Discernment:

Living the Mission

By Ted Miles

Purpose

Discernment is an ongoing, lifelong journey of identifying and understanding God’s call for each of us to mission and holiness. Discernment unfolds in a movement between prayer, community, life experiences, and service whereby we grow to understand ourselves as graced with unique spiritual gifts and called by God to use them to transform the world. For many, identifying and discerningGod’s will does not always translate into action. This session aims to help participants a) explore a process of discernment and listening to God’s call, b) identify core needs and concerns of the world, and c) provide inspiration and silent time to consider how God might be calling them to give of themselves to address these needs.

Component: Pastoral Care

Materials Needed

  • Nametags
  • Chairs for each participant
  • Handout 1, Optical Illusions
  • Handout 2, Window of Discernment
  • Handout 3, Quotes for Discernment & Mission, one for each participant
  • Handout 4, God’s Calling Me, one for each participant
  • Resource 1, Speed Mingling Icebreaker
  • Resource 2, Secrets to Optical Illusions
  • Bell or some other creative alarm for the icebreaker
  • 24-inch lengths of yarn or string for each participant
  • DVD or video clip highlighting challenges and concerns facing individuals and our world (see #1 in Prepare in Advance for suggestions)
  • Television or projector and DVD player

Note to Leader: Your audio/visual set up needs to be adequate for everyone to be able to hear/see the movie clips.

  • CD or MP3 player
  • Instrumental or reflective music
  • Matches
  • Pens or pencils, one for each participant
  • Bibles
  • Multiple candles to provide reflection environment, multi-cultural prayer cloth, crucifix or cross, and table to create a prayer space
  • Taper candles and wax drip protectors for each participant

Prepare in Advance

  1. Choose a YouTube video, a music video, or make a collage of news clips for the “Windows of Discernment” portion of the session. Suggestions include:
  2. God of This City by Chris Tomlin
  3. What About Now by Daughtry
  4. The poem, Lost Generation
  5. Catholic Relief Services General Awareness Video
  1. Set up chairs in a circle for the icebreaker game. Set the prayer space near the chairs if you do not have another space designated for prayer.
  1. Invite seven young people to proclaim these Scripture passages during the opening prayer:
  2. Reader 1: Exodus 33:12-13
  3. Reader 2: Isaiah 43:1-2, 4
  4. Reader 3: Mark 1:35
  5. Reader 4: Luke 9:23-24, 28
  6. Reader 5: Matthew 5:14-16
  7. Reader 6: 2 Timothy 1:6-8
  8. Reader 7: Mark 10:17-27

Give each a Bible with their passage marked.

  1. Invite a young person to proclaim 1 Samuel 3:1-21 for the “All Tied Up” portion of the session.
  1. Invite a young person to proclaim 1 Timothy 4:12-16 for the closing prayer.
  1. Arrange for a team to greet the participants as they arrive. Set up tables for refreshments and sign-in. Have one or two people at the sign-in table with a check-in sheet and nametags. Hospitality is important: As the leader, do not use the gathering time before the session begins to take care of last-minute preparations. Spend the time moving among the participants, greeting and speaking with them.

Session Outline

Welcome and Introductions (10 minutes)

Greet the participants as they arrive and give each participant a nametag if they not familiar with each other. Invite participants to take a seat in a circle of chairs. When all have arrived, begin the evening by standing in the middle of the circle. Welcome everyone, introduce yourself in any creative fashion that you like and invite all participants to do the same.

Have available for a leader or yourself a copy of Resource 1, Speed Mingling Icebreaker. Begin the icebreaker activity by saying something similar to the following:

Tonight we begin our session with an icebreaker called “Speed Mingling.” In this icebreaker, you will get the opportunity to mingle with someone for a short time, getting to know something about him or her. When you have gathered in pairs, introduce yourselves again if you do not already know each other. I will then give you a question to answer and provide instructions for which person should answer the question first. You will have 90 seconds for both of you to answer the question. At the sound of the bell, run and find another person with whom you have not paired.

Any questions?

Once all questions have been addressed, begin the icebreaker activity by inviting all participants to line up alphabetically (or by height, birthdate, etc.) in order to ensure that participants do not simply partner with a friend. Once they have organized themselves according to your instructions, ask them to pair up with one of the people standing next to them. Play the game using the questions in Resource 1.

Once all or most of the rounds have been completed, invite everyone to gather in the circle of chairs or around the prayer space if you have a separate one. Begin by asking how participants felt about the opening activity and what they noticed. Affirm answers, though be sure to highlight the idea that the questions generally went deeper and, being personal in nature, provided the chance to explore key life situations, interests, and concerns. Continue by sharing something similar to the following:

Tonight we are going to explore the topics of discernment and mission. These terms have a lot to do with some of the ideas we just talked about. What comes to mind when you think of discernment and mission?

Accept answers, be prepared to define them if the answers are slow in coming; but reinforce the idea that for Christian, both flow from listening to God’s unique call for each of us and integrating the experiences of our lives, our interests and personalities, and those aspects of our lives and the world about which we hold much concern. Clarify that when talking about discernment, we are not talking about deciding what to do next weekend or what to wear to school tomorrow. From a Christian perspective, discernment focuses on a lifelong process of understanding God’s call to participate in Jesus’ mission of service to others.

After the introduction, continue with an invitation to prayer:

To continue our evening, let’s move to prayer and see what Scripture has to tell us.

Opening Prayer (10 minutes)

Invite everyone to the prayer space and invite a participant to light the candle. Give bibles to the readers and remind them to proclaim their readings boldly, confidently and with a pause between each reading for silent reflection.

Prayer Leader: (begin with the Sign of the Cross)

Loving God, life as a Christian is an exciting one. The journey is filled with so many people, places, opportunities, and choices. Help us to know how to live this life to the fullest and to reflect your love, joy, and forgiveness in all we do. We pray this in your name. Amen.

Listen

Indicate to the first reader to begin.

Reader 1: Exodus 33:12-13

Reader 2: Isaiah 43:1-2, 4

Reader 3: Mark 1:35

Reader 4: Luke 9:23-24, 28

Reader 5: Matthew 5:14-16

Reader 6: 2 Timothy 1:6-8

Reader 7: Mark 10:17-27

Consider God’s Word that has been proclaimed. What strikes you? What speaks to your heart and mind right now as you hear these passages? Take a moment or two of silence to reflect.

Allow a couple minutes of silent meditation and invite sharing. Simply listen to the reflections. Keep the sharing optional for participants.

Respond

Prayer Leader:

Throughout the ages, people have longed to understand what makes life meaningful. We see in Scripture a multitude of individuals and communities whose journeys often include various paths, crossroads, roadblocks, distractions, aha moments, or realizations, companions, and signs of wonder along the road that help guide them in the discernment for something purposeful. Moreover, we learn that the mature journey often reflects a growing dependence on God’s help in finding our way and a trust in answering God’s call to faithful service. The mature journey is rooted in prayer, demonstrated by Jesus in his own life.

We, too, are on a journey in which we discover our mission as one of sharing in Jesus’ mission, but in a very unique way. Discovering our unique response cannot be accomplished in isolation of the disciplines that open our hearts to God; on the contrary, as we see in Scripture, true discernment must be rooted in a process of prayer, trust in God and ongoing practices like simplicity that help us to integrate various aspects of our lives.

As we embark on a bit of a journey here tonight, we continue by praying. If there is anyone or anything you would like to pray for tonight, please name that now.

Allow time for participants to share petitions.

Send Forth

Prayer Leader:

Thank you, God, for giving us this time together. We ask for openness and your continued guidance as we dream for our lives and the world, and explore the unique possibilities to which you call us in helping to build your kingdom. We ask all of this through Jesus, our brother and friend.

Amen!

All Tied Up (20 minutes)

Invite everyone to once again pair up with one other person. Give each participant a 24-inch string and ask everyone to tie it loosely around his/her right wrist. Then, each partner should simply overlap the string and subsequently tie the other end to his/her left wrist so that each pair is in interlocking “handcuffs.”

Invite participants to try to free themselves without breaking the string or removing it from their wrists. The pairs will probably try to step over and through each other or look for a huge maneuver in order to free themselves. Let them try it for a while. When they start looking like they’ve had enough, give them the hint “Think small!” Let them try a little longer before giving a second clue, “Only one person has to manipulate the rope and it doesn’t involve their feet.”

As pairs get frustrated, show them the solution and encourage any pair that successfully completed the task to help as well. The solution is to take one hanging string between one person’s wrists, make a loop in it, slip it through, back to front and up toward the fingers, one of the other person’s wrist loops and pull it over the hand.

Once everyone has removed the string, invite everyone to sit down and ask the following questions:

What was the solution to this “brainteaser”? How did the solution differ from the way people were initially trying to solve the problem?

The solution was far more subtle and took some creative thinking as opposed to the big maneuvers of stepping over each other which seemed like the obvious solution.

What was more fun: working on it and trying to solve the puzzle on your own together or being shown the solution by someone else? Why?

For most, it seems that working together is preferable as it provide a sense of accomplishment and empowerment. On the other hand, if it gets too frustrating, being shown can be preferable and needed.

This activity has a lot to do with our topic of focus tonight: Discerning God’s call to mission. Through our faith, we are encouraged to listen to the ways God calls us. Doing so can be like going on an adventure. It can be fun and empowering. Other times, it can be rather frustrating, as there are times when it seems like God is nowhere or that God is silent. In such times, it is helpful to have someone show us how to focus or listen more carefully.

Listen to this reading from the book of Samuel.

Invite the reader to proclaim 1 Samuel 3:1-21. Allow some quiet time, then lead a brief conversation using these questions:

  • What do you think prevents us from hearing or listening to God’s call?
  • What role does Elijah play for Samuel?
  • Who are the people like Elijah in our lives?

God never stops trying to reach us. God’s call is ongoing, but we can get very distracted and live such fast-paced lives that we often forget to take the necessary time to listen to how God might be trying to get our attention or calling us to something deeper. When you live fast, it is easy to miss the subtle things and very difficult to live deeply.

Discernment begins with simply listening. After all, if we have not heard anything, how can we know that God is calling us. It can be confusing, though, to know what we are listening for or to what we should be paying attention. So, let’s take a look at how God might be calling us. Like many throughout scripture, God often calls us through the people and experiences of our lives. Let’s take a look.

Windows of Discernment (25 minutes)

Distribute a copy of Handout 1, Optical Illusions, to each participant.Invite participants to name aloud what they see in each illusion and to help each other see the full effect of the illusion. After the effect of each illusion has been identified (see Resource 2, Secrets to Optical Illusions), begin with the following questions in exploring awareness:

What do you need to do in order to get the full effect of an illusion?

Look at it from a variety of perspectives; suspend what we first see and look again; be open to different interpretations or realities that are present within the illusion, etc.

How might these same principles apply to discerning how God might be calling us in our lives?

Accept all answers but try to elicit or raise ideas similar to the following: We need to be open and willing to look deeper into the circumstances of our lives to hear what God might be saying. We may at times be missing how God is calling us if we do not look or listen carefully. Moreover, it is easy to overlook, dismiss or not even recognize ourselves as gifted or talented enough for a call. We may not see true need in the world. By looking deeper, take a second look, we can grow in awareness of our gifts, what makes us happy, the needs of the world and how God is present throughout. Listening—with our eyes, ears, hearts, and heads—increases awareness. Stress that as a group they will be entering a process of deep listening.

So, let’s look explore how we can grow in deep listening …

First, let’s listen to that which brings us joy… every person enjoys different aspects of life. Some of us are captivated by the arts or sports. Some of us prefer to be with large groups while others prefer to be in smaller groups or one-on-one. Some enjoy being out in nature near water while others prefer hiking in the mountains. We may enjoy working with our hands in the effort to make something, or working with a pen in the effort to write, or working with an instrument in creating music. Take a few moments and answer the questions in Block #1 ofHandout 2, Window of Discernment. Remember, the focus in block one is what we enjoy, what makes us happy, what brings us contentment. Don’t worry if it does not match a skill or talent; simply focus on what you enjoy.

After about 3-4 minutes, invite participants to briefly share their reflection in groups of three. Continue with the following when they have finished:

Second, let us listen to our strengths… every person possesses God-given strengths, gifts and talents that they can rely on through life. What are some concrete examples of strengths, gifts and talents?

Accept all answers, but encourage participants to think outside the box and move beyond traditional job skills, sports-related skills, etc. and consider qualities that engage us in relationships—good listener, compassionate, generous—or in overcoming challenges of life—perseverance, optimism, deep faith, etc.

Take a few moments to reflect on your gifts and talents. Answer the questions in Block #2 of Handout 2, Window of Discernment. Remember, the focus in block two is what we see as our strengths and gifts.

After about 3-4 minutes, invite participants to briefly share their reflection in groups of three. Continue with the following when they have finished:

Third, let us listen to the circumstances of our lives, the people and the opportunities … All of us have people who support us and guide us. Like Elijah, they are trusted people who often help us to listen more deeply. Still, other times, opportunities within our lives that are present throughout or are situational but help us overcome the obstacles and challenges in life. Name some of the opportunities in people’s lives. Allow for answers but elicit or raise a variety of answers like people/mentors, education, faith community, etc.

Additionally, all of us have faced challenges and obstacles that are more difficult to overcome if not impossible. How can such challenges be opportunities?

Allow for answers but explore the idea of learning from our mistakes or turning a positive into a negative, etc.