PASTORAL LETTER June 2026

To all God’s Beloved in the Zion United Church of Christ, Steubenville, OH, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from our Triune God, the Holy One of Israel.

I have been in and out of the pulpit a lot lately. On April 12^th I was involved all day with my last four day intensive of the two-year Haden Institute Course in Spiritual Direction.

On May 3^rd I was in the middle of a five-day and four-night trip to the Lakota Sioux Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to meet and worship with indigenous Americans who are also Presbyterian. It was the second time I traveled out west on behalf of Upper Ohio Valley Presbytery to meet and worship with Sioux brothers and sisters in Christ.

May 17^th saw me at Southminster Presbyterian Church, Mt. Lebanon, PA to make a presentation about labyrinths to an adult Sunday School class.

May 31^st was the last full day of the 2026 Haden Institute Dream and Spirituality Conference at the Kanuga Conference Center, Hendersonville, NC.  It was the third year in a row I attended the conference.

On June 14^th I will be wrapping up the last day of the annual West Virginia Writers Conference at the Cedar Lakes Conference Center, Ripley, WV. I am a member of the Board of WV Writers, serving as its Parliamentarian. I have attended most of the annual conferences for the past dozen years and have found many of its workshops helpful as I author church newsletters, write sermons, and compose prayers.

The 2026 Haden Institute Dream and Spirituality Conference was my third in a row. I have always found them spiritually nourishing and at times intellectually challenging. It was after attending my first conference in 2024 that I decided to apply to the two-year Haden Institute Course in Spiritual Direction.

By the time you read this letter I should have graduated from the Haden Institute Course in Spiritual Direction, graduation being scheduled for June 10^th.  After graduation I can consider myself a Certified Spiritual Director.

Spiritual Direction, also known as Spiritual Guidance, Spiritual Companioning, Spiritual Accompaniment, and Soul Friending dates to the early church when Christians would travel into the desert to seek guidance or direction from the Desert Mothers and Fathers, devout Christians who fled into the desert to escape the comfortable trappings of Imperial Christianity.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you

John Edward Harris