A Marvelous Needlepoint Picture
Document Actions
by Lee Goodwin
One of my directees is a parish pastor. Several months ago, we spent some time considering his questions around the possibility of a call to a different congregation. The issues raised were specifically related to the act of discernment. How does one discern which way to turn? What decision is the right one? Is there one right decision? What information or experience is fair game for the discernment process? In the cacophony of voices that speak at such a time, which ones are authentic and which ones are the "sirens" of the false self?My feeling of inadequacy before this range of questions evokes a sense of the great mystery that lies beneath the act of discernment as well as the importance of humility in approaching any occasion for discernment. But I'd like to suggest four keys to the discernment process which surfaced in our conversations.
First, the incarnational key: this is the whole panoply of questions and issues that revolve around the concrete realities of life in a place. What is it about a place-its geography, its demographics, its personality-that is either appealing or unappealing? What about a place is experienced as sacred? The very physical aspects of a place (whether rural, urban or suburban) are part of the incarnational assessment. This key assumes that God comes to us in people and places. In the "flesh" of earth and sky, city streets and the common life as it is commonly lived, there is God. Certainly God can be encountered in any place, but the incarnational key leads us to ask specifically where in this place or in some new location do we sense God's presence. With this question comes the invitation not only to recognize God in what is familiar but also to recognize our human inclination to limit or domesticate God.
The second key is the vocational key. What gifts or strengths has God given me? What talents, inclinations do I now recognize or what new skills, experiences, knowledge are needed or would be beneficial? This calling has to do with the work for which we are compensated and for all creative activity to which we maybe drawn. Unless we plan to labor endlessly, a healthy balance between work, other creative endeavors and play are needed. How this balance will be served becomes part of the act of discernment. The vocational key is an invitation to explore both strengths and limitations; it is a time for listening to what new dimension of vocation, avocation or recreation may be called for.
The next key is the key of delight. At first glance, it might seem self-centered, and certainly it is subject to distortion just as either of the previous keys. After pros and cons have been named, there is still the question often dismissed: What do I want? In one sense, it is the question Jesus asks blind Bartimaeus, "What do you want me to do for you?" What, in your freedom, do you want? Where is there delight, joy, fulfillment in the present or potential situation? What is it that makes your heart glad? What abundance of life does God intend for you? Even to ask the question can be an exercise in trust that God is present in our deepest, truest desire or else that God will be there even if our choice turns out to be mostly misguided.
The final key is the communal key. God has set us in community. Either one-to-one or in a group, others can help us see more clearly what was once only dimly perceived. This does not need to be advice-seeking; it may just be a way of holding a mirror before our minds and hearts so that we can see from a new vantage point.
These four keys are angles of vision for approaching what is finally the wonderful mystery of God's life and our lives woven together. It is as if God is creating a marvelous needlepoint picture. We usually see what God is up to only from the backside, a tangle of often indistinguishable threads and fabric. Occasionally we see it from God's point of view, glimpsing the wonder of it all, clearly and beautifully.
The deep call in any discernment is to trust. God who is with us in all things is not only with us in our "best" decisions. Behind the choices we make lies the ground for such choosing, which is an awareness of God's presence. For me, growing discernment has to do with fine-tuning the "eyes and ears" of the heart-listening and watching.
There is a wonderful story about a Buddhist monk who had studied for many years in a Zen monastery. When he returned to his home, he was asked what he had learned after all those years. He replied, "Oh, not much. Just a softening of the heart." It is this softening that I long for and that I trust God will give as I listen and watch.
Lee, an ELCA pastor, is a graduate of Shalem's Group Leaders Program and a member of Shalem's Spiritual Guidance Program, Class of Winter 1999.
© 2008 The Shalem Institute.