The Fourth Sunday of Lent
Practicing Our Faith: Discernment
Rev. Lee Ann Bryce
Community Christian Church
March 18, 2012
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2
Like a lot of ministers these days, I did a lot of different jobs before I went to seminary and became a pastor. I’ve been a waitress, a secretary, an aerobics instructor, a teacher, a choral director, and a parks and recreation administrator. I enjoyed all those other jobs (mostly) but it wasn’t until I was ordained that I had the feeling that all of those other jobs were preparing me for this calling. I felt like I was born to do this work in the world; to serve a local church as its pastor.
You don’t have to be a minister to feel this way about your work. I’ve known teachers, social workers, medical professionals who feel called to their work. Others find this sort of fulfillment not with the work they do that is their primary source of income, but from personal investment in volunteer activities or with non-profit agencies. I can imagine all kinds of professions could give that feeling of being “in the groove,” of having one’s talents and gifts and values match what you do.
Our Lenten series on spiritual practice continues today with the spiritual practice of discernment, listening to God. Discernment is about how we decide what to do with our lives. That’s not a question that has relevance only for 20-somethings, deciding whether to go to college or what field to study or what job to take when you get out of school. Doing something meaningful with our lives has relevance for all of us. Job changes take place at any age, especially these days, and it’s never too late to check-in with yourself and ask questions like: Does my life have meaning? Do my activities reflect my deepest values? Do I invest myself in ways that feel important to me?
The video we’re going to view today features Dr. Jennifer Grant Haworth, a spiritual director and professor at Loyola University of Chicago. We’ll stop the video along the way to talk further about what she says. Haworth echoes Frederick Buechner’s idea that identifying meaningful ways to invest your energies comes down to finding “the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep hunger.”
[Watch “Discerning God’s Call” with Jennifer Grant Haworth, 0:00- 1:41; video found on youtube:
Haworth defines discernment as “listening to your life speak and listening to love speak back to you.” It’s about listening to God, but also about listening deeply to yourself, trusting that your deepest self will resonate with the divine voice. The two components she references are 1) knowing yourself well enough to know what you’re passionate about and 2) figuring out how your passion can feed the world’s hunger. Discernment is about bringing these two things together.
And so I invite you to consider: What are you passionate about? For some this is an easy question to answer. For others, it’s difficult. In your bulletin you’ll find an insert with the following questions and space for you to jot down some notes on these prompts: What are you passionate about? What gives you energy? What catches and keeps your attention? How do you choose to use your free time? What are you doing when you feel fully alive? How would your friends or others you trust answer this question for you?
The next piece to discernment is to figure out how you take your passion and turn that towards the world so that it helps to feed the world’s deep hunger. That’s the trick – to bring those two pieces together. And if you’re able to do that, then your work, for the most part, becomes a joy and not a burden.
Again, I’m using the term “work” to describe the various ways we invest ourselves be it paid or volunteer work. It’s a fact of life that not everyone can afford the luxury of finding a job that fits their passions. Jobs are hard to come by, especially these days, and most of us need to work in order to support ourselves and care for others. Along the way, we might work at jobs that are not a perfect fit, but it’s necessary for us to do that for a time. Ideally, however, as time goes onwe can all gravitate toward work that gives our lives meaning. And if not, we can find other ways to invest ourselves in an unpaid capacity that adds deep satisfaction to our lives.
In any event, discerning God’s call starts with understanding what we love to do and then creatively matching that up with what the world hungers for.
[Watch next segment of video, 1:41- 4:02]
When we seek to discern God’s call in our lives, fear and doubt play a role, and it’s often not a helpful role. Fear, doubt, and anxiety can corrode our sense of self and our ability to discern “what is the truth that wants to live through us?” as Haworth puts it.
I love the illustration she used of the Mississippi River. The deep current keeps the river moving towards where it needs to go though there are also these little cross currents on the surface. Most of the time when we’re plagued with fear and doubt and anxiety, they are like these little cross currents that are competing for our attention and clouding our ability to discern faithfully the love and life that wants to live in us. And so we must set aside time to “hit the pause button”; to ask ourselves, are these thoughts real? Are they illusory? It is in the silence when we sit and listen that we can hear what God is saying to us. We can learn what our own lives are saying to us.
We’re going to take a few moments to “hit the pause button,” right now. On your handout, you’ll see a few questions to help you better understand any fears and doubts you may have. Do fear and doubt corrode your sense of self? If yes, when? How? What are the cross currents that cloud your ability to discern the deepest current running through your life? Does being a part of a community help you in times of fear and doubt? Take a few moments in silence to consider these questions.
[Watch final video segment, 4:03-6:30]
“The glory of God is a person fully alive.” (St. Iraneus)
Let us pray. O God of love and light and goodness, awaken us to all that is around us and help us to find ways to engage with it. What we do is not as important as how we live. May the fruits of the spirit be awakened in each one of us so that we may live in a space of joy, love, patience, and gratitude for all that is given to us. Help us to connect the dots in our lives and to pay attention to your purpose for us revealed in the circumstances of our lives. May we learn to listen to our hearts and to give back the life we’ve been given. Amen.
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