Long ago, when I was living in Ireland, I learned a phrase from the Quaker community in Dublin: “Go as the way opens.” For me, spiritual accompaniment has been, and continues to be, a practice of being present to that opening. And in this climate-changed world, that practice feels more essential than ever.

Since that time, I’ve trained as a spiritual director myself and engaged in the process of offering spiritual accompaniment to others. In my time at The BTS Center, these pieces have gradually knit themselves into coordinating our group Spiritual Accompaniment Circles, one of which I have the delight of facilitating myself.

Folks come to spiritual accompaniment from many different paths and many different spiitual roots. Some come with a specific question around which they are seeking discernment, often connected to vocation. The question of what is the work to which each of us is called — individually and collectively — in this aching world is one that undergirds so much of our seeking, our holy longing. It is a joy to help hold the space for those grappling with those questions.

Coordinating The BTS Center’s Spiritual Accompaniment Circles has opened a new joy for me — facilitating groups, particularly those that are rooted in spiritual leadership for a climate-changed world. While every group is different, I have witnessed so much courage, vulnerability, and true connection (even over Zoom!). Folks from many walks and stages of life come together to deepen in contemplative practice, to engage in quiet presence to the movements of the Divine in their lives, and to accompany one another on the journey to deeper knowing.

I’ve heard some folks question the purpose of contemplative space, given the overwhelming injustices erupting in our world, destabilization by climate change, war, authoritarianism, and violence. Yet this is exactly the time when the power of contemplative practice and collective discernment becomes most potent.

The Circles offer something in short supply in our attention-deprived, productivity-oriented societies — an invitation to be present in a slow, considered way, without any expected outcome. This may look like doing nothing. And yet, when we allow ourselves the space and uninterrupted time just to be with ourselves, with one another, with gentle practice and presence, powerful shifts happen.

At The BTS Center, we often quote philosopher and edgewalker Bayo Akomolafe, who says: “The times are very urgent. We must slow down.” We slow down not because we are turning away from the pain of the world and from our own calling to tend to that pain, but because what emerges in the quiet, without distraction, is rich with meaning and possibility.

I encourage you, whether you are a part of our Spiritual Accompaniment Circles or you are thinking about or already engaged in spiritual accompaniment or contemplative practice, to think of this space as a gift — not another obligation on an already over-taxed to-do list, but as an opportunity to drop into a place of spiritual unveiling, to be in communion with the Divine, with yourself, and with the more-than-human world in a way that opens your unique path.

The contemplative stance is not an easy one, especially in cultures that devalue the wisdom of unknowing, but what we find in that stillness is often the inkling of a different way, the taste of the medicine for which we are longing.

We still have some spaces available in our 2026 Group Spiritual Accompaniment Circles. The Circles begin throughout March, but we will accept registrations for openings through early April. For more information and to register for a Circle, please visit the program webpage here.

About the Author

Rev. Ash Temin is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) who serves as the Staff Writer + Program Manager at The BTS Center. She also offers spiritual direction through her independent practice in Portland, Maine. Ash is a graduate of the University of Virginia (BA), the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin (MPhil) and Harvard Divinity School (MDiv). Her time at both the ISE and HDS sparked a passion forecological theology and prompted her to begin delving more deeply into the experience of ecological grief.

Prior to moving to Portland, she served as an Acting Associate Pastor at Hope Central Church, a UCC/DOC congregation in Boston. Before answering the call to ordination, Ash worked in various administrative roles at Harvard University. She also has worked as a hospital and hospice chaplain, an adjunct professor, and a freelance editor. After time spent living in Texas, Virginia, Colorado, Ireland, and Massachusetts, Ash is grateful to make her home in Maine, where she lives with her husband and two cats and spends part of most days walking on the shores of Casco Bay. When not absorbed in work, she can be found cooking with friends, laying in her garden hammock, hiking in the woods, playing in the ocean, or attempting to learn the Irish language with a cat on her lap.