When I first came to Santa Fe Mission, the whole place was locked up. There were burglar bars everywhere; everything had locks on it. The day was cold, in the middle of winter, and it was a real dead-looking place. But the people saw my car outside, and at least ten families came by, either to inquire what I was doing there or to look for help. Almost everybody that came had a need of some sort. And all I had to give them was grapefruit.
Donovan: Women Priests in the Episcopal Church, pp. 84-85
Preparation for Empowerment Session 1
To ask how and when God has empowered each Seeker, exploring how ministry relates to her/his sense of personal fulfillment. To examine each Seeker’s relationship with power, considering what this implies for ministry and what further healing or renewal is needed for wholeness.
Readings
- “Listening Hearts” chapter 7
- Isaiah 40:28-31
- Matthew 11:28-30
- Philippians 2:1-18
- The Passion accounts from all four Gospels
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
1. With whom do you connect emotionally in the Passion stories? Why? With whom do you connect intellectually in the Passion stories? Why?
2. A spiritual trap in ministry is to identify with Christ and wrongly empty ourselves, crucifying ourselves. What does it mean to be faithful to the cross of Christ?
3. When have you experienced new life from brokenness, pain, and death? When have you hoped for, believed in, or known resurrection and its power?
4. Who has changed your life for better and for worse? Who has power and authority over you? How do you relate to these people? What have you learned about your relationship with the power and authority that others hold over you?
5. Whose life/lives have you changed for better and for worse? Who do you influence? Are you aware of your power over their lives? What is the style/volume/ tenor of your power and authority? How do you relate to these people? What have you learned about your relationship with the power and authority that you hold over others?
Following Empowerment Session: Individual Reflections
You will use these notes in writing the final Discernment Reflection
1. What new learnings about yourself have surfaced in this session?
2. What new learnings about each other have surfaced in this session?
Preparation for Empowerment Session II
To ask whether and how any Seeker’s life has been shaped by the Holy Spirit in a way that calls for exploring lay and/or ordained ministry through further discernment.
Readings
- “Listening Hearts” chapter 8
- James 1:5
- Luke 11:1-13
- Read the Baptismal Covenant, beginning on page 304 in The Book of Common Prayer, regarding the ministry to which all baptized persons are called.
- Remember, and spend time reflecting on, each Seeker’s Spiritual Autobiography or Map. (Vocation, Session I).
- Read the Canons that pertain to what the Church seeks in a clergy person. A copy of the Canons should be available from your local Episcopal Church office. They are also available at www.churchpublishing.org/general_convention.
Spend and significant amount of time this week in prayer
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Write or draw what emerges during your times of prayer this week. (When you meet together as a group, you may wish to use newsprint to capture the images and words that emerged from your times of prayer and reflection.)
NOTE: THIS IS NOT YET THE TIME TO SEEK CONSENSUS ABOUT EACH OTHERS SPECIFIC CALL TO MINISTRY, LAY OR ORDAINED. Simply be faithful about sharing what emerged from your time in prayer. Listen to one another. Do not comment, or critique.
1. How has the Holy Spirit shaped each Seeker’s character in a way that seems compatible with lay ministry? With ordained ministry? Please be specific.
2. What is God asking of each Seeker? When you envision God doing with each Seeker what God wants, what do you see? (Where is each Seeker? What is he/she doing? Who else is there?)
Preparation for Empowerment Session II
What does each Seeker want and/or need to learn or experience in order to grow into God’s call to ministry?
Readings
- “Listening Hearts” chapter 9 and epilogue
- Hebrews 13:20-21
Almighty God, we thank you that by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ you have overcome sin and brought us to yourself, and that by the sealing of your Holy Spirit you have bound us to your service. Renew in these your servants the covenant you made with them at their Baptism. Send them forth in the power of that Spirit to perform the service you set before them; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Book of Common Prayer, p. 418
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
1. What are your hopes and concerns for each Seeker?
2. What does each Seeker need to learn or be equipped with in order to grow into God’s call to ministry? What are the next “steps in faithfulness” for each Seeker at this time? (ie. finish school, reduce debts, enroll in a class, follow-up on an unexplored interest, etc.)
3. Does any individual Seeker need to resolve anything in order to move on with his/her life and ministry? Are there wounds (or commitments) so deep that any Seeker really needs to tend to them before considering a further commitment to ministry?
4. What are you thankful for which has come about as a result of this process of discernment? What has been hard about this process?
5. What you are thankful for about each person’s presence as part of the discernment process? How did they enrich your own process of discernment?