Sara Beth Dacombe
I come from a Mennonite Evangelical Christian heritage and inherited my faith through conditioning, saying the sinner's prayer as a child, serving and recommitting my life to Christ at Bible camp, and all that was expected of good girls in Manitoba in the 1990s. But the adolescence of faith can strike at any age and I began to question my faith after becoming a wife and mother. Then 2020 happened. And the social issues raised because of and amidst the COVID-19 pandemic revealed an Evangelical body in turmoil.
Deconstruction is the new buzzword for the systematic dismantling of the tenets of one's own faith identity and with the help of many supports, I experienced this over the course of many years. My current spiritual path includes Christian mysticism and contemplative disciplines, centering prayer and meditation, and nature-based practices, to name a few.
In September 2021, I entered the Shekinah Formation program because of my calling to connect with others. I have been built to reflect, write, and speak. Wherever I go I desire to build connection and lessen the suffering of others. In today's social climate, there is a need for constructive voices to fill liminal spaces at the intersection of so many issues, and the unique opportunity to carefully provide spiritual direction for those deconstructing within the Mennonite Evangelical faith is a task with which I am well positioned to help. I also continue to be passionate about women's issues, support for 2SLGBTQIA+ affirming theology, eco-theology, and more. To me, Spiritual Direction is about three things: your experience in spirituality, how I can interact as a companion with you in that, and how God shows up when we spend time intentionally exploring together. My role as a director is not to judge, teach, or advise, but rather hold space for another person or group to explore their relationship with the Divine. Outside of Spiritual Direction, I am a writer and host a blog called The Prairie Thistle (www.prairiethistle.ca). I write personal reflection essays and critique of the western church, and invite others to share their stories of deconstruction online. I enjoy poetry and music and writing for our local small town newspaper. I am a mystic married to a skeptic and am primary caregiver to our two wickedly smart teenagers. I enjoy gardening and helping naturalize our few acres with native plant species. Someday I would love to be able to walk through a food forest I helped establish and sit in a yurt I built myself.
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