The Blog of Discernment: Suggested Reading

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Suggested Reading

Cathy Whitmire will be joining us for our Second All-Meeting Retreat on January 24^th to help us develop our skills in individual and corporate discernment. Pablo S from Worship and Ministry committee compiled the following list of reading material on discernment and decision making. We hope you will prepare for the retreat by reading as much as you can from this list or other sources that you have. We encourage you to share your thoughts from the readings with friends at lunch, over coffee, or in your reading groups.

Be sure to save the January 24th date and join us for the day. Bring a friend who is curious but might not come without your encouragement. Tentatively, we plan to start with lunch, with optional work parties in the morning, and we will have a talent show in the evening.

Flyers

Brown, Thomas. “When Friends Attend to Business.”
Barbour, Hugh. “Five Tests for Discerning a True Leading.”
Goodwin, Nancy. “A Question of Authority”
North Pacific Yearly Meeting. “Meeting for Business”
Loring, Patricia. “Spiritual Responsibility in Meeting for Business.”
Wilsher, Barry. “Quaker Organisations: a Plain Person’s Guide to Structure and Business Meetings in the Religious Society of Friends.”
Hoffman, Jan. “Clearness Committees and Their Use in Personal Discernment.”
FCUN [ed] “Reminders for Good Friends Process.”

Books

Sheeran, Michael. Beyond Majority Rule.
North Pacific Yearly Meeting. Faith & Practice [p. 73]
Fendall, Wood and Bishop. Practicing Discernment Together: Finding God’s Way Forward in Decision-Making.
Bill, Brent. Sacred Compass: The Way of Spiritual Discernment.
Woodrow, Peter. Clearness: Processes for Supporting Individuals and Groups in Decision-Making. [pp 6-10]
Selleck, George. The Quaker Meeting for Business.
Punshon, John. Encounter with Silence: Reflections from the Quaker Tradition. [pp 98-104]
Steere, Douglas. The Quaker Meeting for Business

Pendle Hill Pamphlets

Morley, Barry. # 307 “Beyond Consensus: Salvaging Sense of the Meeting.”
Lacey, Paul. #264 “On Leading and Being Led.”
Lacey, Paul. #365“…The Authority of Our Meetings Is the Power of God.”
Loring, Patricia. #305 “Spiritual Discernment and Clearness Committees Among Friends.”
Brinton, Howard. #20 “Guide to Quaker Practice.”
Grundy, Marty. #347 “Tall Poppies: Spiritual Gifts and Leadership.”
#388 “Expectant Listening: Finding God’s Thread of Guidance”

A Year of Discernment for University Friends Meeting

What is it?
This will be a year to discern how we become a community:
o that people love and want to serve,
o that allows all members to feel that their work fits into the big picture of the meeting,
o that offers members a universal sense of both caring for and being cared for,
o and that efficiently identifies and recognizes the talents of each member so that we are all left with ample time to deepen our spirituality and community-building.

We hope to be joyful, intentional and corporate in our discernment, to listen to each other and to the Divine, and to listen and share our leadings with one another as we seek a deeper spirituality.

What it isn't
The year of discernment will not be a time to stop our work. We hope it will be a time of excitement and refreshment because work feels different from the usual. We will not be “laying down” committees or asking committees to stop doing certain things. We have also come to realize that work which may seem less essential is often work which people love, and that has led into some close community for the people doing it.

Rather, committees will be asked to examine their work and their mission with questions such as: how is the work connected to the big picture of UFM's work; how can the work be more enriching and fulfilling to committee members; how can (does) the committee build community?

Structural Aspects of the Discernment Year
The structural aspects of the year of discernment will have two parts: the creation of a steering committee to guide the process, and some modest reorganizing of committees to make better use of UFM's existing resources.

Steering Committee
Nominating Committee will nominate, and bring forward for the approval of meeting for business, a “Discernment Year Steering Committee.” This committee will oversee the preparation, implementation and analysis of the discernment process and prepare a proposal for the actions that will follow the year of discernment. Nominating Committee hopes that the steering committee would be approved by February and would immediately begin the preparation phase of their work.

Preparation - February through May 2008 (with some aspects carrying over into implementation). Engage the community in an analysis of what is the essential work and how it gets done and/or ask individual committees to consider the essential aspects of their work. Are there other ways to do it? Are there other committees with which they could be cooperating? Work with various committees (Oversight, W&M, Friends Center, Adult Religious Education) to organize the activities of discernment that will take place throughout the year.

Implementation - June 2008 through May 2009. See that spiritual nurturing and community building are taking place. Check in on the discernment processes; help with questions and queries. The Steering Committee could work with the various committees and groups within the meeting to be the guide for these processes, not the “doer.” Implementation could include the proposal of mid-course corrections, if needed.

Analysis - March through May 2009 (or some later period, if proposed by the steering committee). Engage the community in analysis of where we are and what we have discerned. Pull together proposals for the next steps.

The Blog of Discernment

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Suggested Reading

A Year of Discernment for University Friends Meeting

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