Pioneering Old Paths Fri, 27 Mar 2026 20:32:18 -0400 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2452651 en-us © 2026 Pioneering Old Paths yes 4cc61ffb-7503-50b2-9bd4-a26bec6a3d02 Amy Leigh Bamberg episodic false You need somewhere to ponder, wonder, wrestle. 


You're curious - perplexed - even listless - about the paradoxes of life in Christ: the pains, promises, people, and practices. 


You're in the right place. 


Join Amy Leigh Bamberg, a spiritual director who deeply values the sacred work of holy listening with individuals, couples, and groups in exploration of the intricate ways God meets each person. Tune in for in-depth discussions with insightful guests and find companionship for your spiritual transformation journey.



]]> Buzzsprout (https://www.buzzsprout.com) Amy Leigh Bamberg https://storage.buzzsprout.com/55ltgtadylc1htvm61oozha1693u?.jpg Pioneering Old Paths Amy Leigh Bamberg Reading the Bible the Ancient Way Reading the Bible the Ancient Way Reading the Bible is challenging. 

Not only are we engaging multiple genres - from poetry to prose to apocolyptic - but also there's that whole language issue. I don't speak ancient Hebrew or Greek. Do you?

And there's a tendency to parse the words to smithereens, or to make them say what we want them to mean, or to name-and-claim they grant us any number of things. There's also a tendency to avoid the words altogether, seeking to escape the abusive and manipulative ways the Bible has been used against us.

This is precisely why we need the practice of lectio divina--an invitation to prayerful, contemplative encounter with God through his Word. Because the Bible is utterly unique - set apart as holy - we engage it in a totally unique way.

In today's episode, we gently move through the four stages of lectio (reading), meditatio (reflection), oratio (prayer/response), and contemplatio (resting) as a practice of experiencing our union with God. Together we'll listen with our hearts for the heart of God.

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> Reading the Bible is challenging. 

Not only are we engaging multiple genres - from poetry to prose to apocolyptic - but also there's that whole language issue. I don't speak ancient Hebrew or Greek. Do you?

And there's a tendency to parse the words to smithereens, or to make them say what we want them to mean, or to name-and-claim they grant us any number of things. There's also a tendency to avoid the words altogether, seeking to escape the abusive and manipulative ways the Bible has been used against us.

This is precisely why we need the practice of lectio divina--an invitation to prayerful, contemplative encounter with God through his Word. Because the Bible is utterly unique - set apart as holy - we engage it in a totally unique way.

In today's episode, we gently move through the four stages of lectio (reading), meditatio (reflection), oratio (prayer/response), and contemplatio (resting) as a practice of experiencing our union with God. Together we'll listen with our hearts for the heart of God.

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> Amy Leigh Bamberg Buzzsprout-17822909 Wed, 10 Sep 2025 13:00:00 -0400 1797 1 full false The Interior Life: A Meditative Reflection The Interior Life: A Meditative Reflection Is it psycho-babble? Selfishness? Escapism? Or is the interior journey absolutely essential for a Christ-formed life?

Answer: the latter. 

Make no mistake: in a society of weaponized individuality and normalized pathological narcissism, the dangers of self-absorption are valid.

And yet, the journey inward is absolutely essential for outward expression of the faith-filled, sacrificial love we are commanded to live.

This inward journey is an arduous pilgrimage of continual, gradual work as we participate with God who is peeling back each layer of our souls ... exposing deeper wounds, pains, fears, sin patterns, desires, curiosities to his LoveLight ... unfurling us from the fetal position of self-protection ... purging false gods, crucifying figments, resurrecting hope ... until our truest self finds complete rest in him. And we come alive as we find the life within.

Though we take innumerable exterior journeys throughout our lives, encountering new cultures and swaths of creation, the most extraordinary pilgrimage of our lives is an interior one. And we don't have to leave home to take the first step; we simply need the willingness to know and be known...to love and be loved.

Today we meditate on the biblical, theological, and personal basis for the interior life, exploring scripture and our own souls as true pilgrims. May each of us come alive as we find the life within.

Key Scriptures for Meditation: 

Psalm 27.4 | Hebrews 3.6 | John 1.14, 18 | John 14.2-4, 23 | 1 Corinthians 6.19

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> Is it psycho-babble? Selfishness? Escapism? Or is the interior journey absolutely essential for a Christ-formed life?

Answer: the latter. 

Make no mistake: in a society of weaponized individuality and normalized pathological narcissism, the dangers of self-absorption are valid.

And yet, the journey inward is absolutely essential for outward expression of the faith-filled, sacrificial love we are commanded to live.

This inward journey is an arduous pilgrimage of continual, gradual work as we participate with God who is peeling back each layer of our souls ... exposing deeper wounds, pains, fears, sin patterns, desires, curiosities to his LoveLight ... unfurling us from the fetal position of self-protection ... purging false gods, crucifying figments, resurrecting hope ... until our truest self finds complete rest in him. And we come alive as we find the life within.

Though we take innumerable exterior journeys throughout our lives, encountering new cultures and swaths of creation, the most extraordinary pilgrimage of our lives is an interior one. And we don't have to leave home to take the first step; we simply need the willingness to know and be known...to love and be loved.

Today we meditate on the biblical, theological, and personal basis for the interior life, exploring scripture and our own souls as true pilgrims. May each of us come alive as we find the life within.

Key Scriptures for Meditation: 

Psalm 27.4 | Hebrews 3.6 | John 1.14, 18 | John 14.2-4, 23 | 1 Corinthians 6.19

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> Amy Leigh Bamberg Buzzsprout-17767591 Wed, 03 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -0400 1405 1 full false Contemplating the Interior Castle Contemplating the Interior Castle Long before John Mark Comer and Ruth Haley Barton; even preceding the greats like Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, and Henri J.M. Nouwen, an insightful nun living in 16th century Spain megaphoned the necessity of spiritual formation--that is, the shaping and maturing of a soul over the course of one's life and prayer.

Today we continue the conversation about Saint Teresa of Avila, exploring The Interior Castle, her illuminating approach to spiritual transformation. 

Teresa envisioned the soul of a Christian as a castle--"spacious, ample, and lofty"--with many mansions oriented all around, above, and beneath a center, which is occupied by the King that radiates his light throughout the castle. Dignifying the soul and inviting us to roam through these mansions, God encourages us to explore every nook and cranny, without constriction, in humility and curiosity, so that as we go through all the seasons of life and prayer, we gradually come to know him, ourselves, and our union more fully.

In this inward journey of seeking God within ourselves, where we find him "more effectively and profitably than in the creatures," says Teresa, quoting Saint Augustine, "who, after having sought him in many places, found him within." The journey is one of healing, maturing, and ordering of the soul that happens over a lifetime in prayer as we continually surrender, die, and rise to new life in Christ.

Use this quick guide and the resources below as you follow along with Terry and me, charting the interior mansions.


Resources

Consolations - While God is always present, our awareness of him fluctuates. In prayer, we may experience an awareness of him and then the flood of joy and comfort that consoles our souls. These feelings certainly encourage us, but do not indicate spiritual maturity or divine favor. True maturity comes in seeking God himself, not the feelings associated with his presence. 

Discipline - in Teresa's Carmelite spirituality there was a strong balance between the need for structure and freedom, effort and surrender, discipline and spontaneity. She held a deep commitment to prayer, contemplation, the pursuit of union with God, love of other, humility, and detachment from self-and-worldly absorptions while also embracing spontaneity and liberty in following God's grace. She warned against extreme self-denial that could be detrimental to our health and true transformation.

Stability - in Benedictine spirituality, the vow of stability is a commitment to remain in a specific monastic community for life. One of three core vows, along with obedience and conversion of life, stability is meant to cultivate a deep sense of rootedness within a spiritual and communal context. Unless obedience sent them elsewhere, the monk remained within the place, people, and rhythm of life where the monk lived, allowing for robust growth and fruitfulness within that secure environment. [Not endorsing the author but simply providing further reflection of the vow of stability here.]

Unhealthy Attachment - an excessive, habitual dependence on someone or something that helps us avoid authentic engagement with God. The attachment can be psycho-emotional, relational, physical or spiritual in nature. Our health, wholeness, and maturity in Christ require continual recognition and working through attachments.

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> Long before John Mark Comer and Ruth Haley Barton; even preceding the greats like Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, and Henri J.M. Nouwen, an insightful nun living in 16th century Spain megaphoned the necessity of spiritual formation--that is, the shaping and maturing of a soul over the course of one's life and prayer.

Today we continue the conversation about Saint Teresa of Avila, exploring The Interior Castle, her illuminating approach to spiritual transformation. 

Teresa envisioned the soul of a Christian as a castle--"spacious, ample, and lofty"--with many mansions oriented all around, above, and beneath a center, which is occupied by the King that radiates his light throughout the castle. Dignifying the soul and inviting us to roam through these mansions, God encourages us to explore every nook and cranny, without constriction, in humility and curiosity, so that as we go through all the seasons of life and prayer, we gradually come to know him, ourselves, and our union more fully.

In this inward journey of seeking God within ourselves, where we find him "more effectively and profitably than in the creatures," says Teresa, quoting Saint Augustine, "who, after having sought him in many places, found him within." The journey is one of healing, maturing, and ordering of the soul that happens over a lifetime in prayer as we continually surrender, die, and rise to new life in Christ.

Use this quick guide and the resources below as you follow along with Terry and me, charting the interior mansions.


Resources

Consolations - While God is always present, our awareness of him fluctuates. In prayer, we may experience an awareness of him and then the flood of joy and comfort that consoles our souls. These feelings certainly encourage us, but do not indicate spiritual maturity or divine favor. True maturity comes in seeking God himself, not the feelings associated with his presence. 

Discipline - in Teresa's Carmelite spirituality there was a strong balance between the need for structure and freedom, effort and surrender, discipline and spontaneity. She held a deep commitment to prayer, contemplation, the pursuit of union with God, love of other, humility, and detachment from self-and-worldly absorptions while also embracing spontaneity and liberty in following God's grace. She warned against extreme self-denial that could be detrimental to our health and true transformation.

Stability - in Benedictine spirituality, the vow of stability is a commitment to remain in a specific monastic community for life. One of three core vows, along with obedience and conversion of life, stability is meant to cultivate a deep sense of rootedness within a spiritual and communal context. Unless obedience sent them elsewhere, the monk remained within the place, people, and rhythm of life where the monk lived, allowing for robust growth and fruitfulness within that secure environment. [Not endorsing the author but simply providing further reflection of the vow of stability here.]

Unhealthy Attachment - an excessive, habitual dependence on someone or something that helps us avoid authentic engagement with God. The attachment can be psycho-emotional, relational, physical or spiritual in nature. Our health, wholeness, and maturity in Christ require continual recognition and working through attachments.

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> Buzzsprout-17493772 Wed, 27 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0400 2290 1 full false The Mystics: Reformation & Transformation The Mystics: Reformation & Transformation You sign up for it. 

Find a supervisor with exceptional expertise. Then spend the next four years following them, failing, learning, fumbling around with the fret saw, feeling mortified on jobsites. You watch. Ask. Listen. Obey. Change. 

After 8000 hours of working alongside this supervisor, you've been transformed in mind, body, and soul. As you sit for the exam, you now possess the skills, knowledge, and confidence necessary to be a journeyman carpenter.

It's a simple concept in the trades, but an obscure one in many Christian circles. The end goal of the carpentry apprentice is to become a carpenter and build exquisite structures. Similarly, the goal of a Jesus follower is to become like Christ and live with him in the world. [Shout out to John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way.] And similarly, the process of becoming takes time--a lifetime. It's not transactional, as if by church attendance and tithing; it's not external, as in a cross dangling from your neck or rearview. It's utter transformation--spiritual formation--becoming a person who lives and loves as one with Christ in the world. 

The mystics understood and embodied this truth. They knew that Christ resides within us, by his Spirit, in some mysterious way and that he continues to minister to and through us as we go about our day. Knowing this, they lived in tension with the church and broader culture who reduced formation in Christ to external behavior modifications based on pragmatism, dogmatism, moralism, institutionalism. With a childlike posture of love, a fierce devotion to Christ, attention to inward transformation, a longing for deepening intimacy with God, these medieval mystics were willing to appear foolish in the world's eyes as they tiptoed higher up and deeper into Mystery.

In this episode, Amy Leigh and Terry explore a bit of the life and work of Saint Teresa of Avila, whose reforms echo across the halls of church history and invite us to prayer.

Here are a few resources that may enrich the journey:

  • Mysticism, as defined by Evelyn Underhill in the preface of Practical Mysticism, is "the art of union with Reality." She continues, "the mystic is a person who has attained that union in greater or lesser degree; or who aims at and believes in such attainment."  
  • Various works by Father Hans Boersma, theologian, seminary professor, and Anglican priest
  • The Great Emergence, by Phyllis Tickle
  • Dr. Gerald May offers a helpful guide to understanding the epic work by Saint John of the Cross. Check out The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth.

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> You sign up for it. 

Find a supervisor with exceptional expertise. Then spend the next four years following them, failing, learning, fumbling around with the fret saw, feeling mortified on jobsites. You watch. Ask. Listen. Obey. Change. 

After 8000 hours of working alongside this supervisor, you've been transformed in mind, body, and soul. As you sit for the exam, you now possess the skills, knowledge, and confidence necessary to be a journeyman carpenter.

It's a simple concept in the trades, but an obscure one in many Christian circles. The end goal of the carpentry apprentice is to become a carpenter and build exquisite structures. Similarly, the goal of a Jesus follower is to become like Christ and live with him in the world. [Shout out to John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way.] And similarly, the process of becoming takes time--a lifetime. It's not transactional, as if by church attendance and tithing; it's not external, as in a cross dangling from your neck or rearview. It's utter transformation--spiritual formation--becoming a person who lives and loves as one with Christ in the world. 

The mystics understood and embodied this truth. They knew that Christ resides within us, by his Spirit, in some mysterious way and that he continues to minister to and through us as we go about our day. Knowing this, they lived in tension with the church and broader culture who reduced formation in Christ to external behavior modifications based on pragmatism, dogmatism, moralism, institutionalism. With a childlike posture of love, a fierce devotion to Christ, attention to inward transformation, a longing for deepening intimacy with God, these medieval mystics were willing to appear foolish in the world's eyes as they tiptoed higher up and deeper into Mystery.

In this episode, Amy Leigh and Terry explore a bit of the life and work of Saint Teresa of Avila, whose reforms echo across the halls of church history and invite us to prayer.

Here are a few resources that may enrich the journey:

  • Mysticism, as defined by Evelyn Underhill in the preface of Practical Mysticism, is "the art of union with Reality." She continues, "the mystic is a person who has attained that union in greater or lesser degree; or who aims at and believes in such attainment."  
  • Various works by Father Hans Boersma, theologian, seminary professor, and Anglican priest
  • The Great Emergence, by Phyllis Tickle
  • Dr. Gerald May offers a helpful guide to understanding the epic work by Saint John of the Cross. Check out The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth.

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> Buzzsprout-17438962 Wed, 20 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0400 1510 1 full false Terry Lamb Amy Leigh Bamberg Contemplative Prayer: A Striking Metaphor Contemplative Prayer: A Striking Metaphor Sporting Rainbow Brite pj's, as a child I curled underneath the covers and dutifully repeated: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."

Bowing my head before all meals, I listened as my dad ritually delivered: "Lord, make us thankful, for these and all our many blessings. Amen."

Being a Bible-belted suhthuhnuh, I memorized The Lord's Prayer and readily spouted it at funerals and football games.

Traipsing fervently through my 20's and 30's, I learned to pray with greater personality (for me, intensity). I'd pray down walls--you know, tear down those obstacles looming before me like that wall in Jericho. I'd work feverishly to pray "the right way": asking nicely yet vigorously while following patterns like the Tabernacle Prayer and The Prayer of Jabez. 

What false bravado: bossing God around and calling it Christianity. 

What blindness: unable to recognize that in my truest self. I was petrified of God. Like others in this stage of spiritual formation, I joined the delusional dance of name-it-claim-it "faith" and followed its pulsating rhythms of blame-others-shame-self. 

What belligerence: using prayers for power-control plays. I spent years self-protecting, self-promoting, and self-projecting and calling it godliness. I spent years worshipping a god conjured by my own frenetic soul, a figment of my blighted imagination who kept me chronically agitated and insecure and hiding.

Like others, my journey into a quieter and more stilled posture of prayer has been arduous. Layered. Awkward. Liberating. Along the way, as I encounter incredible folks like Saint Teresa of Avila and tenuously open the invitations of Christ, I can explore and expand true faith through the intimate context of contemplative prayer.

In this episode, Terry Lamb and I unpack a bit more of Teresa's understanding of prayer and the spiritual life, discussing her metaphor of a garden receiving water. Here are a few resources for the journey:

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> Sporting Rainbow Brite pj's, as a child I curled underneath the covers and dutifully repeated: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."

Bowing my head before all meals, I listened as my dad ritually delivered: "Lord, make us thankful, for these and all our many blessings. Amen."

Being a Bible-belted suhthuhnuh, I memorized The Lord's Prayer and readily spouted it at funerals and football games.

Traipsing fervently through my 20's and 30's, I learned to pray with greater personality (for me, intensity). I'd pray down walls--you know, tear down those obstacles looming before me like that wall in Jericho. I'd work feverishly to pray "the right way": asking nicely yet vigorously while following patterns like the Tabernacle Prayer and The Prayer of Jabez. 

What false bravado: bossing God around and calling it Christianity. 

What blindness: unable to recognize that in my truest self. I was petrified of God. Like others in this stage of spiritual formation, I joined the delusional dance of name-it-claim-it "faith" and followed its pulsating rhythms of blame-others-shame-self. 

What belligerence: using prayers for power-control plays. I spent years self-protecting, self-promoting, and self-projecting and calling it godliness. I spent years worshipping a god conjured by my own frenetic soul, a figment of my blighted imagination who kept me chronically agitated and insecure and hiding.

Like others, my journey into a quieter and more stilled posture of prayer has been arduous. Layered. Awkward. Liberating. Along the way, as I encounter incredible folks like Saint Teresa of Avila and tenuously open the invitations of Christ, I can explore and expand true faith through the intimate context of contemplative prayer.

In this episode, Terry Lamb and I unpack a bit more of Teresa's understanding of prayer and the spiritual life, discussing her metaphor of a garden receiving water. Here are a few resources for the journey:

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> Amy Leigh Bamberg Buzzsprout-17436649 Wed, 13 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0400 1524 1 full false Terry Lamb Amy Leigh Bamberg Desire: A Meditative Reflection Desire: A Meditative Reflection How do you deal with desire?

Most of us vacillate between two poles; we either duck and dodge or mindlessly indulge. But what if there's a third option? A more arduous, stretching, liberating third option?

In this episode Amy Leigh shares some of her story before guiding you through a meditative reflection to explore your desires with God.

And if you need a trusted guide--a soul friend--to accompany you in prayerfully naming and surrendering your desires, then reach out to us for spiritual direction opportunities!

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> How do you deal with desire?

Most of us vacillate between two poles; we either duck and dodge or mindlessly indulge. But what if there's a third option? A more arduous, stretching, liberating third option?

In this episode Amy Leigh shares some of her story before guiding you through a meditative reflection to explore your desires with God.

And if you need a trusted guide--a soul friend--to accompany you in prayerfully naming and surrendering your desires, then reach out to us for spiritual direction opportunities!

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> Amy Leigh Bamberg Buzzsprout-17624742 Wed, 06 Aug 2025 11:00:00 -0400 1319 1 full false Desire & Spirituality: An Integrative Approach Desire & Spirituality: An Integrative Approach Desire. An innate, unquenchable fire within us sparks our thoughts and fuels our beliefs. It ignites our actions.

As a flaming fire within the human soul, desire has the potential both to unite and divide, to illumine and darken, heal and harm. So, the ways we attend this inner flame are vital to our individual and collective lives.

This episode is filled with practical wisdom and pastoral care that help us understand the essence of desire, the tendency to use it divisively, and the invitation to unity.

Stay tuned for a follow-up episode on desires as a primary means of discerning God's work and will in our lives!

Resources referenced in this episode include 

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> Desire. An innate, unquenchable fire within us sparks our thoughts and fuels our beliefs. It ignites our actions.

As a flaming fire within the human soul, desire has the potential both to unite and divide, to illumine and darken, heal and harm. So, the ways we attend this inner flame are vital to our individual and collective lives.

This episode is filled with practical wisdom and pastoral care that help us understand the essence of desire, the tendency to use it divisively, and the invitation to unity.

Stay tuned for a follow-up episode on desires as a primary means of discerning God's work and will in our lives!

Resources referenced in this episode include 

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> Amy Leigh Bamberg Buzzsprout-17359749 Wed, 30 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -0400 3300 1 full false Father Bryan Biba Amy Leigh Bamberg You're Invited! You're Invited! Join me on Pioneering Old Paths, a series where we wander and wrestle through this wondrous world of becoming. With practical wisdom and warmhearted care, I'll bring you compelling insights that can enrich your relationships with God, self, and others. My desire is to help you find renewal and wholeness in your daily life.

Each episode will delve into the challenges, complexities fundamental principles, and transformative practices of Christianity. Whether you seek encouragement, guidance, or a fresh perspective, "Pioneering Old Paths" offers companionship on your path of becoming. 

I'm truly excited to share this journey with you and explore these important topics together.

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> Join me on Pioneering Old Paths, a series where we wander and wrestle through this wondrous world of becoming. With practical wisdom and warmhearted care, I'll bring you compelling insights that can enrich your relationships with God, self, and others. My desire is to help you find renewal and wholeness in your daily life.

Each episode will delve into the challenges, complexities fundamental principles, and transformative practices of Christianity. Whether you seek encouragement, guidance, or a fresh perspective, "Pioneering Old Paths" offers companionship on your path of becoming. 

I'm truly excited to share this journey with you and explore these important topics together.

Explore spiritual direction here!

]]> Amy Leigh Bamberg Buzzsprout-17047527 Wed, 23 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -0400 251 1 trailer false