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SP2527 Spiritual Life and Leadership
Students and facilitators in the Contemplative Listening class gather on the final day - Dec. 2005 Fall, 2005
Topic: Introduction to Group Spiritual Companionship (Contemplative Listening)
Description This class will introduce the basic listening skills, but from a grounding
in the contemplative tradition, rather than from psychology. The semester will open with several
weeks in which we investigate and practice contemplative prayer, understanding that contemplation
invites us to a whole contemplative life-style. We will then learn a simple model for contemplative
listening (one week) that we will practice for six subsequent weeks. Participants will take turns
relating a present experience, an experience from childhood and a ministry experience. We will
also introduce other conversation skills (questions and probes). We will conclude with pastoral applications and connections to other semesters of Spiritual
Life and Leadership. This course complements but does not replace the basic Pastoral Care and Counseling
course.
Limited to SFTS MDiv students, including
those electing the Spirituality Concentration.
Required
Burghardt, Walter. “Contemplation,” Church (Winter 1989): 14-18
(photocopy).
Johnson, Jan. “Being Present
to Others,” Weavings 12 (Sept/Oct 1997): 27-34 (photocopy)
Merton, Thomas. New
Seeds of Contemplation. New Directions, 1961.
Stairs, Jean. Listening for the Soul.
Recommended
Nichols, Michael. The Lost Art of Listening: How Learning to Listen Can Improve Relationships.
Wheatley, Margaret. Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the
Future.
Course Objectives and Means of Assessment: Participants will 1. Demonstrate an understanding
of contemplation as self-emptying attention to the other for the other’s sake, and be able to ground
this understanding in the Christian theological and spiritual tradition. (reflection papers)
2. Articulate an understanding of the connection between the Christian
tradition of contemplation and the pastoral skill of empathic listening. (discussion,
debriefing in small groups, reflection papers)
3. Learn a process called “contemplative listening,” a simple but rigorous
method for listening/responding in the early moments of a conversation. (participating as
a responders in 10-15 practice sessions with debriefing)
4. Attend more deeply to one’s own experience (reflecting on/writing about
three different experiences as the basis for telling these experiences to a small group; debriefing
the effectiveness of the contemplative listening process in helping to deepen one’s experience)
5. Participate as a member of a spiritual formation group that practices
contemplative listening. (participating as a full member of the small
group process with skilled facilitation, course-evaluation).
Expectations of Learners 1. Attend regularly; participate in small group process
as both narrator and responder.
2. Maintain confidentiality of contents of small group
sharing.
3. Read assigned reading (according to the practice
called “spiritual reading”). Write a brief response to each chapter
read: In one or two sentences, (1) what do you take away from the chapter? (2) What question do
you want to ask?
4. Write three 2-3 paragraph narrations of experience
(an experience from the past week, an event from your childhood, a ministry experience).These narratives
will not be handed in but serve as the basis of your telling these experiences in the small group
context
5. Write a 3 pp (double space) response to Merton. Using
the notes from #3, comment on contemplation and the contemplative life as you understand it from
Merton’s New Seeds. Due on October 21. Please
hand in 2 copies.
6. Write a 4-5 pp. (double space) reflection paper
summarizing the learnings from the remainder of the reading and the practice
of contemplative listening. This paper is due on November 30. Please
hand in 2 copies.
Relation to SFTS Habits and Skills: see overview of Spirituality Concentration
Special Learning Needs: Participants who need special consideration for reasons of documented disability
should speak with the instructor early in the semester so that appropriate accommodations can be
made.
Grading: Pass/fail only. To receive credit, no more than two
excused (and no unexcused) absences. This requirement exists for two reasons: skills cannot
be learned without practice—the content is the process—and
groups cannot reach their necessary depth without stable membership. If it is necessary to seek
an excused absence, please contact either Beth Liebert or your small group leader before the session which you will have to miss.
Process for Reflective (Spiritual)
Allot separate ½ hour sittings per week, if possible at a
time and place in which you will not be disturbed. You might choose a place that you associate
with prayer, rather than with study.
Begin each session by consciously centering yourself and letting
go of the events of the day. Notice that the reading that you are about to do will engage different
aspects of your person than the way you usually read assignments.
Pick up and read slowly, ruminating as you go. When you reach
a place that captures your attention, stop and explore it. Write down significant movements and
insights (whether they feel “positive” or “negative.” If something seems strange or off-putting,
try to “get under” the literal meaning of the words to the spirit behind them. Proceed through
the material assigned, reading slowly, pondering and possibly writing. It is ideal not take more
than one chapter at each sitting. You may not finish a chapter in a single sitting; if this be
the case, simply begin where you left off at your next sitting. At the
conclusion of the allotted time, write down one or two sentences that you take from the reading
and a question about the content or the process that you would like answered.
Repeat this process at your next time designated for spiritual
reading. The evening before class, read over your jottings. Select several that you feel comfortable
sharing with your small group.
Content Outline September 7: Introduction of participants, the Spirituality Concentration
and this seminar topic; syllabus and reading; comments on service/leadership, process for reflecting
on the reading (spiritual reading), overview of steps leading to contemplative listening (Liebert).
September 14: Introduction to the practice of Centering Prayer
(Guest leader: Janice Wickeri), Contemplation: a simple definition (Beth Liebert);
Intro to Thomas Merton (Sophia Park); Assignment: Burghardt, “Contemplation;” Johnson, “Being
Present to Others;” Merton, Ch. 1-2.
September 21: Context of Contemplative Listening: Spiritual Conversation
(Liebert) Contemplation: Centering Prayer practice and discussion, small
group assignments and covenanting.
Assignment: Merton, Ch. 3-9
September 28: Introduction to Contemplative Listening; fish-bowl, noticings,
questions and answer. Small group: discuss reading.
Assignment: Merton, Ch. 10-16
Write a 2-3 paragraph
description of an experience during the past week. Write this experience as close to its happening as you conveniently
can. Be sure to do the recall and writing in a contemplative
spirit (a “long, loving look at the real”). Bring to the
small group next week.
October 5: Contemplative listening in small groups: Reflection
#1: An Everyday Experience (from the past week)
Narrators: 1.______________; 2.______________; 3.______________
Assignment: Merton, Ch. 17-22
October 12: Contemplative listening in small groups: Reflection #1 Cont.
Narrators: 4.______________; 5.______________; 6.______________
Assignment: Merton, Ch. 23-29
Write a 2-3 paragraph description of an event from your childhood. Be sure to do the recall and
writing in a contemplative spirit (a “long, loving look at the real”). Bring
to the small group next week.
October 19: Contemplative listening in small groups: Reflection #2: A Significant
event from the past.
Narrators: 1.______________; 2.______________; 3.______________
Assignment: Merton, Ch. 30-34.
Write 3 pp paper: What is contemplation and the contemplative life according to Merton’s New
Seeds? How can contemplation influence listening? Please hand in 2 copies.
October 26: Reading Week: No Class
November 2: Contemplative listening in small groups: Reflection
#2, Cont.
Narrators: 4.______________; 5.______________; 6.______________
Assignment: Stairs, Intro.
November 9: Deepening the conversation: other conversation techniques to advance
the goal of the conversation (clarifying the conversation’s goal; use of questions, summaries,
etc). Introduction to Stairs in the context of contemplative listening in ministry.
Assignment:
Write a 2-3 paragraph description of
a ministry event in which you participate (either as the minister or as the one receiving the
ministry). Be sure to do the recall and writing in a contemplative spirit (a “long, loving look at the
real”). Bring to the small group next week.
November 16: Contemplative listening, adding “advanced” responses,
in small groups: Reflection #3: A Ministry event
Narrators: 1.______________; 2.______________; 3.______________
Assignment: Stairs, Ch 2
November 23: Contemplative listening in small groups: Reflection
#3, Cont.
Narrators: 4.______________; 5.______________; 6.______________
Assignment:
November 30: Plenary
session: Pastoral self-care. Small group
closure.
Assignment: Write 4-5 pp reflection paper
synthesizing the learning you have made in this class and commenting on the reading from Stairs. Due
today. Please hand in two copies.
December 7: Plenary session: Contemplative Listening in Pastoral Ministry settings, bookkeeping, preview of next semester, large group closure. |
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