Book Reviews
Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community
From the back cover:". . .an outstanding volume . . . I personally wish that Listening Hearts could be the subject of discussion by Christians in every congregation in this country."
"Listening Hearts explores the themes of discernment and call within the context of Christian community. Drawing on centuries of classical Christian literature, the authors present a complex subject in a clear and comprehensible way that makes the practice of spiritual discernment accessible to the church as a whole. This wise and practical book is a valuable resource for clergy and laity alike and includes extensive endnotes and an annotated bibliography."
"A guide for every Christian on a journey of discovery and call. This book teaches how to recognize God's call; how to eliminate barriers; and how to remain faithful. Describes how a community can be a source of strength and encouragement. For group discussion or personal meditation."
"A guide for every Christian on a journey of discovery and call. Discusses discernment and community support in decision-making. Can be used for personal meditation or in groups for sharing."
"This book results from a study group which focused on writers who, over the centuries, have explored the themes of call, discernment, and community as they relate to each other. A smaller group used 'the model of the Quakers: beginning and ending in silence, listening to one another prayerfully, waiting for consensus to emerge.' The three sections of the book treat the themes of call, discernment, and community with special emphasis on ministry. Appendices set forth ways that groups can be formed to explore issues of call and support for ministries. An annotated bibliography is also provided."
"A concise, practical, and readable resource for discerning the Lord's call in one's life - the fruit of two years of communal discernment by the authors, with the help of over fifty other resource persons. The first half offers general theological/pastoral guidelines regarding call, discernment, and discernment-in-community. The second half consists of appendices outlines: how to set up a discernment group, practical considerations regarding discernment, recognizing and encouraging ministries, and how communal discernment was used in writing this book."
"Learning to listen within our hearts may not come easily. We wonder, does God call ordinary people? And if so, to what? How can we distinguish God's voice from all of the other voices that clamor at us - those of our culture, peer pressure, our egos? This book explores these questions, inviting us to draw together with listening hearts so that we may enter into communion with one another and with God. An excellent ecumenical resource, it may be used for individual meditation or group discussion. Included are practical suggestions outlining ways to explore issues of call and recognizing and supporting ministries."
"Discovering our gifts and our call sometimes requires some disciplined effort. God's promise is that if we persevere our prayer for direction will be answered. And there are many resources that can help you to discover your gifts and your call:
Suzanne Farnham is an Episcopal lay woman who, together with several friends, has developed a method of assisting those in the congregation who are at a crossroads in life and who are trying to figure out what to do with the rest of their life. Over several years this group read widely in the literature of spirituality and met regularly to talk about the meaning of vocation and the Christian life. Together they developed a process for creating "discernment groups." A discernment group consists of spiritually trained people who can sit with someone who is at a crossroads in their life and who is trying to discover their call. The group does not offer advice. It provides a supportive active listening group who will spend time with the person, listening to them and asking the questions which may help them to clarify their direction.
Listening Hearts is the manual that describes the process. Suzanne Farnham has developed a training program for the development of discernment groups in congregations."
"Several years ago I attended a command-performance clergy conference at which Verna Dozier attempted to instruct the gathered clergy about the ministry of the laity. It was a joy to watch as she wrestled with the problem of opening the calcified clerical imagination to a new concept. At the end of the weekend several lay leaders of the diocese came in to talk about their own lay ministries, only to share with us, in a moment of high comedy, the joys of the altar guild, the vestry, and handing out bulletins at the rear of the church.
I have often reflected on that weekend, for it seems to me to define a key problem for the church: we are trapped in a concept of ministry that is done in and around the church, and which stands apart from the rest of life. Listening Hearts goes a long way toward correcting this, and it does so, not by challenging a commonly held view of ministry and supplanting it with a new one, but by outlining a process in which people can become aware of the call of God in their lives and see how it is or can be lived out in them. It is a practical handbook for understanding and discerning God's call in the lives of Christians.
The book is divided into four sections. The first three, Call, Discernment and Community outline the discernment process. Each area gives clear definitions of the concepts involved and outlines a process for applying them to the task of discernment. At its heart the method involves a Quaker model of discernment, put within the framework of a constant reference to traditional and scriptural writings. Starting from the point of view that God's call is universal, it then moves on to the question of determining what that call is in each life: "God calls each of us. There are a variety of calls, and no one call is inherently better or higher than any other . . . Rather our faithfulness to God and the love that undergirds what we do determines its merit." (p. 8)
"Listening Hearts explores the themes of discernment and call within the context of Christian community. Drawing on centuries of classical Christian literature, the authors present a complex subject in a clear and comprehensible way that makes the practice of spiritual discernment accessible to the church as a whole. This wise and practical book is a valuable resource for clergy and laity alike and includes extensive endnotes and an annotated bibliography."
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