Delivered February 11, 2007
by Pastor Marilyn Henderson
British prime minister Herbert Asquith once spent a weekend at the Waddesdon estate of the 19th-century Rothschild family. One day, as Asquith was being waited on at teatime by the butler, the following conversation ensued:
"Tea, coffee, or a peach from off the wall, sir?"
"Tea, please," answered Asquith.
"China, India, or Ceylon, sir?" asked the butler.
"China, please."
"Lemon, milk, or cream, sir?"
"Milk, please," replied Asquith.
"Jersey, Hereford, or Shorthorn, sir?" asked the butler.
Today in the Word, May 5, 1993.
Making decisions are often as mundane as getting your tea formula correct, choosing the type of salad dressing for your salad or deciding what to wear. There are also times when one needs to discern carefully some of life's most important decisions. Moving is an important decision, so is changing careers, choosing a life partner or deciding how to invest one's retirement funds. Congregations are faced with similar types of decisions, both mundane and those that require more thought and discernment.
The pastoral search and call process requires spiritual discernment whereas the decision of what to serve for the SPOT dinner does not. And the fact that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, desire to act in accordance with God's will adds another dimension to the practices of discernment and decision-making.
So, decision-making and spiritual discernment are connected with discernment requiring more thought and openness to the Spirit of Jesus.
The early church was attractive to Gentiles and pagans as well as Jews because this new religion made a noticeable difference in the way people lived their lives (Kreider, 11). Followers of Jesus actually behaved differently towards others when they fully embraced and applied his teachings. This new way of being spilled into every area of life and people wanted to join in.
The Anabaptist movement partially grew out of a desire to live out God's commandments in a way similar to the Acts 2 church. In fact, Martin Luther, the founder of the Lutheran church, believed that God was calling all Christians to at least attempt to follow Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount as well as the example of the Acts 2 church, but he didn't believe even 200 people could be found who would be willing to do so. And yet the Anabaptist movement, founded on God's Kingdom principle of living one's faith as taught in scripture, not only grew, but grew beyond anyone's understanding.
What we believe as followers of Jesus has direct bearing on how we discern and make decisions within the body of Christ. The Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective says in the article on "Church Order and Unity": "In making decisions, whether to choose leaders or resolve issues, members of the church listen and speak in a spirit of prayerful openness, with the Scriptures as the constant guide. Persons shall expect not only affirmation, but also correction. In a process of discernment, it is better to wait patiently for a word from the Lord leading toward consensus, than to make hasty decisions" (Article 16). (copies in the church office)
In Practicing Our Faith, Frank Rogers, Jr., defines spiritual discernment as "the intentional practice by which a community or an individual seeks, recognizes and intentionally takes part in the activity of God in concrete situations."
It was Friday morning in Jerusalem. Micah and Hillel, the synagogue collectors, were making their rounds to the families who attended their synagogue, collecting the weekly monetary and material donations to the Kuppah or Basket Fund. It was usually a fairly enjoyable task, although there were folks who weren't always easy to deal with. For instance, Aaron ben Joseph, the baker, seemed to have a weekly excuse and hadn't contributed for about 3 weeks now. Micah and Hillel had reported this to the rabbi, but had their doubts anything would be done. Folks just weren't contributing as much any more, even though there were more widows than ever to care for. All the Jews who lived in other places and had the means to do so would come to Jerusalem to spend their last days. As was usual, the men usually died first, leaving their widows to be cared for.
It wasn't that the Jerusalem Jews wanted to keep their money and goods to themselves. After all, they had grown up with the idea that widows, orphans, the sick and the stranger were all to be cared for by the community. But it was tough going to care for the significant influx of Jewish folk from other countries as well as those who were long-time members of the local synagogue. It was also true that some Jerusalem Jews, even those who had become followers of the Way, were proud of the fact that they spoke Aramaic, a modern form of Hebrew. Their ancestry could be traced more directly back to the patriarchs than those who returned from foreign lands. And so it was somewhat understandable that the Jerusalem Jews, whether Jewish or followers of Jesus, remained aloof from those who had come "home" to Jerusalem.
The early church and the apostles were faced with a dilemma. The issue of providing for Christian Jewish widows - both local and those who had come from far away- needed to be addressed. How would they approach this? Was this something the apostles should spend their time and energy caring for? Was this a decision that required spiritual discernment?
First of all, scripture is pretty straight forward about this situation. Acts 6.1 states both the context and the issue - the church was growing and the Greek-speaking Christians complained that the Aramaic-speaking Christians were neglecting the Greek widows in the daily distribution of food. The apostles called the community of Christians together, presented the situation and a proposal for everyone to consider. The community believed the proposal to be a good one - to choose seven qualified and trusted men to oversee the distribution of money and material goods, freeing the apostles to spend their time primarily in the study of Scripture and in prayer. So the community, using spiritual discernment, chose the men who would serve the community. The seven stood before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them, commissioning them for this service. V. 7 says that "the word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith."
The outcome of the community's discernment is significant. The Good News of Jesus spread, the Jerusalem church grew and many Jewish priests became followers of Jesus. I believe the outcome of the community's discernment, as well as the preliminary work of the apostles, indicates that everyone was closely attuned to the mind of Jesus.
This close connection to Jesus is not something easily or casually attained. Remember, the new saints in Jerusalem had given up most of their personal property in order to share with those in need. Many had changed careers, left home, family and friends to join this great adventure and challenge of following Jesus whom they now believed to be the Promised One, God in human form. For them this was an all-or-none commitment. Their identity was now with Christ's body, the community of believers - the Church. And while the Jews had always lived and identified with the community, the Acts 2 church went beyond the Jewish understanding and practice of community. The Church was exploring what it meant, once more, to be a part of God's Kingdom, where God rules and reigns. And they did it together.
Throughout Acts we see examples of the Church discerning and making decisions - choosing another to take Judas' place in chapter 1, the choosing of what we now call deacons in chapter 6, the discernment and commissioning of Barnabas and Saul during worship in ch. 13 and the settling of the dispute regarding the acceptance of Gentiles into the church in ch. 15.
Spiritual discernment was not taken lightly, particularly about something as crucial as acceptance of the Gentiles and what was required of them.
This decision was one that required spiritual discernment. And so the Church gathered and prayerfully listened to the debate. They listened in silence, both to what was said and to the Spirit of Jesus. After Paul and Barnabas, Peter and James had presented, the assembly gave consent to the apostles and elders to put James' plan into action.
There are two things about the various stories of discernment and decision-making in Acts that are pretty much consistent throughout. One is that decisions were made by the group and the other is that the outcome was always that the Church grew, either in numbers or in faith or both.
So how in the world are we modern Anabaptists supposed to operate? Spiritual discernment is complex - there could be at least two months of sermons on the practice of spiritual discernment alone. For instance, how do we discern what is authentic? What is a result of last night's pizza and what is a result of accurately discerned Spirit prompting? To complicate things even more, the most consistent characteristic of the process of discernment is that "no external criteria can be considered absolute" (Rogers, 114).
However, I believe we are called, as followers of Jesus, to practice spiritual discernment to the best of our ability. We are to bring all that we are to the discernment process. We are to keep ourselves open to the Spirit's leading and prompting so that we can hear. And we are to listen to the Spirit speak directly to our spirits and through others.
But we must deal somehow with this problem of discerning what is an authentic word from God and what is my own lack of sleep, inattentiveness or laziness in keeping myself firmly in God's way. I think Frank Rogers, again, has some excellent suggestions for possible criteria that can be used to authenticate our discernment processes and outcomes.
Perhaps it would be helpful to compare PMC's own discernment process, as described in the 25th Anniversary history, with Rogers' criteria.
As I typed your process out, two things came to mind: first, that this discernment process remains fluid to allow for the variations in situations and people. Fluidity also makes it possible to tweak the process as the congregation changes and as it matures in Christ. Secondly, it is similar to the decision-making process of the early church. Something needs to be discussed. It is processed in the large group. Sometimes a smaller group brings options or proposals to the large group to streamline the process somewhat. There's the intent that all should be heard. The process has been identified and written down. And finally, throughout all are encouraged to seek God.
You are to be commended for this process. It is scriptural. It is thorough. It is inclusive. It promotes and allows for growth and harmony, both individually and communally. However, we must continue to encourage each other in the practice of the spiritual disciplines, a list of which we handed out two weeks ago. It might be appropriate for us to consider practicing a discipline such as fasting regularly as a group during this time of sorting through the past and looking toward the future.
Whatever happens, we must always recognize the reality that we are thoroughly human, prone to faults and self-deception. And, in the words of Frank Rogers again, "in the end spiritual discernment depends on faith. We do our best ... but we must always depend on the mysterious emergence of the Spirit who resonates and persuades and, always, comes as a gift" (116).
Sources Consulted:
Barclay, William. The Acts of the Apostles, 1976.
Bauman, Harold E. Congregations and Their Leaders: Some Aids for Faithful Congregational Relationships, 1982.
Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, 1995.
Coogan, Michael D., editor. The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Third Edition: New Revised Standard Version, 2001.
Faw, Chalmer E. The Believers' Church Commentary: Acts, 1993.
Kreider, Alan. Worship and Evangelism in Pre-Christendom, 1995.
Morris, Danny E. and Charles M. Olsen. Discerning God's Will Together, 1997.
Online sources:
Petitcodiac Mennonite Church: 25th Anniversary - 1978-2003
Rogers, Frank, Jr. "Discernment," Chapter 8, Practicing Our Faith, Dorothy Bass, editor. 1997.
Petitcodiac Mennonite Church