Discernment

“…thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Dear Friends,

As you are probably aware, Pope Francis died on Easter Monday. Today, the College of Cardinals are gathering for their Conclave to choose the next pope of the Roman Catholic Church. One could characterize this process as “electing” another pope or “deciding” who the next pope will be. I strongly suspect that if you were able to talk to one of these cardinals, the best word they would choose would be to “discern” who the next pope is.

What is “discernment” anyway?

The best definition for discernment that comes to mind (at least for Christians) is trying to best answer the question, What is God’s will in this matter? How can we possibly answer this question? How can we know the “mind” of God?

Well… here is a faithful approach to trying to discern this…

1)      How does the Bible (God’s Word) speak to this situation?

2)      What has the Church taught about this?

3)      What does our own reasoning tell us about this?

4)      How does my own experience inform this choice?

Finally, as I carry all this into prayer, What is God calling to me to do?

Though I’ve never been in a Conclave, I trust this is the “work” that the cardinals will be doing in trying to align their choice with God’s will.

But they aren’t the only ones that are called to discernment. Part of the prayer we pray every Sunday is a prayer for discernment:

… thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

If we take this instruction from Jesus on how to pray seriously, then our prayer (when we pray the Lord’s Prayer) is that we align ourselves with what God’s will is and join God in what God is doing.

This can look like asking the question, What does love look like in this situation or activity?

Some of you may remember the WWJD movement (What Would Jesus Do)… This is not a bad place to start the discernment about what Jesus would have you do in this time and circumstance.

I pray that the cardinals in the Conclave open themselves up to whom God is calling to be the next leader of our fellow Christians.

I pray that we here at FLC open ourselves up to what God is calling us to do.

I pray that you will open yourself up to what God wants to do through you in your life today… and tomorrow… and the day after that…

Peace,

Pastor Phil