbath rest, a lack of a sacred space, attraction to distraction are cautionary tales of a life with more than a share of burn-outs, drop-outs, moral failures, marriage failure, ministry failures, addiction, financial hardship or spiritual apathy.- not really the abundant life that Christ has promised, isn’t it?

To prevent these failures:

• Nurture a healthy and vibrant spiritual life. One needs to become proficient in spiritual disciplines critical to longevity and productivity- bearing lasting fruits- The fruits of these are deep hospitality and a generous love; life-giving teachings and life-changing services we give to our family and community

•There are boundaries to be observed, soul-caring healthy habits ( spiritual discipline), rituals and lifestyles to be practiced. Just like we nurture our physical body so we don’t age weak but age with vibrancy, our soul also does not grow in a vacuum . As our soul and spiritual life ages, we will either be a grumpy and cynical old-soul, or be a sweet, meek and vibrant old-soul- strong to the finish line like what the Apostle Paul admonished us.

With soul care, we mature spiritually with vitality, vibrancy and grace to love God, self and others.

SOUL CARE HEALTH SELF-ASSESSMENT:

What you do with your spiritual life grows or stuns what soul you are already in the image of God.

What is the health of your soul and spiritual life?

1. Spiritual practice obsolescence2. Spiritual Wilderness or Desert time 3. Spiritual Depression 4. Cynicism, the sneaky fruit of apathy5. The Thrill is Gone6. You’re in a Good Place, but . . .

In the proceeding several slides, prayerfully read the description on each point of assessments with guides on what you can do.

Give ample time for self assessment and sharing and discussion afterwards.

soul care nourishing and nurturingsoul care nourishing and nurturingWhat Can We Do? BE more and DO less In finding God’s rest, we need to ‘DO’ less, not try harder but just ‘BE’ in the presence of God.

Spiritual disciplines of engaging* (studying, serving, fellowship ) are like what weightlifting does to build muscles and soul care nourishing to what yoga**, pilates, breathing exercise are to a stronger core muscles. Soul care nourishing to a large extent is a spiritual discipline of abstinence (prayer, fasting, silence, solitude,)

Soul Care Nourishing and Nurturing- are spiritual practices and disciplines or what we can call a “spiritual skill set.” Soul care nurturing skills are different from your “ministry” skills set- executive, pastoral, leader, preaching or teaching skills. Soul care practices’ main concerns are your regular visits into your interior world, your inner-most being, your soul depths, your intimate sacred space, your sabbath place of rest; while ministry skills deals primarily with your exterior world.

•Intercessory, warfare, and petition kinds of prayers are not soul care nourishment. Soul care nourishing cultivates your capacities to listen to the voice of God in finding rest and in finding God on a lesser and minimal effort kind of prayer-apophatic (word-less) prayer. •Soul care nurturing are spiritual practices that cultivates your capacity to discern and listen to your soul and to the still small voice of God in cultivating intimacy with God.* Dallas Willard from his book “ Spirit of the Discipline” explains the spiritual discipline of engaging and abstinance.**There is a A Christian Yoga exercise called “ Holy Yoga” - see reference page for more details

SOUL CARE SELF-ASSESSMENT:

1. Spiritual practice obsolescence- Have you outgrown your devotional practices, bored with your current devotional practice? Feeling guilty or wondering if you are “in sin”- not necessarily- maybe you just simply plateaued. There are spiritual practices that we’ve learned in our early spiritual formative years that goes through obsolescent; - it falls into disuse- we outgrew a devotional practice and we can feel guilty at times when our cherished practice fails us.

A soul care guide:• “Eat organic soul food” - I was discipled, nurtured by great teachings and theologies from men and women of God from a church that is not my organic spiritual home- not my local church that is-.These are like “packaged, institutionalized or frozen spiritual manna”- written or taught by corporate-religious pastors, seminary professors, scholars, bible teachers, and theologians- nothing wrong with these at all- Too much of them though can create an unhealthy dependency that can promote spiritual laziness- making us spiritually fat and out of touch to our own interior world and consequently, we don’t hear own inner voice anymore; just other voices- good voices- but we need to hear God’s voice speaking to our own voice heard in the depths of our soul.

If you need a new spiritual practice, try the biblical organic spiritual discipline of apophatic (wordless) prayer, silence and solitude.

Give ample time for self assessment and sharing and discussion afterwards.

SOUL CARE SELF-ASSESSMENT:“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say,

“Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes

take the free gift of the water of life.” - Revelation 22:17

2. Spiritual Desert time- In a soul season like this, • You can’t seem to get enough energy to pray• You long for sensational new teachings• You long to see God rock you, and you think if you can only go on a retreat, conference, seminar or read the latest spiritual growth book, you’ll get over this dry spell.

When we go through a dry spell, we will either use spiritual disciplines forcefully and willfully to a point of spiritual aggression and violence to oneself to bring back the feeling of the closeness or nearness of God. In exhaustion and disappointment, we give up, grow cold, burn- out. Soul care gives you fresh eyes and legs to draw closer to the fire of God, and to the fount of Jesus for our soul thirst.


3. Spiritual Depression - Are you lacking motivation to spend time alone praying, reading or studying the bible; teachings and preaching don’t do anything to you anymore- or very little.


4. Cynicism, the sneaky fruit of apathy- Are you becoming a bit more cynical and doubting your own faith at times, easily irritated and would often withdraw support and encouragement to others.


5. The Thrill is Gone- God feels absent or distant?- no more ‘goose bumps’ during worship or you can’t feel God’s presence while you lead others to His? Are you going through the motion?


6. You’re in a Good Place, but . . . - content and flowing in the rhythm of the Holy Spirit. Soul care can help nurture and maintain so you don’t fall into dissatisfaction or apathy.

SOUL CARE SELF- ASSESSMENT: SEASONS OF THE SOUL, WHY?WHY DO WE GO THROUGH THESE?

When you go through a spiritual desert time or “dark night of the soul” :•It signals a “God movement” calling you in the most intimate and deep (and some dark) places of your interior world. This sacred space for God is sometimes ignored and neglected because of busyness, ministry or stagnation- our spiritual life is organic, like a soil in the garden and a fruit in a tree- we could get stuck because of soul care negligence. Or we’re afraid of places in our soul we’ve never been.•When we start to recognize our neglect, we feel guilty or feel we might be in sin or backsliding and it can become unbearable. •It could also be a time to find new well spring, perhaps a new oasis. This could be a time where a spiritual director could be helpful.

soul caresoul careto nourish Nourish- to sustain with food or nutriment; supply with what is necessary. From Old English word, norisshe, Latin to feed nutrire where the word nurse is derived.

What was your soul care assessment?

Soul CareSoul Care2. Desert Wilderness Time- What can you do?The good news is, if you feel the longing, the desire and the need to see God, be closer to Him, this is a sign of God’s movement in your heart and soul. •Be aware of God’s presence in the mundane daily living, a place like Elijah was when he heard the still small voice in wilderness.•Having a soul companion- spiritual director- will help guide you in the ‘wilderness’. Spiritual director is like a midwife- just alongside of a pregnant woman in helping care and deliver the baby. Spiritual director, like a midwife would remind you that you are the one ‘pregnant’ with the things of God. Spiritual director are not pastoral counseling, discipleship, mentoring, coaching.

Are you afraid of silence because you’re afraid what you’ll hear in the depths of your soul?•Try and create your at-home organic retreat- •Learn apophatic prayer (wordless prayer) Living in the “real world” requires an amount of skills and knowledge like logic and rational thinking to tackle and finish a task, solve a problem, or even survive, right? so, it is no surprise that at the end of the day, after working hard and being with people you are spent mentally, emotionally, physically, but you still want or need to spend time with the Lord in prayer or reading the scripture, right? Here’s where we get frustrated: The spiritual practice we use to pray and read in spending time with the Lord uses the same faculty we’ve used throughout the day solving problems, performing tasks and trying to live at peace with everybody. We overtaxed our mind and we still expect it to work when we want or need to spend time with the Lord. This could be one of the reason why we slowly drift to soul care neglect.

soul caresoul careWhat can you do? Learn apophatic prayer (prayer that does not utilize reason, memory, imagination, feelings or will). Theoretically, apophatic prayer uses part of your brain- the Frontal Lobe- that is concerned with meaning, and not used for reasoning, to perform task or to find solutions or problem solve. So, physiologically speaking, in apophatic prayer, you use the fresher or unused part of your brain to spend time with the Lord after a long and grueling time at work. That is why maybe spending time with the Lord first thing in the morning helps.

Apophatic prayers examples are:- Centering Prayer ( this is an Ancient Christian practice- not “Eastern” as some might say)- Breath Prayer- Silence

soul caresoul care3. Spiritually Depressed/Dark Night of the Soul?- lacking motivation to spend time alone praying, read or study the bible, teaching and preaching don’t do anything to you anymore. This is different from being in a desert/wilderness time, in this soul place, you find it hard to see any movement of God, any desire or very little, almost giving up. In this place, you need your family, community, a spiritual director or a pastoral/psychologist counselor- if it is related to a trauma, moral failure, or a major sin-

You also could try:- 30-Day At-Home soul care retreat- you will have a soul care retreat guide- usually a spiritual director- as your companion in your wilderness and help you find your oasis.

Some of the practices during the 30-day retreat are:- An artist way ( no, you don’t have to be an artist)- open your eyes and ears to see God in littlest thing you are doing throughout the day- This cultivates the presence of God whatever you are doing and wherever you are.- It breaks your dependency on “events, teaching, retreat, it asks the question: “ Where does God needed to be today “- in whatever and wherever I am.- Spiritual direction session ( in person or skype)- Regular “Date” with yourself, and with spouse, close friends.- Regular practice of apophatic prayer -centering prayer, breath prayer, prayer of examen- Journaling

We will have a list of Spiritual Director and web site where they can learn more of find their own director.

soul caresoul careto nurture(to cherish, to foster, to train)

“ In six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of complete rest to the Lord.” - Exodus 35:

“For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” Hebrews 4:8-19

To nurture soul is to learn some of the spiritual practices like: sabbath rest, soul care retreat, spiritual direction, pastoral counseling, bible study, and other life-giving practice.In the Old Testament Sabbath requires Israel to cease from ordinary labors and devote the day to God. It required Israel to enter into the life of God, to share his Sabbath. It gave them a chance to recall the work of the Creator. But in NT the apostolic teaching for the Church does not make one day holier than another, but calls for the entire life to be sanctified to God. This teaching is an application of the meaning of entering into the Sabbath of God. The book of Hebrews declares that those who believe in Christ cease from their works and enter into his Sabbath rest. For a Christian keeping Saturday holy is not a requirement from the NT; it may be a good and valuable thing to have a day of rest and refreshment, but it is not a binding law for the Church. The principle of setting aside time to worship and serve the Lord has been carried forward, but the strict regulations have not. - Study Notes taken from the Net Bible, www.bible.org

soul caresoul care“Contemplation and Action”

Less afraid of fear and less afraid of life-“The idea is that as we develop spiritual and reflective practices within the context of our personal lives and the pursuit of social change, we create a more solid and secure foundation for a new world. We build lives with greater expressions of love, more authentic relationships, and a deeper articulation of truth.

We become less afraid of fear and less afraid of life. When we turn inward, we find stillness and chaos resting together. We find craving and contraction and the seeds of liberation from both. We can ignore what we find or we can embrace it- all of it. Reflection and spiritual practice will help ensure that our actions as human beings yield benefits to a sphere far beyond the horizon we can easily see. We are all seekers. In the midst of an ever-complex, ever-quickening universe, we crave the pause in which we remember what matter most.Through ongoing, deliberate experiences with our inner life, we cultivate stillness, open our hearts, nurture our personal expressions of faith, and deepen our capacity just to be. Rather than an escape, refuge is a return to the real. Turning inward allows us to develop our power from within, the power that makes real change possible.”-Claudia Horwitz on her book, “The Spiritual Activist”, Penguin Compass

Are you afraid of finding stillness and chaos resting together?

•Less afraid of fear and less afraid of life, are you?

•What paradox have you been wrestling lately, or are you?

•What reflective practices do you currently have?

Sabbath Rest - is not just a Sunday afternoon recreational or entertainment time. Sabbath is to step back and retreat from the regular days of work and enter into a holy leisure, a contemplation into the heart of God. There’s also “mini-sabbath” that we could take through out the day.

soul caresoul careCultivating Depths.Sometimes all that we yearn for beauty, courage, love, hope, faith-lies hidden. God seems to be absent from our lives. We are unable to truly see the people with whom we live. The goodness and worth of our own lives elude us. At times like this we may feel called to take a step back and look at the mystery of life anew. That’s what the word retreat means- to go back.

-Macrina Wiederkehrfrom her book . The Song of the Seed.

soul caresoul care

Alienated from Myself or At Home With Myself“ If I am not at home with myself I won't feel at home anywhere else. It is such a delight to come home to myself, to become my own friend. I experienced this kind of homecoming once when I was living alone. Under the guise of ministering to others I had become alienated from myself. In my everyday maddening ministerial rush I suddenly discovered myself eating on the run-grabbing a sandwich and eating it while standing up or going out the door. The violence of this great irrev- erence to myself suddenly occurred to me. I was not at home with myself. It took a while to slow down, but I was finally able to make a decision to spend time with myself. I began to experience the joy of being with me. I put flower on the table, lit a candle, turned on soft music, ate slowly. I learned the joy of simply being with myself without rushing. It was like taking myself out to din- ner. It was a kind of coming home to myself. When you can lovingly be present to yourself, your presence to others takes on a deeper quality also.”

Excerpt from Macrina Weiderkehr “ A Tree Full of Angels”Harper Collins Publishing

soul caresoul careWHY RETREAT? why do you need one?

To ________________________

To ________________________

To ________________________

To ________________________ Mini-Retreat idea:

Go on a date with yourself, at home.

Like any other date, think about what you will wear, eat and imagine how you

centering prayercentering prayerCENTERING PRAYER

THE PRAYER OF CONSENT BY THOMAS KEATING “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

Centering Prayer is a method designed to facilitate the development of Contemplative Prayer by preparing our faculties to receive this gift. It is an attempt to present the teaching of earlier times in an updated form. Centering Prayer is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer; rather it casts a new light and depth of meaning on them. It is at the same time a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship. This method of prayer is a movement beyond conversation with Christ to communion with Him.

Theological Background

The source of Centering Prayer, as in all methods leading to Contemplative Prayer, is the indwelling Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The focus of Centering Prayer is the deepening of our relationship with the living Christ. It tends to build communities of faith and bond the members together in mutual friendship and love.

The Root of Centering Prayer

Listening to the word of God in Scripture (Lectio Divina) is a traditional way of cultivating friendship with Christ. It is a way of listening to the texts of Scripture as if we were in conversation with Christ and He were suggesting the topics of conversation. The daily en- counter with Christ and reflection on His word leads beyond mere acquaintanceship to an attitude of friendship, trust, and love. Conversation simplifies and gives way to commun- ing. Gregory the Great (6th century) in summarizing the Christian contemplative tradition expressed it as “resting in God.” This was the classical meaning of Contemplative Prayer in the Christian tradition for the first sixteen centuries.

Wisdom Saying of Jesus

Centering Prayer is based on the wisdom saying of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount :

“...But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you” MT 6:6It is also inspired by writings of major contributors to the Christian contemplative heri- tage including John Cassian, the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing, Francis de Sales, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Thomas Merton.

centering prayercentering prayerCentering Prayer Guidelines

I. Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence andaction within. (Open Mind, Open Heart, Thomas Keating) 1. The sacred word expresses our intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.

2. The sacred word is chosen during a brief period of prayer to the Holy Spirit. Use a word of one or two syllables, such as: God, Jesus, Abba, Father, Mother, Mary, Amen. Other possibilities include: Love, Listen, Peace, Mercy, Let Go, Silence, Stillness, Faith, Trust.

II. Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within. 1. “Sitting comfortably” means relatively comfortably so as not to encourage sleep during the time of prayer.

2. Whatever sitting position we choose, we keep the back straight.3. We close our eyes as a symbol of letting go of what is going on around and within us. 4. We introduce the sacred word inwardly as gently as laying a feather on a piece of ab- sorbent cotton.5. Should we fall asleep upon awakening we continue the prayer.

III. When engaged with your thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.

1. “Thoughts” is an umbrella term for every perception, including body senstations, sense perceptions, feelings, images, memories, plans, reflections, concepts, commentaries, and spiritual experiences.2. Thoughts are an inevitable, integral and normal part of Centering Prayer. 3. By “returning ever-so-gently to the sacred word” a minimum of effort is indicated. This is the only activity we initiate during the time of Centering Prayer.

4. During the course of Centering Prayer, the sacred word may become vague or disap- pear.

IV. At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.1. The additional 2 minutes enables us to bring the atmosphere of silence into everyday life.

2. If this prayer is done in a group, the leader may slowly recite a prayer such as the Lord’s Prayer, while the others listen.

centering prayercentering prayer

What Centering Prayer Is and Is Not

a. It is not a technique but a way of cultivating a deeper relationship with God.b. It is not a relaxation exercise but it may be quite refreshing.c. It is not a form of self-hypnosis but a way to quiet the mind while maintaining its alert- ness.d. It is not a charismatic gift but a path of transformation.e. It is not a para-psychological experience but an exercise of faith, hope and selfless love. f. It is not limited to the “felt” presence of God but is rather a deepening of faith in God’s abiding presence.g. It is not reflective or spontaneous prayer, but simply resting in God beyond thoughts, words, and emotions.

THE PRAYER OF CONSENT BY THOMAS KEATING “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10Visit our website atwww.contemplativeoutreach.org

I. Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence andaction within. (Open Mind, Open Heart, Thomas Keating) 1. The sacred word expresses our intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.

2. The sacred word is chosen during a brief period of prayer to the Holy Spirit. Use a word of one or two syllables, such as: God, Jesus, Abba, Father, Mother, Mary, Amen. Other possibilities include: Love, Listen, Peace, Mercy, Let Go, Silence, Stillness, Faith, Trust.6

II. Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within. 1. “Sitting comfortably” means relatively comfortably so as not to encourage sleep during the time of prayer.

2. Whatever sitting position we choose, we keep the back straight.3. We close our eyes as a symbol of letting go of what is going on around and within us. 4. We introduce the sacred word inwardly as gently as laying a feather on a piece of ab- sorbent cotton.5. Should we fall asleep upon awakening we continue the prayer.

What is soul care?

Soul care practices stirs our heart, mind, soul and body to love God more intently. Soul Care practices are steps of faith, obedience and submission under the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every moment of the day in varying shapes, forms and expressions.•It is time and spaces intentionally created just to BE in your own being and in the presence of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.•It is cultivating an awareness of who you are in your humanity and divinity •It is daily living in the awareness and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ- Finding where God is in the now and asking where God needed to be in the present moment.•Cultivating an awareness of the presence and mysteries of Jesus in the midst of doing mundane chores- laundry, cooking, shopping, house-cleaning, etc.• Are ‘passages’ into your interior world where glimpses of who God is and who you are can be found, discovered and be empowered within. Without these visits to our interior ‘other-world’ (our soul and heart) serving reaches a finite line where exasperation can happen seeing only the futility of the meanings of our sacrifice and noble pursuits. • Is loving the Lord your God with all of your soul, body and mind and loving others as you love yourself.

“Whatever you do, whether you eat, work or play, do it all for the glory of God.”

this could be in the introduction or an added time to give some definition.

What is soul care?

Soul care is taking time to date your self- a simple time of enjoying “ a Pink Berry”, a movie, buying a new pair of jeans - a time to take care of your needs or wants- it doesn’t have to be a spiritual activity to be soul care.

Soul care is discipleship, taking up your cross, self-leadership, studying to show yourself as a workman approved unto God, it is loving God,-others and self- it is embracing, accepting and nourishing your yearnings and longings for love, acceptance, joy, meaning and purpose. Soul care practices and disciplines forms lifestyle and habits that shapes character to determine mission, call and destiny.

this could be in the introduction or an added time to give some definition.

Documents

Soul Care Practices