Soul Care & Spiritual Formation
Resourcing Wellness In Community
Soul Care is the sacred and ongoing journey of nurturing one’s whole being in the presence of Creator God. It seeks to guide us beyond the surface of daily life and into the depths of our relationship with God, where profound healing, understanding, and transformation take place. This journey isn’t merely about mastering spiritual techniques but about responding to God's genuine love, especially in moments of suffering and despair. It involves creating space for God's voice, as well as our own voices, to be heard and for hearts to be restored. Spiritual Formation flows from this journey, representing the natural shaping of one's life to reflect Christ's character and ethics. It is about growing in grace, justice, mercy, and spiritual depth, inviting both individuals and communities to align more deeply with Christ's identity and purpose. This formation is a dynamic process that leads us to the Living Hope and resilience while cultivating a heart that remains steadfast in faith, bearing witness to God's cherished covenant and movement in all matters of life and in every season.
Scriptural Anchors: Gen 2:7 | I Thess 5:23 | Ps 139 | Matt 22:37-39 | Is 61:1-3 | Rom 12:1-2 | II Cor 3:17-18 | Matt 5-7 | Deut 6:4-8 | Lk 4:14-37 | Eph 1&2 | Jn 15 | Jn 14:16, 26 | Rev. 2:8-11 | Rev. 3:7-13
Soul Care & Spiritual Formation Centers
Spiritual Directors
Selecting the appropriate Spiritual Director is a deeply personal process, requiring careful consideration of various factors. Please discern diligently to identify the qualities and expertise that align with your specific needs and preferences.
A Sanctified Art
In our work, remembering is a spiritual practice. We remember that God created all creation with a goodness refrain. We remember that the poetry of love proclaims that darkness is sacred and black is beautiful (Song of Songs 1:5-6). We remember that Jesus was not white. However, we remember that the white Church has perpetuated violence and oppression against black, brown, and indigenous peoples. We remember that the white Church has profited from slavery. We remember that in the 1820s, white American churches mass-produced and mass-marketed images of white Jesus in order to form a unified national identity of white superiority.* We remember that racism is still alive in our faith communities. As we remember all of these things, we commit to the ongoing work of disrupting racism wherever it persists—trusting that through this journey, God re-members us and makes us whole (*Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. (New York, NY: Nations Books, 2016). 153).
Kelly Latimore Icons
Kelly began painting icons in 2010 while a member of the Common Friars, a community focused on connection with others, the land, and God through service, meals, and farming at “The Good Earth Farm.” Inspired by traditional iconography and encouraged by a priest friend, Kelly developed a unique approach, blending inherited practices with reflections on community life and mission. His first original icon, Christ: Consider the Lilies, was shaped by the question of how to live in right relationship with creation, embodying art as a communal and contemplative expression. For Kelly, iconography is a spiritual practice, a meditation on color, light, and meaning, that seeks to cultivate dialogue, challenge biases, and reveal Christ’s presence in daily life. His work invites viewers to pause, ponder, and grow in connection with God, neighbor, and creation.
Sanctuaries of Renewal
Retreat Spaces for Rest and Reflection
Exploring Inexpensive Housing and Pet-Sitting Platforms for Retreats
As you consider creating sacred spaces for retreat...whether for solitude, soul care, or communal renewal...there may be unconventional yet accessible ways to make it possible. Platforms like GlampingHub, VRBO, or even 'pet-sitting exchanges' such as Rover or TrustedHousesitters could provide creative, budget-friendly options. These resources might open doors to peaceful stays in nature, quiet urban sanctuaries, or unexpected places of rest.
​
But what if retreat isn’t found in a dedicated space at all? What if quiet must be carved out in the middle of noise, in a one-room home filled with children, in a war-torn city, or in the relentless rhythm of daily survival? Sacred space, then, becomes not just about location, but about intention...finding stillness in the small pauses, claiming a moment of breath between demands, or turning an ordinary corner into a refuge of prayer.
​
May you be led to places that offer not just shelter, but deep renewal. And when the world around you is anything but quiet, may rest find you in the cracks and corners of your days...in a lingering sunrise, a whispered prayer, the steady rhythm of your breath. May provision meet you where you are, and may peace unfold in ways you never expected.
Defining Words
MY CONTEMPLATION. . .
by Barbara Holmes, Crisis Contemplation: Healing the Wounded Village
​
"My contemplative practices include writing, music and dancing, prayer, stillness, social justice activism, and teaching. These practices are the choices of one individual. What happens when the practices are communal and practiced together? What happens when contemplation is not a personal practice, but a collective, biogenetic, and spiritual response to crisis?
Contemplation is the highest expression of [human] intellectual and spiritual life. . . . It is a spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. . . .It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent and infinitely abundant source. Contemplation is, above all, awareness of the reality of that Source [God].
​
Thomas Merton (1915 - 1968) reassured us that when we reach the limits of our knowledge categories and intuitions, there is a wellspring, deep and inexhaustible. In the darkness, we can gather in Spirit and be filled by this Source [God].
Contemplation is not just an effective response to crisis. It can also arise during the most intense aspects of the event. When bodies are being tortured, when minds are pushed to the breaking point, the human spirit falls through the cracks of the crisis into the center of contemplation. Howard Thurman (1899 - 1981) referred to this inner space as an island, a place that cannot be breached without personal consent: "When all hope for release in the world seems unrealistic and groundless, the heart turns to a way of escape beyond the present order."
​​
Contemplation is not a privilege of the few but a vital necessity for our interconnected lives. We are called to stillness, to pause, and to listen deeply."
Scriptural Anchors: Romans 12:1-2 | Psalm 46:10 | 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 | Isaiah 40:31 | Matthew 18:20
A SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR IS SOMEONE WHO...
-
Is guided by the Holy Spirit, helping you see what the Spirit is doing in your life. This follows the tradition of early Christians who sought to discern God's presence and follow the guidance of the Spirit.
-
Is a trained listener, accompanying you as you reflect on your spiritual journey, helping you notice God’s presence and activity in your life, as well as your responses. This practice mirrors the early Christian emphasis on mutual encouragement and shared discernment of God's will.
-
Does not seek to fix problems, but invites you into a deeper dialogue with God, offering spiritual insight and guidance rather than psychological advice. This approach mirrors the ancient practice of asking deep, reflective questions to help individuals become more attuned to the Spirit’s work in their lives.
-
Asks compassionate and invitational questions, helping you understand and experience what the Holy Spirit is already doing, in line with the practices of Christian communities that gathered for mutual encouragement and spiritual growth.
-
Embodies hospitality and confidentiality, offering a safe space for personal reflection, in keeping with the ancient traditions of Christian spiritual companions who have long walked alongside others in faith.
-
Guides you in spiritual practices, teaching you ancient disciplines such as prayer, meditation, and Scripture reading that deepen your relationship with God, and help you process the lessons God is teaching you through them.
-
Invites you into a deeper, more intimate relationship with God, awakening your heart to God’s presence, nurturing your soul’s attentiveness, and guiding you to recognize and participate in God’s loving work within you and in the world.
-
Compassionately leads you to engage with deeper principles, helping you live out the understanding that "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21), just as the early church emphasized following Jesus’ teachings and growing in wisdom and love. Henri Nouwen beautifully captures this, saying, "The farther the outward journey takes you, the deeper the inward journey must be."
-
Celebrates with you the transformative work of God, walking alongside you as you experience the unfolding of God's grace and transformation, just as the early Christian communities celebrated the movement of the Holy Spirit.
-
Is trained and often certified in the art of Spiritual Direction, continuing the lineage of faithful guides who have helped others recognize and follow God’s leading throughout the centuries.​​​
​​
​“A SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR is one who helps another recognize and follow the inspirations of grace in their life,
in order to arrive at the end to which God is leading them.”—Thomas Merton
​
Scriptural Anchors: Psalm 139 | Jn 10:27 | Jn 14:26 | Jn 15:26 | Acts 1:8 | Rom 8:26 | Rom 12 | 1 Thess 5:11 | 2 Timothy 2:2
