New Light Reflection

When the Path Finally Opens

The day before the final meeting with my first Core Team that I coached through the Houses of Hope Discernment Pathway, my co-Coach Bill and I reviewed the session’s curriculum together. The last session looks back on the previous four, opening up space for reflection and conversation of what was discerned. We split up session duties, and we both came to the conclusion that we’d probably finish early. We thought it wouldn’t take the full hour and a half to reflect on all that happened.

Boy, were we wrong.

Thus far, the process of Discernment had had its ups and downs. It seemed to be creating the reflective space that our curriculum calls for with some of our Core Team members. There were also periods of uncertainty and skepticism woven into their experience. The pathway through Discernment at first seems like a walk through unknown woods – not knowing where one is going, or where one is being led. And yet, as long as you just keep walking, just keep following, trusting that the path is there – even when it doesn’t seem like it – an opening will emerge. For one part leads to another, and all of them lead to an opening through the grace of the Holy Spirit.

At points, it felt like we were a little lost in the woods. Bill and I both expressed some uncertainty when we looked over the curriculum together and touching base with the map for the woods to see where we were leading the group. It did not seem like there was enough to get us to the discernment we were hoping for with this congregation. We, ourselves, seemed to have lost faith in our way.

But the opening would emerge. We too needed to trust it.

During our final session, the opening in the woods not only showed up – but it came upon us with so much clarity, that it blew me away. Through deep reflection on an empathy exercise that led to a conversation with someone on the outside of an individual’s community, and a reflection on the process as a whole, people shared vulnerable about the learnings from our journey together. One participant wondered aloud if the congregation had been too focused on what they wanted – the demographic they were hoping to attract – and instead needed to become open to what God was ushering in for them.

Another wondered in a similar way if it was time to try things a little differently. She noted that in a transitional season of life from work to retirement, perhaps now was a good time for her to show up in her community differently.

Another said that they had been holding questions in prayer with God for a while – questions about the future of the church and how God wanted them to move forward. They named that through this process, those questions did not go away – they did not get answered – but they have been refined. That their discernment was further sharpened and strengthened, and they were ready to begin sharing these questions with the wider congregation so they could discern together.

I was speechless. We got there. The opening had arrived.

Now, I could say that this transformation was on account of mine and Bill’s leadership or the process of Discernment itself. While I think we did a decent job and the process is designed with depth and intentionality, the real work came from the Core Team members and from the Holy Spirit at work within them. They opened themselves to us with curiosity and trust amidst the unclear and uncertain ways. They continued to follow even when skepticism arose. They earnestly completed each activity and the various reflective exercises we invited them to, even when they were unsure exactly what they were meant for.

We walked away knowing that this is the work of discernment. It is a work of wondering, reflecting, trying some new things, going to the edge of one’s comfort zone, and being open to the ways the Spirit will work. We can hope for transformation, but we cannot force it. That comes through God, and through the good folks doing the work with intention.

I hope this first congregation will continue with us in the Houses of Hope process It sounded like there is more for them in this process. The focus of the next Pathway – Core Capacities – is on dreaming differently, listening differently, showing up differently, and sharing differently. This all seems consistent with where their Discernment has taken them. All I can hope for is they continue to remain steadfast in their faith and open in their relationships. That this time of Discernment has been a path worth walking.

I know it was for me.