Discernment
Monday, October 23rd, 2006How might we begin to lay the foundations for discernment? In her book, Sharing Wisdom, Mary McKinney outlines a structured process that creates a form of dialogue that is useful in organisations like churches and schools. She challenges the parliamentary approach to group decision-making. She believes that this approach often (not always) creates power struggles and it engenders feelings of inadequacy – some people don’t contribute because they feel they have nothing to offer and that others are smarter than they are.
She begins with Mathew 18:20 “When two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.” She reminds us that Christ is with us in our very beings – calling, forming, challenging, speaking, and listening. He will be using our ears, our voices, our minds and hearts to be his presence. In Matthew 28:20 Jesus had promised his followers that he will be with them always. In John 14:18f he promises to send them the Holy Spirit. Through the presence of the Spirit in our lives and in the lives of one another, Jesus calls, forms, challenges, affirms, speaks, listens – he lives. McKinney argues that as we come together to make a decision or discuss something, the Spirit in order to share with us the very wisdom of God, promises to each of us a piece of the wisdom. We each get a piece. No one can have all the wisdom of God but we each get given what we can handle at the time. Now this changes the way we think about each other and the group.
Although McKinney is talking about church based decision making where all are Christians but I believe that the same process is available to us in other settings, in secular settings. The Spirit is already I the world calling, forming, challenging, affirming, speaking, inspiring everyone. Now some will resist and reject – but that will happen in Christian circles, too. I still believe that the decision we get through this process is the closest approximation to the truth we will get.
The basic features are
- No one has all the wisdom
- Everyone has a different piece
- Everyone has some of the wisdom.
We get an example of this in Acts 15 – the story of the Council of Jerusalem. We need to remember, too, that in much of the New Testament the word ‘you’ frequently means you plural not you singular. In our highly individualistic 21c we generally read it in its singular form.
The case for this process is particularly strong from Scripture when we are considering Christian groups. Key passages are Deut 30:11-14, 1 Cor 12: 8-10; 1 John 2: 20, 27. But we need constantly to keep in mind God’s way of working. God is the one who invites the outcasts to his banquet – the people from the alleys, those sleeping rough, the great unwashed, those we normally hold in low regard. Doesn’t he also invite them to be part of his preferred process of decision making?
This process challenges us to believe in the presence of the Holy Spirit in all that we do. See especially the apocryphal book of Wisdom, especially Chapter 6.
When we compare the shared wisdom model with the parliamentary we see the following
Parliamentary
- Analytical
- Selective
- Competitive
- Controlling
Shared Wisdom
- Synthesising
- Holistic
- Collaborative
- enabling
McKinney’s shared wisdom model involves
a) Sharing the Data
i) What knowledge is pertinent to the issue?
ii) Who will be affected by the decision? How do they feel about it? What wisdom do they have to offer?
b) Reflecting Prayerfully on the Data
i) Each person reflects on the data in terms of his or her lived experience and insights
ii) Each person listens to the prompting of the Spirit in the depths of the heart
iii) What is my piece of wisdom to be shared?
iv) This is a slow, reflective step.
c) Sharing the Wisdom
i) Each person shares without interruption
ii) Each person listens as others share
iii) An authentic conversation follows so that the group recognises the joint wisdom.
This process may be adapted to regular classrooms. It is a variation on Glasser’s classroom meeting. Instead of each child reflecting prayerfully on the data we would encourage them to engage in the process and to reflect according to their own values and decision making processes. Children of faith might be encouraged to reflect in prayerful terms.