August 2026 – Week One
- Aug 11
- 10 min read
Open In Prayer
Begin by praying together – taking some intentional time to breathe, be still, and invite the Holy Spirit to be with you all as you set aside time to be together.
Holy Spirit, make us aware of the reality that You are here with us. We want You here. Speak to us. Make Your love real to us. Amen.
Around The Table & Reflect On Last Gathering’s Practice
This is space during your gathering to share a meal, build relationships, and enjoy one another.
What’s been one point of pain and one point of joy in your past week?
Read This Aloud Together
Over the next several months, we will be learning about and leaning into the ancient Christian practice of spiritual direction together. In the words of Alice Fryling, the goal of group spiritual direction is “to help each participant become more aware of God in their lives, for the sake of others.”
The heart here is to create a space together where we can all experience what it means to be listened to and loved by others, so that we can learn to listen more attentively to God in our daily lives and be used by God to spread His grace and love in all our spheres of influence.
An important contextual note: it is the best practice to have trained spiritual directors present as we engage in this practice, however, that is not possible for our context. And yet, we can rest in the reality that engaging in the practices of holy listening, asking life-giving questions, meditating on Scripture, and praying together are all all elements of spiritual direction that can be effective regardless if we have had formal training. The good news is that Jesus said, “my sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). So we can trust that God desires to grow us in our attentiveness to His gentle whisper and our capacity to listen well.
Read This Aloud Together: Group Spiritual Direction Background
Spiritual Direction is a way of companioning people as they seek to look closely, through the eyes of their hearts, at the guidance and transforming work of God in their lives. It’s a practice that began in the early years of Christianity when people followed the desert mothers and fathers out to the wilderness to ask them how to know God. It was kept alive in the Christian faith mainly through the Roman Catholic Church, but today the Protestant church is rediscovering it as people are experiencing again the gifts God gives to His people through the loving listening and the gentle guidance of friends.
At the core of this practice is learning how to be a group of friends who listen. To listen carefully and deeply to one another. To wait for one another to share whatever they want to share at that time. And to embrace silence. Lots of silence, at times.
Group spiritual direction provides a unique opportunity in the life of the church. It is different from more typical conversations such as the superficial (but necessary) hi-how-are-you encounters or those that go a bit deeper but still require our best-dressed presentations. It’s also different from our conversations that revolve around meeting needs or finding solutions. It’s not a Bible study.
All of those things are very good things to do. And yet, they don’t always provide the unique opportunity given in practicing spiritual direction together: the opportunity to be heard…to have someone listen to us as we describe the milestones, detours, and questions of our own spiritual journey.
Discussion Questions
Share a time that you experienced someone else to be an intentional listener. What stood out to you in that interaction? How did it make you feel?
In John 10:27 Jesus states, “my sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me”. As followers of Jesus, Jesus assumes that we recognize His voice and listen to Him.
Has this been your experience as a Christian? On a scale of 1 - 10 (10 being extremely confident), how confident do you feel about your awareness & attentiveness to God’s voice in everyday moments of your life? (ie: how well do you feel like you recognize God’s voice?)
Read This Aloud Together: Biblical Framework for Listening
We’re all familiar with how God looked at Adam and said, “it’s not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). This has tremendous implications for those of us who want to move forward on the journey of spiritual growth. At the time God made that divine observation, Adam was perfect, created in God’s image. Sin had not yet tainted creation. But it was not good enough for Adam to live alone with God. He needed someone else. The poet John Milton said, “loneliness is the first thing which God’s eye named, not good”.
Later in the Scriptures, we learn the magnitude of this need when we read that God actually “became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14). God not only gave Adam a companion; the Creator God actually became a human companion in the person of Jesus in order to communicate divine love to all people.
Jesus even told His disciples that He was their friend (John 15:15). Spiritual friendship is clearly God’s idea and God’s desire for us.
However, at the core of the practice of spiritual direction is not what we say to one another, but what is going on between the one sharing and the Spirit of God.
Our role is not to give advice or even “direction” but to listen well & ask intentional questions that may help our friends notice God in the most ordinary life circumstances and become aware of the healing work the Holy Spirit desires to engage in.
Thomas Merton said, “The whole purpose of spiritual direction is to penetrate beneath the surface of a man’s life, to get behind the facade of conventional gestures and attitudes which he presents to the world, and to bring out his inner spiritual freedom, his inmost truth, which is what we call the likeness of Christ in his soul. This is entirely a supernatural thing.”
Read This Aloud Together: The Story of Job & His Friends
The book of Job is a story of a man who lost everything… his children, his house, his possessions and his health. But Job did have friends that supported him.
Job 2:11-13 NLT
“When three of Job’s friends heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they got together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him. Their names were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to show their grief. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.”
Before they spoke, Job’s friends simply shared Job's grief. However, they didn’t simply listen for long…and we can learn a lot from their responses:
Eliphaz was the first friend who couldn’t resist speaking. In reflecting on Job’s suffering, Eliphaz says:
"Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same." (Job 4:7-8)
and then, “We have studied life and found all this to be true. Listen to my counsel, and apply it to yourself.” (Job 5:27)
Essentially, Eliphaz was saying: “Here’s what I think - now apply that to your situation.”
In order to listen lovingly, we need to carefully restrain ourselves from giving our own perspective on someone else’s experience.
Bildad then said in Job 8:5-6 = “But if you pray to God and seek the favor of the Almighty, and if you are pure and live with integrity, he will surely rise up and restore your happy home.”
Bildad tries to explain suffering. We can almost never explain suffering.
Essentially, Bildad was saying: “What did you do to deserve this?”
Bildad assumed that Job’s suffering was because Job had done something wrong. We want to listen to people from a place of compassion, not judgment. We want to acknowledge both the pain and the mystery of human suffering. And we want to support people as they seek to believe that maybe their suffering will be a means for grace in their lives (2 Cor 12:9).
We dare not shy away from someone’s struggle on the faith journey. We sit with them, listen to them, and support them wherever they are in their suffering and pain.
Finally, Zophar says in Job 11:14-17 = “Get rid of your sins, and leave all iniquity behind you. Then your face will brighten with innocence. You will be strong and free of fear. You will forget your misery; it will be like water flowing away. Your life will be brighter than the noonday. Even darkness will be as bright as morning.”
Essentially, Zophr was saying: “Job, cheer up. I can tell you what God wants.”
The temptation to pretend we know God’s plan is a strong one. The point to remember is that it’s God’s job, not ours, to speak inner truth to our friends.
In our companionship of those who are suffering we can say with love, “we don’t understand why you are experiencing this difficult situation, but we are here for you. God is faithful. We will support you as you try to believe, even when that seems impossible.”
Eventually, Job got fed up with his friends. He later tells them what he really wants “Now listen to me carefully, please listen, at least do me the favor of listening.” (Job 21:1 MSG)
Don’t we all feel this way often?! Sometimes as we’re processing our spiritual journey’s, we don’t want cliché attempts at answers. We may not even want help. We just want someone to listen to us. To walk alongside us. To be present with us as God is present with us.
Discussion Questions:
Which responses from Job’s friends do you find yourself most tempted to lean into instead of listening lovingly?
Have you ever had someone respond to you in a way one of Job’s friends did to him? How did that make you feel?
Let’s Try It In Pairs (A Mini Version):
As a whole group, engage in an opening time of quiet…(5-10 minutes)
(Even though this is a time of quiet, you may choose to utilize William Augusto’s instrumental tracks to help ease the group into becoming more comfortable with silence)
As you rest in quiet, you may consider reflecting on the following:
When today did you feel the most joy, the most freedom or the most loved? In other words, at what time(s) today were you most aware of the presence of God?
When today were you least aware of the presence of God, or when did you feel the least loved, the least free, or the most discouraged?
As you reflect on these moments in your day, what prayer rises up in your heart?
Then, Partner A shares for about ~5-10 minutes about what’s been going on in their life with God recently.
Partner B listens attentively and notices Partner A.
All share a moment of silence (~1 minute).
I suggest utilizing a timer to ensure you both rest in silence for at least a minute.
Partner B responds by:
Asking an open, non-judgemental question
Making an observation (ie: I noticed that…or “I hear you saying…)
Reflecting back without evaluation or advice-giving (ie: Do you sense any gentle nudges from God? Anything that He may be inviting you into?)
Group Spiritual Direction Planning
During the several months, we are going to practice group spiritual direction together as a portion of our learning time. In a similar way to how we all shared our faith stories, we will only be able to have a few people “go” each gathering.
You should account for ~20-30 minutes per person, which means you will only have time for a maximum of two people per gathering. You may choose to only plan for one person, as there will be some whole group Bible reading & learning to supplement this continual spiritual direction exercise.
It is up to your Community how you all plan to schedule this. Depending on your group size, it may make the most sense to split up into same gendered small groups in order to promote unhurriedness (ie: schedule for two people to “go” each gathering, but have them go at the same time just with different small groups). For other Communities, you only should schedule one person per gathering since your group is 10 people or less.
Your Community Guides will lead you step by step along this journey. This first Guide was attempting to establish some necessary foundation before beginning.
For example:
August | September | October | November | December | |
Gathering 1 | N/A | 1. 2. | 1. 2. | 1. 2. | 1. 2. |
Gathering 2 | 1. 2. | 1. 2. | 1. 2. | 1. 2. | 1. 2. |
Practice: 1 Kings 19:11-13 Listening for God
Find a space to be quiet and ideally unhurried before beginning this practice. For those who are walking in a more chaotic season of life (maybe with little kids), embrace whatever makes sense for your context.
Be still and prepare to listen to God. Acknowledge your desire to listen. As much as you can, let go of distractions of the day that might interfere with listening. Breathe deeply and welcome the Holy Spirit to make you aware of the reality that He is with you.
Listen to the account of Elijah, God’s prophet, who was running from Jezebel and longing to hear God speak to Him:
The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Spend some time in quiet reflection on how God communicates with you.
In your own life, what circumstances, relationships, or ideas seem like great winds or earthquakes?
Which parts of your life make the most noise?
Which parts of your life consume you, as a fire consumes anything in its path?
Spend a few minutes reflecting on the “gentle whisper.” What would that be like for you to hear God’s gentle whisper?
If God said to you, “what are you doing here?” how would you answer?
Spend some time listening to the “gentle whisper” of God. If you’d like, try to put whatever you hear in words. Or you may prefer to sit in silence in the presence of God.
End in Prayer
Before you conclude, spend some time as a Community praying for one another.
Below is an optional liturgy you could pray:
Lord Jesus, There is no greater prayer than yours — make us one as you are one, in devotion, in living, in love. Amen.