Let's Dance
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by Scott Hamilton
The more I pondered about what to write for the Shalem newsletter, the more I realized what the whole Shalem experience was about. It was not about Scott at all but about God prompting and wooing me into something extraordinarily exciting, fresh, and new (at least to me). Then it really began to dawn on me how greatly Shalem had blessed me with awarding me a clergy scholarship.Receiving the scholarship empowered me to participate in the Spiritual Guidance Program. Without the scholarship, I can assuredly say that I would not have been able to share in the richness of these experiences. For this opportunity, I am eternally grateful.
Exposure is the first word that comes to mind when pondering what this program means to me. Not only did the program expose me to different types of literature and spiritual experiences; it exposed me to a multitude of new people with life stories far different from mine. Encountering such people would have made the program far worth the effort; the relationships forged from the experience, however, are nothing if not priceless.
Exposure is also a great word for how I feel being involved in this program. This program prompts me to be my full and authentic self, and that brings with it exposure. The program has prompted a personal opening of myself before God that I have not ever known. I have encountered the most tender and almost raw places where I am discovering God really is for me.
The word exposed also conjures up the idea of being naked and vulnerable, and that is where I find myself these days. I hope that I am open, naked, and vulnerable before God so God might touch the most sensitive areas of my life with whatever he chooses. In doing so, perhaps, God is able to use my willingly exposed vulnerability to touch someone else's life with grace and mercy.
Then again, if I have understood all of this correctly, the privilege of spiritual direction is to be present to and with God for the sake of the other person. If this is truly so, then together, God and those with whom I share these exceptional relationships enable and empower each other in ways that are incalculable. Perhaps by doing so, God asks us to join with him in that perichoretic dance of the Spirit. Come, come and dance!
Scott is a member of Shalem's Spiritual Guidance Program, Class of 2001.
© 2008 The Shalem Institute.