Discerning God’s Will – 13 June, 2021
It seems that each of the lessons today stimulates some reflection about the very broad topic of discernment. As a practice in the Christian spiritual journey, it is one that engages both the individual and the community. “Discernment is the intentional practice by which a community or an individual seeks, recognizes and intentionally takes part in the activity of God in concrete situations” (Frank Rogers Jr., in Practicing Our Faith, ed. Dorothy Bass [Jossey-Bass, 1997], 107). –– L. Ann Hallisey
Mark 4:26-34
The Gospel lesson tells two of three related agrarian parables, the seed that grows in secret and the well-known parable of the mustard seed. Neither parable is explicitly about discernment but both offer a window of wisdom in considering this gift of the Holy Spirit.
In the first parable, Jesus tells us, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed, and would sleep and rise . . . and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.” Attentive discernment is like that. An individual or a community scatters a decision, a challenge, or a problem before God. Then there is a certain detachment from the outcome that is part of discernment. After the planting comes sleeping and rising; in the rhythm of daily life, the seed in secret grows.
Notice the farmer in this parable. He is not passive. Presumably, he works at cultivating the seed but he really doesn’t understand the process of growth. Here is another aspect of discernment. “The mystery of growth belongs to the earth and the seed, and not to the farmer. His activity neither hastens nor deters the time of harvest” (Brueggeman et al., Texts for Preaching [WJK, 2007], 391). –– L. Ann Hallisey
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 [11-13] 14-17
Paul struggles to articulate the contradiction between how the world sees things and what Christians know to be true. Discernment for Paul is grounded in his conviction that authentic reality is disclosed in a life lived in and for Christ. If the Christian is to make decisions that are faithful to God, the measuring rod, if you will, is the Christian’s experience of the cross. Because Christ died “for all,” then the Christian’s life is defined by that death. Christians now live “no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.” Because of that death, Paul is able to exhort his Corinthians to “walk by faith, not by sight.” –– L. Ann Hallisey
Ezekiel 17:22-24
Samuel is sent by God to choose a new king for Israel and to seek him among the sons of Jesse. Here we encounter the first task of one who would engage in discernment; that is, understanding that God’s criteria are different from human ones. Samuel is enjoined not to judge by external circumstances, not to choose on face value, not to assume that a cultural definition of value is the yardstick by which to measure the new leader of God’s people. . . “(F)or the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7b). –– L. Ann Hallisey
L. Ann Hallisey, an executive coach and organizational consultant, spiritual director and retreat leader, licensed marriage and family therapist, was a parish priest, rector, and interim rector in the Diocese of Northern California for over thirty years, and for six years Dean of Students at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley.
Homily Service 42, no. 3 (2009): 27-37.