What is a Spiritual Journey?

I was raised in the church.  

I don’t remember a day of my life where I didn’t say a prayer or feel connected to God. When I was in pre-school I saw angelic figures in church, in nature, in the night sky, in my bedroom.  

These divine figures were comforting but also intimidating.  

In elementary school, I started to become more aware of God.  I started to pray in earnest.   

I experienced personal and communal traumas.  I started praying continually then. In the dark nights of my soul, I believed, and still do, that we are more than just a body, and our physical presence is only one aspect of existence.  

By middle school, I became interested in leading in worship.  I jumped at the chance to acolyte _{(a worship assistant and candle lighter)} and not just because I thought wielding fire in church was awesome- btw, it was.

I took my love of dance and training in classical ballet and started to extend it into liturgical praise in college. Through dance I experienced a new freedom in worship and leadership and it became a catalyst for a much bigger leap.  My junior year at Huntingdon I spoke out loud words that I had, for eight years, repressed: “I’m going to seminary, I’m going to be a pastor.” 

I was both terrified and elated by the call _{(churchese for a Divine summons)} to ministry. I broke off an engagement to a man whose faith tradition did not support the ordination of women and applied to seminary. I moved far away from home and studied among Christians from dozens of different denominations. I was stretched and pulled, in new directions that deconstructed and re-ignited my relationship with Scripture, the Church, and the Community of Faith. I learned to dance, sing, chant, thurifer, preach, praise, study, explore, and question in entirely new ways.

Ultimately I felt called to return back home to Alabama, despite my intention of doing the opposite when I left. I cried bitterly on the south-bound plane. And then. crossing the Tennessee River bridge by moonlight headed to my first parsonage and my first church appointment I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I had found my place of Resurrection.

Here I am, 17 years later, an ordained Christian pastor and the journey continues.  

This nut-shell of a vocational story points me to a larger conversation: the spiritual journey. 

We are ALL on a spiritual journey:

Daoists refer to it in the Dao de Jeng,

Buddhists conceive of it as a pathway to nirvana, 

Jews, Muslims, and Christians see it as a personal “faith story” 

Transcendentalists, like Walt Whitman, called it a walk that one should learn to saunter through.  

I don’t always feel in sync with God.  

There are LOADS of days, weeks, and months when I have felt a distancing tension with all that is holy.  I don’t know anyone who doesn’t from time to time.  The more aware we are of our personal and communal theology _{(fancy academic word meaning personal understanding and study of God)} the more empowered we are to connect with our spiritual journey.

Try this:

Write your own spiritual autobiography

Sit with a trusted friend and share out loud 1-3 times you’ve felt connected with the Divine

I’d love to hear from you about your spiritual journey! Connect with me on FB, instagram, or here and share your story.

Blessings Y’all,

RevWren