Seeing the Signs Along the Way

Following our sacred compass is like hunting for a house down a country lane—we get the general direction, but need to learn to look for the signs. “Take heed of the promptings of Truth and Love, for those are the leadings of God,” urged the first Quaker, George Fox. Leadings is the word that Friends use to describe direction or guidance coming from the Spirit of God. Divine direction, God’s guidance, spiritual opportunity, and revelation are intimately tied into following the sacred compass. Here's a reading from chapter three of Sacred Compass.

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http://www.brentbill.com/03SeeingtheSignsOntheWay.mp3

Enjoy--
Brent

Signs & Wonder

At the Friends in Fellowship worship group the other night, our intentional spiritual conversation ended up centering around signs and their meanings. Not the "Welcome to Ploughshares Farm" sign at the end of our driveway, but the spiritual signs along our ways -- the nudgings our souls feel and so forth.

And part of the question we discussed is whether they are always directional in some way. Turn here? Stop! Beware of the (spiritual) dog. Certainly that's one function of Divine signs -- to help us find our way in the pilgrimage called life.

But is there another, just as important, roll they fill -- that of merely teaching us to pay attention to God at work around us. That is, could God place signs all around us to teach us, in the words of a song that Ed Kilbourne sings, "Everything is Holy Now."

Read a questioning child's face and say it's not a testament,
Is something that I wouldn't say
See another new morning come and say it's not a sacrament,
I tell you that it can't be done.

This morning, outside I stood and saw a little red-winged bird,
Shining like a burning bush, singing like a scripture verse.
It made me want to bow my head, I remember when church let out,
How things have changed since then everything is holy now

(Peter Mayer © Peter Mayer Music)

So signs make me wonder -- about their meaning and purpose. What about you? What purpose do you see God's signs serving?

--Brent

Sacred Compass: Our Lives Speak Through Our Bodies

We don’t often think of our bodies as carriers of spiritual truth, but an essential part of learning to let our lives speak is listening to what our bodies say about the situations life presents and the directions we feel led to go. Here's a reading from chapter two of Sacred Compass.

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Enjoy--
Brent

Sacred Compass: The Holy Discovery

In pointing us always to God, the compass helps us with our soul’s deepest question, What am I supposed to do with my life? The question of how to live our lives especially presses on those of us who sense we are not merely humans trying to be spiritual, but are deeply spiritual beings endeavoring to live as fully human.

Here's a bit from the introduction of Sacred Compass.

You can also download this podcast at http://brentbill.com/01theholydiscovery.mp3

Enjoy--
Brent

The Sacred Compass and Getting Lost

Yesterday I spent a delightful afternoon at the annual Gathering of Friends General Conference. I'd be asked to do a reading from Sacred Compass, which went well. The audience seemed engaged, they asked some questions, and a good discussion ensued. Then, after chit cat and signing some books, it was off to Indiana.

Nancy read the Mapquest directions and I followed her well read instructions. In spite of that, I soon stopped seeing signs that said Route 219 very quickly. After a mile or so, I pulled over and pulled out our road atlas and looked at the Johnstown mini-map and looked. It appeared that so long as I continued south on the road we were on, we'd run into Route 219.

So south we continued -- right into the heart of downtown Johnstown and "Thunder in the Valley," a huge annual motorcycle event. Everywhere I looked was a motorcycle but nowhere I looked was a street where it was supposed to be. Especially no Route 219 heading toward the interstate.

Finally, Nancy spotted a sign that said "To 219" and up the ramp we went. The opposite direction from where we'd be gong. It didn't make any sense -- why would we go north to find the road going south? And why were none of the roads where they were supposed to be?

Ten miles later we came an exit for Route 219 -- 1/2 a block from where I originally turned on to the road that led to 219. How can that be, I wondered? As I merged into the swiftly moving 219 traffic, I glanced up at the mirror and noticed the compass embedded in it. It told me I was going south -- and had been since we got on the road that said "To 219." Which also told me that when I thought I was going south earlier, I had actually been heading north -- and had been moving away from my destination the entire time. That's why MapQuest and the road atlas were worthless -- I was reading them "upside down."

All I needed to do to get going right was to look up at the compass. I would have seen clearly that I was going north, not south, and turned around.

This all reminded me that it is precisely when I am certain that I'm going the right direction that I need most to check my compass. And in this case, I'm not talking about the one in the car. I'm thinking here about my sacred compass; the work of the Holy Spirit in my life. I may have checked the maps, the weather, the road conditions, and my own sense of direction -- but that may not be enough.

The car's compass was there. I just needed to consult it. The same is true of my soul's compass. Even when I've just finished a reading telling other people to consult their's.

-- Brent

As Way Opens

Where am I supposed to go with my life? That’s the question. “To be or not to be,” is profound and fine for a Shakespearean drama, but if we’re asking the “What am I supposed to do with my life” question, then “To be or not to be” is moot. We be. Now what? The “where” question is as universal and old as humankind. It is as personal and contemporary as each one of us alive today. It especially presses upon those of us who sense that we are not merely human trying to be spiritual, but rather that we are deeply spiritual endeavoring to live as fully human. We begin our days with that “what” question. We awaken every morning with a cavalcade of choices before us – beginning with whether to even get up or not. Things get more complicated from there. The very act of making a choice – any choice -- takes us deep into the concept that our lives are more than our own. We belong to ourselves, to be sure, but we also belong to others in our lives. And most of all we belong to God. And God has plans for us. At least that’s what faith and a good deal of religious training tells us.

When I was in college I encountered a group handing out little buff colored booklets titled “The Four Spiritual Laws.” The first spiritual law was "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." That’s not a novel concept. It’s firmly rooted in Christian scriptures. The Bible and the whole of Christian history is full of examples of people seeking to determine what God wants them to do. They cast lots, set out fleeces, prayed, fasted, learned to listen to donkeys, went on retreats, climbed up on cacti, and more. Bookstores are crammed full of titles about learning God’s will – Amazon alone offers more 38,000 books on the subject in its religion section.While some of these books will offer you five easy steps for discerning what God’s directions are for you, this is not one of them. It is also not about taking charge of our lives in the accepted, self-help best-seller sense. It is not about twenty-one indispensable qualities of a leader or seven highly effective habits.

That’s because coming to an understanding of God’s direction for us is not that simple. It’s also amazingly countercultural – about learning to stop and pay attention rather than shouting and demanding attention. If we want to know what God wants, we have to go to a deeper place than a set number of habits or qualities and become men and women of spiritual quality and the habit of looking for God in every place our life takes us.

That deeper place takes us to the discovery that the act of deciding to seek God’s direction for our lives changes us. We find that such spiritual discernment is more about sensing the presence and call of God than it is about making the right decision. In a grace filled way, this process of discovery awakens us both to a life of constant creation and recreation. It shows us how we are less about being right or making the correct decisions than we are about the work of transforming ourselves. And in the process, we are also transforming the lives of the people around us and ultimately the world. When we pay attention, this is something our souls intuit, but it’s harder to get our minds around. What we do see is that nothing that involves transformation can be accomplished by a recipe found in The God’s Will Cookbook – take one dash of Bible, three tablespoons of prayer, and bake in the oven of God’s light.

Instead, at the heart of discovering God’s direction is contained in the wisdom of the Quaker saying “as way opens.”

Friends drop this tiny phrase into conversation as easily as other folks do “Hello” or “How’re you doing?” “Will you be coming for dinner tomorrow?” asks one. “I will, if way opens,” answers the other. In some ways, it’s our version, in daily conversation, of “Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise.” It’s become almost a Quaker cliché.

But, as with all clichés, there’s powerful truth lurking in this quirky Quaker conversational pattern. That truth is the belief that God’s revelation, even in and integral to daily life, continues for those who seek God’s way. God is at work within and around us, leading, guiding, sometimes when we least expect or feel it.

“As way opens” comes from a bit larger phrase, “To Proceed as Way Opens.” This means “to wait for guidance, to avoid hasty judgment or action, to wait for future circumstances to help solve a problem. The spiritual guidance which may come in a time of seeking or entirely unexpectedly, bringing suggestion for previously unforeseen action.”

As way opens about more than one time spiritual discernment. While its lessons can be used to help us make major life decisions – careers, life partners – and minor ones, as way opens is about a form of Christian discernment that takes us to the heart of the Christian life as living in God's will. It’s about discovering a fresh and deeper way to live a God directed life – a life that eschews simple spiritual solutions and takes us to the deepest, most soulful parts of our being.

It is about learning from God in the daily and life long.

As way opens is how we can come to see our lives, with all their experiences good and bad, as God-directed.

-- Brent

Silence and Discernment

I've found that holy silence is an essential part of practicing discernment. As is asking myself queries. Since Quakers don’t have a formal creed or prayer book against which to measure faithfulness, we developed the concept of asking questions of ourselves individually and corporately as a gauge of faith and practice. This method began in the 17th century with the now quaint name of “Queries.”




Queries are sets of questions rooted in Quaker faith and life as informed by Friends’ history, collective Quaker wisdom, and the Bible. The Queries are meant to be a form of guided self-examination. In that sense, there are no outwardly defined correct answers. Rather the Queries give us a framework within which we can look at and consider prayerfully the direction of our lives.



You might find the following queries helpful as you develop your practice of discernment. Relax your body and mind, breathe deeply, put down the book, and think about the Query slowly and gently.

• Do I try to set aside times of quiet for openness to the Holy Spirit?
• Do I encourage in myself a habit of relying on God’s guidance for each day?
• Are my private holy silences a source of strength and guidance for daily living?
• In holy silence, do I respond to the leadings of the Holy Spirit, without trying to decide in advance what leadings may come?
• Do I spend time daily in prayerful meditation, Bible reading, or other devotional activities that help put me in touch with my spiritual center?
• Am I open to the healing power of God’s love?
• Am I aware of the spirit of God at work in the ordinary activities and experience of daily life?
• Am I open to new leadings from God?
• Am I ready to yield to God’s will?
• As my holy silence comes to a close, have I listened fully to all that has been spoken and unspoken?
  

-- Brent

(adapted from the "Quietude Queries" in Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality.