Discernment

sermon by Torin Eikler
Galatians 5:19-25 Acts 1:16-17, 21-25
Third Sunday of Passionate Spirituality Series

As most of you know by now, we are in the midst of a series of Sunday worships that are delving into passionate spirituality through the exploration of some of the spiritual practices that have been significant for Christians across the centuries. All of these practices, as I’m sure you will discover, tend to flow together, overlapping in our spiritual lives to the point that it’s hard to truly separate them. And, that’s particularly true of the first two.

Carrie started us off on the topic of “Saying Yes and Saying No” which, for those of you who we missed last week, is all about paying attention to how we use our time. It is a way of carefully picking our commitments so that, on the one hand, we are not crowding God out of our lives, and on the other, we are creating space for God to come into our lives and shape who we are and how we live. In essence, I suppose, it is the practice of choosing for a life that is actively rooted in God rather than a life that is so busy that we hardly notice God speaking to us.

Today, we will be looking at discernment which Frank Rogers Jr. defines as “the intentional practice by which a community or an individual seeks, recognizes, and intentionally takes part in the activity of God in concrete situations.”

I realize that a definition like this doesn’t necessarily clarify things … especially when it’s read out loud and quickly, but I also think that most of us have a sort of gut feeling on what discernment is all about. What it boils down to is that discernment – Christian discernment – is the spiritual practice of seeking out what God wants us to do when we are faced by decisions and then (and this is the part that we rarely make explicit) doing it.

The question at the heart of things is, what do we do when we “come to [that] place where the streets are not marked, and some windows are lighted while others are darked?” Dr. Seuss certainly had it right when he said that there’s no simple answer and that confusion seems to reign supreme. But, the practice of discernment offers us hope because it puts legs on our belief that God is always present, offering guidance and direction in times when we feel lost and alone.

Across the years, various Christian communities have put together a variety of concrete, workable methods for doing discernment. They mirror the many ways in which we make decisions in everyday life ranging from flipping a coin to weighing the pros and cons to consulting with people whose experience and opinion we value. The big difference, though – the thing that makes discernment a decidedly spiritual experience – is that all of these practices put an openness to hearing the voice of God’s Wisdom at the heart of decision-making rather than relying on human logic or ingenuity alone.


Take the story that we just heard from Acts for example. The disciples were faced with the question of who would take up the work that was left behind when Judas died. They did their best brainstorming and came up with two options – Joseph and Matthias. Then, they turned the final decision over to God. They prayed for guidance as to who was the better choice, and they cast lots in the faith that God would show them the way. It’s not a method that most of us would use for discernment today because casting lots just sounds silly to us, yet it’s not all that different from flipping a coin except that the gathered body had spent time in earnest prayer for guidance before hand.

Perhaps if we approached the process from such a faithful, prayerful position, coin tossing wouldn’t be such a bad option. But, I still don’t find the idea too palatable, and I think you all would agree that there are other options that would serve us better or at least give us more confidence in the outcome.

One of those other practices was refined by Ignatius of Loyola and has been regularly practiced by the Jesuit order he founded (and others as well) for centuries. For Ignatius, the process of discernment aimed at enhancing our participation in the work of God for the glory of God and the healing of the world. So, we start by enhancing our passionate commitment to follow God, an attitude of indifference toward all other drives and desires, and a deep sensitivity to the ways and being of God in a period of time set aside for prayer and/or retreat. Then, we do our best to understand as many aspects of the decision before us as possible and clarify the choices available to us – much the same way the disciples did. After that, we leave behind our ambivalence and spend several days living out the reality of the option (or options) that we feel less inclined to choose.

During that time – and this is the difficult part - we prayerfully and honestly reflect on what it is about this particular choice that we don’t like and whether our motivations are rooted in divine guidance or something less desirable. As the test period nears its end, we ask ourselves, “Is this a life-giving decision or is it destructive?” For Ignatius, the answer to that question lies in whether we feel a sense of consolation – meaning are we more joy-filled, loving, creative, and at peace – or a sense of desolation – meaning are we more confused, alienated, despairing, or discordant. This part of the process requires real honest and deep self-awareness because we tend to shy away from the difficult and dark parts of our nature, and it is often easier to deceive ourselves than face the truth…. Like I said, this is the hard part.

Once we have lived into one possibility for a time, we follow the same path with each of the others that we have identified, noting each time whether the choice is life-giving or destructive. Then, we take some time to reflect on and compare the different experiences. Using both our minds and our hearts, we determine which option brought us the most consolation – which option was more life giving. Even then, we are not quite done because as we act on our decision, we need to keep a part of ourselves actively engaged in listening for God’s confirmation that we have made the right choice.


One other way of discernment that I have found particularly helpful fits right in with our Anabaptist heritage of trusting the community for guidance. It also comes out of the story of the early church in the 15th chapter of Acts where the council of leaders met in Jerusalem to discern God’s will concerning the circumcision of gentiles, and it has been formalized in different ways by different Christian communities over the years. I am most familiar with the process used by the Quakers, a process called the clearness committee.

Again, the process begins with a time of prayerful re-orientation to the voice and the will of God. Then, we call together a diverse group of people whose wisdom we trust though they may often have widely different viewpoints on many issues. This group of people gathers for two or three hours and listens as we explain the situation and the decision to be made as well as all the best thinking we have done and the feelings that has raised in us. For a time, the group holds what they have heard in silence. As they feel led by the Spirit and the search for God’s will, they ask questions with the goal of helping us untangle our feelings and reach greater understanding of how the voice of God is speaking to guide us.

After the time together is over, the group leaves. We make our decision on the issue and share that decision with the group. Over time, they check in on how things are going both for accountability – to make sure we are living according to the decision we made – and for reassessment – to help us with the process of confirming that our decision is actually in line with God’s will for us.


As you may now have realized – or may know from experience – one of the great challenges of discernment is that it rarely yields absolute certainty. Another is that it takes time. That’s a hard reality for us to deal with caught up in we are in the gray-ness and busy-ness of life and the desire for something, at least, to be black and white, short and sweet. Often, it feels like we’ve just found our way to the waiting place. Yet, when we take time to make decisions – especially important decisions – in a prayerful attitude of seeking first God’s will and wisdom, our choices are rarely bad, even if they are a little off the mark. And, as we move out of the waiting place – which we must do if we are true to the process – we can trust that not only have we done our best to find the way, we have also moved closer to the Spirit of God and are more likely to notice the divine nudges – big and little – that will help keep us on the right track.


Well, that’s a lot to chew on, and I’m sure that as you sat there listening moments from your lives and decisions that you have made have come to mind. So, I invite you now to take out the journals that were provided at the beginning of the series (if you didn’t get one or forgot yours, there are a few extras back by the entrance to the sanctuary) and take some time to write down your thoughts about your experiences with discernment or your ideas about how you might engage in decision-making as a spiritual discipline in the future. To help you along, there are a few leading questions printed on the insert in your bulletins. There are also summaries of the two methods of discernment that I described today on that insert if you would like to review them.