A way to the Way

For those of us who seek to be faithful to the baptismal calling we share in Christ, one of the most challenging parts of that journey is discernment.

How do we know if we are reading the signs of the Spirit correctly?

In a world that spends so much time and so many resources on trying to convince us which product or experience will make our lives better, or which leader will unlock our greatest potential, or what practices and priorities lead to a meaningful and good life—it can be very difficult to discern God’s way among the host of alternatives.

All our readings today have something to do with faithful discernment, and the challenges that arise even after we’ve made the decision to seek to be companions with God in the journey of faith.

We witness Abraham’s servant trying to discern if Rebekah is indeed the right mate for Isaac and responding to a series of events at the town well that align with specific prayers he made.

We witness Paul wrestling with his desire to do right and be entirely connected to Christ and compliant with God’s will, and the reality that sin’s presence makes full compliance with the law impossible.

And in our Gospel, Jesus finds himself responding to a Pharisaic segment of the crowd who have discounted both John the Baptist’s ministry for its asceticism, and dismissed his own because he eats and drinks with tax collectors and known sinners.

Jesus exposes this “impossible to please” segment of the crowd by highlighting that their expectations for prophetic and life-transforming ministry are skewed.

Instead of coming to the current moment with open eyes, open ears, and a heart prepared through prayer to receive and act upon God’s deep wisdom, they have instead exchanged that sort of disposition for a specific lens and set of categories that prevent them from discerning the movement of the Spirit.

Jesus reminds us that children naturally understand this disposition of being open and ready, and that as we grow chronologically older, we should continue learning from their ability to live in and encounter the present moment if we are to faithfully discern God’s way among other competing ways.

For those of us who don’t have the advantage of being infants who intuitively understand such wisdom, how are we to know if we are following God’s call or hewing to God’s path?

There are many ways we seek to increase our ability to discern as followers of Christ.

The first and foremost is by investing regularly and habitually in our relationship with God through intentional prayer.

Our Sunday Eucharistic gathering is a key component in this practice, but if we relegate our spiritual lives to one day a week, we will not grow much in our discernment ability.

Daily time set aside to meditate in silence, to offer up the known and unknown contents of our hearts and desires to God, and to otherwise attend to our spiritual lives increases our chances of being able to discern what is merely my will and what is God’s will.

Prayer doesn’t erase all doubts or assure us of clarity in decision making, but it most certainly develops reserves for sitting with the discomfort of ambiguity and the strength to act when the right path does arise.

If you want to better discern God’s will in your own life, I encourage you to make prayer the cornerstone of the spiritual temple of your souls.

Once prayer becomes a regular practice and disposition in your life, then faithful discernment continues by taking the sense of personal direction that arises in prayer and sharing it with trusted companions who are doing the same.

Over the years I’ve encouraged you all to make meaningful friendships with one another, not only because it’s good for congregational life, but because trusted friendships are where we continue the important work of discernment.

Our weekly congregational gathering in worship allows us to reflect together on the way of God as revealed in Scripture and sacrament, but it is in the sturdy context of friendship where these reflections mingle and find common voice.

Last week I asked you to reach out to one another at coffee hour and throughout the week to better support one another as spiritual friends.

How did that go? 

What more can you do to be a spiritual friend and companion to another member of the Body?

Who are the close confidants with whom you share the truth of your life—in times of joy and times of struggle?

I am blessed to have many spiritual companions with whom I’ve shared this journey of faith but am especially reliant upon regular weekly check ins with an accountability group of friends I’ve known since seminary.

These friends know my desire to follow God’s will, and they also know the reality of Paul’s struggle in the epistle and can encourage me to make necessary course corrections.

I realize what a unique blessing these friends are, even while I seek to develop other spiritual friendships that make group discernment richer and wider.

My hope is that this community of St. Paul’s will be one where those without such friendships can find them, and that each of us will be a part of trusted friendship networks beyond this church that allow us to better discern God’s call within our lives.

Lastly, once we’ve attended to the tilling of the soil of our heart in prayer, and once we’ve allowed the seed of discernment to break through into the sunlight of trusted spiritual friendships, then we step out into the world of action—seeking to walk along the path that has been revealed.

In my experience, this action step always requires even more trust and faith, because the path of God is ultimately a shared one.

Beyond the realm of personal prayer and the safety of friendships, stepping out as a community in faith means following a much longer road that requires even more patience, bravery, and commitment.

There will be setbacks, there will be disagreements, and there will be fatigue when the transformation toward which we are moving seems so far away.

But it is on the shared road of church-wide discernment that we gain the ability and vision to make the transforming principles of God’s realm into worldly reality.

The Jesus movement begins to alter the shape of our lifetimes when we become part of the larger discerning Body of Christ and choose to walk together on a shared road.

That is when powers and principalities begin to bend to the greater ethics and will of God, and the walls that divide and separate us come tumbling down.

We keep moving forward together because we have known the light yoke of the Lord in submitting to regular personal prayer.

We find confirmation and correction in the direction of travel through trusted friends and companions.

And we commit to this communal process of growth and transformation when we act faithfully upon our discernment and allow the path to guide us to even deeper levels of trust, hope, and love.

Give yourself over to these circles of discernment this week, making time and space for the personal, the familial, and the societal elements of knowing and following the will of God.

God’s grace will accompany you, and even though the burdens you carry may seem many, and the journey may be hard and harrowing, you will be reminded that you do not discern alone.

And in that knowing, you will find rest for your souls, regardless of where the road may lead.