Jeannette A. Bakke - Holy Invitations: Exploring Spiritual Direction

2000 by Jeannette A. Bakke

Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations identified AMP are from the Amplified Bible, Old Testament. Copyright 1965, 1987 by The Zondervan Corporation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations identified The Message are from THE MESSAGE . Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture quotations identified NIV ILE are from the Holy Bible, Inclusive Language Edition. 1996 by Hodder and Stoughton, London.

Scripture quotations identified NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations identified NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.

The summary of Varieties of Spiritual Companionship by Gerald G. May is used by permission of the author.

To the One who sends

Lifes holy invitations,

Loves generous grace

Part 1
An Introduction to Spiritual Direction

Part 2
Subjects Frequently Considered in Spiritual Direction

Part 3
Possible Complications and Benefits of Spiritual Direction

This book has been growing for more than fifteen years and has been supported and cared for by many people. My first formal training in spiritual direction took place at Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, where I was encouraged to wait for God. In 1984, Dr. Tilden Edwards and Dr. Gerald May of Shalem identified that this was a book in the making. It has been a surprisingly long wait.

I am grateful to my directors and directees, Bethel Seminary students, and faculty colleagues who have influenced the writing in direct and indirect ways. President Carl Lundquist and Dean Gordon Johnson provided an environment in which spiritual formation could flourish and begin to shape this book.

Computer experts instructed and rescued me. Larry Hansen, Jim and Michele Anderson, Steve Brown, Preston Rash, and Gloria Metz answered endless computer questions and assisted in the preparation of the final draft.

Working with a collaborative, ecumenical team including Capt. Larry Horne, Chaplain, U.S. Navy; Dr. Charles Arn; Dr. Wilkie Au; Dr. Steve Harper; and Dr. Rueben Job to prepare and instruct Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard chaplains about spirituality and spiritual development enriched my understandings.

Bethel Seminary, Pat Pickering, and Father Joseph Campbell and Mary Lindholm at St. Johns in the Wilderness offered quiet places to write. Sister Mary Bernadette and Visitation Convent provided a place of solitude.

God led me to people who have made countless contributions to this book. Friends generously prayed, read, and critiqued the manuscript. Early readers include Charette Barta, Rev. John Ackerman, Dr. Gary Klingsborn, Janet Hagberg, and Luci Shaw. More recent readers include Joann Nesser, who has shared the journey in spiritual direction from the beginning; Elsie Fuhrman, who prayed; Dr. Janet Ruffing, who prompted me to speak in my own voice; Dr. Nils Friberg, who encouraged me at Bethel and prayed, read, and critiqued every word; and Barbara Cohen, Sandy Little, Joan Simmons, and Nancy Pittner, the Michigan contingent who never told me anythingbut prayed. I also want to acknowledge Sherrill Nelson and Mary Becker, whose insightful questions stirred me to think; Clodie Harrell, Marillyn Knuteson, and Peg Ruetten, who have been in this for the long haul, reading and praying; Rose Mary Dougherty, S.S.N.D., whose work in group spiritual direction is foundational; Dr. Carla Dahl, who helped me sort out contemporary language related to sexuality; Dr. Wilkie Au and Kay Vandervort, who contributed to my knowledge of Ignatian discernment, Scripture, and spiritual direction; and Lois Lindbloom, who asked helpful questions about group spiritual direction, and Scripture and spiritual direction. Madeleine LEngle modeled and taught me the Christian discipline of paying attention to Gods call to write.

Dr. Tom Schwanda looked over my shoulder on behalf of Baker Books with excellent observations, suggestions, and encouraging words. Bob Hosack, acquisitions editor at Baker Books, supported the work enthusiastically and saw Gods invitations in it. Melinda Van Engen brought clarity and readability through her perceptive, careful editing.

Gerald May has been reading some form of this book off and on since 1984 and has continued to ask important questions, offer insights, pray, and encourage me to pray and struggle with developing ideas. My husband, Stan Bakke, watched this manuscript grow and change, read several versions, asked precise questions, and offered wise counsel, care, and opportunities to think about other things. Cody, our now geriatric springer spaniel, never let me or the book out of his sight.

The book includes many examples of spiritual direction conversations that are based on my experience and the experiences of others. Most often they are composite, fictionalized accounts. Where they are close to the experience of any individual or group, the details have been changed sufficiently to conceal the identities of all concerned.

Most of all, this book has been Gods from the beginningthe One who continues to send holy invitations.

This book was working in me long before I was working on it. In the 1980s and even for most of the 1990s, I felt I was somewhere that the rest of the Protestant world was not. It was a good place, and I was convinced that other Protestants participated in spiritual direction. They just didnt use the same language to describe their experience. Before 1983, I was unfamiliar with the term, though I had been giving spiritual direction for many years. I did not know there was a long history of Christian tradition that described and supported this ministry onto which I had stumbled. Now spiritual direction seems to be finding its way into Protestant conversations.

As I look back over the last twenty years, I see an enormous amount of change. I suppose that is true in any comparable length of time, but the pace of change from the early 1980s to the present seems to have been more exponential than linear. Perhaps the continuing expansion of computer technology and other media, or peoples increasing dissatisfaction with the unmanageable pace of their lives, or the extending crassness of American society is awakening us to some important questions. Or perhaps it is a combination of those things plus myriad others. Could it be God? Whatever it is, at the beginning of a new century many seem willing and even eager to get a glimpse of their souls, to question God about the path and quality of their lives, and to pay attention to what they are shown.