Listening to the Spirit

How do you make decisions? Do you make pros and cons lists? Do you talk it over with trusted friends and advisors? Do you spend hours poring over your own research? When you are a believer there is an added dimension. You may have heard about this being called discernment. This is a deeper way of considering things. You stop and try to find if it is God’s will. In fact, you may find yourself way back at the beginning of the process when you first generate an idea that you are listening for the Holy Spirit. The more often you do this, the more often you will find yourself relying on God for direction on the really important decisions. You will no longer be merely brainstorming, but leaning in for what Quakers refer to as a Concern or even a Leading.

In the book Quaker Process, a Concern is defined as a sense that “things are not as God would wish.” A Concern can be about just about anything, but for something to rise from something that’s bothering you to the level of a Concern it must be important, significant. It also needs to be something that you sense does not just come from you, but that you sense comes from God.

A Leading goes beyond a Concern, to a specific action based on a Concern. Quaker Process describes this variously as “a specific action one feels called to,” feeling an “irresistible urge” or being “compelled into action.” You may be looking for a Leading perhaps through time in silence or it may find you. During college, I felt myself called to work with the LGBTQ students and fight for the recognition of our group by the college. I was uncomfortable with the way things were and I felt led to act.

Once you think you have a Concern or a Leading, then it is time to test it. The book Quaker Process advises that you need to “figure out whether we are truly being led by God or whether something else is going on.” There are many questions you may ask yourself. I am only going to cover a few today. These include concordance, dissimilarity, Way opens or closes, clarity, and whether it’s ongoing.

What is concordance? Concordance means that what you are hearing matches what you already know. Does this new idea or impulse match with what I know of God? Quaker Process suggests two questions that will help with this, “Is this consistent with other Friends or am I out in left field?” and “Is this consistent with Friends’ understanding of the Bible?” Both of these questions lean into being a part of a larger community.

 As a Quaker you are part of nearly 400 years of experience and tradition and of individuals spread across the world. Many of the things that trouble you or that you feel Led to will have been encountered and considered by other Quakers before you. You can learn from their reactions, lived experience, reflections, and, if you’re lucky, they may still be around to talk with you today. I recently found spending time with Emily Provance talking about preventing election violence gave me greater clarity on the issue.

If not, you will find that there are books and writings from other Quakers out there. You can start with a Quaker publications from somewhere like Barclay Press, Pendle Hill or Quaker Press. You could also begin with Quaker archives at a library. Libraries with special Quaker collections include George Fox University here in Oregon; Earlham College in Indiana; Guilford College in North Carolina; Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and Swarthmore College also in Pennsylvania. At seminary I found it particularly helpful to talk with librarian Tom Hamm and historian Steve Angell.

On issues that have been debated, discussed, and discerned you may find what are called Minutes published by Yearly Meetings round the world. A Minute goes beyond just the bare record of a business meeting that comes to mind. A specific Minute on a given issue will rarely be made in the heat of the moment. It may arise from an individual or a Monthly Meeting (what we call our local churches). Such a Minute will likely have been considered by a committee for further study. If there is not initially clarity around an issue then it may also be set aside to Season. Seasoning an issue means that time is allowed to pass and people are given further time to consider an issue, discuss it, and listen to God. By the time a formal Minute is considered and adopted by a Yearly Meeting, hours, months, and even years of work may have gone into it. For this reason, reading the Minutes of a Yearly Meeting may be especially fruitful.

The Bible is a resource that goes far beyond the 400 years of Friends. The Bible puts us in touch with believers from as long ago as perhaps 3-4,000 years. Believers chose the Bible as a series of collections of writings that were important to them. It includes stories of God’s people, collected Wisdom Writings, and prophecy.The exact list has changed over time and varies between many communities, but it is a good place to start. Not everything in the Bible will be immediately helpful, and if you search the Bible well you will find disagreements within the text. The Bible can also be opaque, because it requires an understanding of context within scripture as well as context of the people who wrote it. Studying the Bible in community helps. You will also find commentaries written that will help you go deeper into passages. 

Quaker Process specifically mentions Quaker understandings, because there can be a wide variation between faith traditions. It’s good to start close to home.

Another helpful test is dissimilarity. It is a difficult test. You need to ask yourself, Is this from God or is it just from my own ego? If something is not something you would have chosen for yourself, then this may actually be a good sign. Dissimilarity is a hard test, because just because something does not sound like you does not immediately mean that it has come from God. According to  Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community, “One test some Quaker sects used to confirm God’s call was that a ‘true’ call was always contrary to one’s own will The assumption that a ‘cross to the will’ meant taking up the cross of Christ often produced absurd results. For example, some Friends walked naked in the streets because it was ‘contrary to [their] own will or inclination’ and, therefore, “in obedience to the Lord.’” Something may not be comfortable for you and still be neither a Leading nor a Concern.

Quakers speak of Way opening or Way closing. If something is from God, then you may find a certain path in your life becomes easier. If you have a Leading or a Concern then you may find other people around you who share it. You may find opportunities opening up for you to learn about or even act on your Leading. Conversely, if something is not a direction that God wants you to go, then you may find great difficulty in pursuing what seem, at the time, like good ideas and directions. Oftentimes, seeing Way opening or closing may be easier in hindsight than as it happens. Looking for Way opening or Way closing can be hard when you are called by God to do a difficult thing. Just because it is not easy does not mean that this is not something God wants for you.

When I got out of college, I was sure that I would just jump into the nonprofit sector and find a job doing meaningful work. Way did not open for me to do this. When I leaned into ministry which I had considered in college as a path for my life, I found affirmation and opportunities opening up. After just a few months I was already admitted to Union Theological Seminary in New York and Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Indiana.

Clarity on an issue is an important test of whether it may be a Concern or a Leading. Is it a vague sense or does something specific rise for me? Is this something that I specifically know about? Consider whether the first step is learning more about an issue. Quakers actually have a well-worn path for coming to clarity. It’s called a Clearness Committee. Initially, Clearness Committees were used to find out if a couple was truly meant to be married. Today, a Clearness Committee can be called for just about anything that is truly important to you. When I was uncertain about seminary after a difficult first year, I called a Clearness Committee. When Leigh and I were considering coming to Klamath Falls we called a Clearness Committee. As I am being considered for Recording as a minister, I have called a Clearness Committee with the help of the Yearly Meeting. Clearness Committees may include people with great knowledge on the issue considered, or may be chosen based on the relationship with the person calling the committee. The person calling the committee will share what they know with the committee, which may be more along the lines of personal reflections or, depending on the issue, research. For especially complex issues, the person calling the committee may give the committee things to read ahead of time. A good committee avoids giving specific advice and will use questions as the primary tool of helping someone come to clarity.

When you are clear you will have a sense of understanding an issue. You will also likely feel a confidence about the matter. When I finished my committee about continuing with seminary, I felt a certainty that God would be with me no matter how things went.

Duration or insistence may be a key part of how you discover something is a Concern or a Leading. If I have a sense that I may need to share something with the meeting, does it go away if I sit with it for a while? If I don’t act on something in the first day does it keep beating at the back of my mind calling for my attention? Ask yourself, is this something that can be solved in a day or is it something that may take years or even a lifetime?

I have included a handout in your bulletin with a series of questions from Quaker Process that you may find useful in future discernment about possible Leadings. I recommend the whole section in Quaker Process if you want to learn more. Consider today while you sit in the silence.

Is there a specific issue that I have been sitting with that has not gone away and requires further consideration?

Is there something that passes the tests we have considered today that I feel compelled to act on? 

Do I feel led to share these things with others and when would be the best time to do that?

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