The place of memories in our spiritual life
Casey Tygrett (Christos Tending the Holy graduate 2015) is an author, pastor and spiritual director. He has been involved in the work of spiritual formation for nearly 25 years. Through various positions in churches, seminaries, and para-church organizations, Casey’s work in writing and speaking have aligned to create content that is wise and helpful for the journey of life and faith. Casey earned his Master of Divinity degree and Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Formation degrees from Lincoln Christian Seminary (Lincoln, IL). He completed Christos’s Tending the Holy spiritual direction training program in 2015, and since then has provided spiritual direction to individuals both privately and as the Director of Spiritual Direction at Soul Care.
He is the author of two books, Becoming Curious: A Spiritual Practice of Asking Questions and As I Recall: Discovering the Place of Memories in Our Spiritual Life. Casey is also the host of the podcast Restlessness Is A Gift, where he explores how we can find the Divine in unsettled seasons. He lives outside Chicago. caseytygrett.com
We talked with Casey about his most recent book As I Recall, and what’s next in his life and ministry:
Q: Why did you choose this topic for a book?
Casey Tygrett: I've always had an interest in the way that faith intersects with new, expanded ways that we're learning about human beings, and what faith has to do with operating as a human being. The idea for the book came from my life as a spiritual director, as I noticed that many things I talked about with my directees dealt with what had happened in the past. It could have been that week or it could have been from childhood. We were unpacking what had happened and how we experienced it, and where did we notice God in the midst of it. I also considered what I had experienced in the past and at each stage of my life, how my vantage point changed in my 20s, and when I got married and when I became a parent. I reflected on my past through different prisms and shaded lenses.
I wanted to create an invitation to explore our memories alongside the stories and themes of Scripture to find places where God was, is and will be at work.
Q: What about painful memories? In your book (p.65) you say of painful memories that, “we long for amnesia but we need redemption.”
CT: I wish I had been able to craft an answer into that chapter. Every pastor at some point is going to have to answer the “Why do bad things happen to good people?” question. “Where is God in that pain?” That's the question. And how do we stay there long enough to recognize where God is in the middle of it? The need is for us to engage those memories with God, make sense of them, and realize how every memory matters and is a gift to our formation.
Q: How did you find Christos?
CT: I met with a spiritual director at a point in my own ministry at a local church. I'd been at this church for about five years and was starting to ask some vocational questions, and a friend of mine recommended a spiritual director. So I met with that person and when I was driving home, I thought about the spiritual direction practices I had just experienced and thought, I already do this with people. I don't do it well because I don't know how, but I have these kind of conversations and maybe this is something I need to pursue. So then I began looking for places to be trained and I found that Christos had a Chicago location in Wheaton. It was a wonderful cohort, about 20 people, with so many different traditions and people represented.
Q: What’s next for you now?
CT: I have a book coming out in April 2023 called The Gift of Restlessness: Spirituality for Unsettled Seasons. It is very much centered in the experience of the pandemic. I wanted to answer the question, “How do we find God in the middle of restless seasons?”