Suzanne G. Farnham - Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community

Listening Hearts

Discerning Call in Community

Listening

Suzanne G. Farnham
Joseph P. Gill
R. Taylor McLean
Susan M. Ward

Hearts

Discerning Call in Community

With New and Updated Content
Foreword by Eugene Taylor Sutton

30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Copyright 1991, 2011, new material 2021 by Christian Vocation Project, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

Morehouse Publishing, 19 East 34th Street,
New York, NY 10016
Morehouse Publishing is an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated.
www.churchpublishing.org

Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Excerpt from The Irrational Season by Madeleine LEngle. Copyright 1977 by Crosswicks, Ltd. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

Prayer adapted from Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton. Copyright 1956, 1958 by the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, Inc.

When the Time Is Ripe, copyright Joyce Rupp. Dear Heart Come Home by Joyce Rupp Henri Nouwen (Crossroad, 1996). Reprinted by arrangement with The Crossroad Publishing Company. www.crossroadpublishing.com

A record of this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: 978-1-64065-413-6 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-64065-414-3 (ebook)

To J ENIFER B ALLARD R AMBERG , our friend and co-worker, who experienced her own personal struggle with hearing Gods call. Her unique contributions came from her knowledge of feminist theology, and she guided and prodded us in the early stages of this books development. Her untimely death is felt deeply by each of us individually, and our working group has sorely missed her.

The authors are grateful for the assistance and support provided to us in writing this 30th Anniversary Edition. Stephanie Hull, Patty McLean, Frances Sullinger, and Norma Williamson worked extensively to help update the appendices. The Rev. Tim Grayson contributed to the updated annotated bibliography. Laura McConnell, office manager for Listening Hearts Ministries, cheerfully assisted us as needed. The Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton graciously wrote the foreword. Church Publishing initiated this opportunity to update our work and publish it in Spanish, with a special thanks to our editor Nancy Bryan.

Thirty years is a blink of an eye and an eternity. The authors are grateful for the opportunity to work together again.

For all that has been, Thanks.
For all that will be, Yes.

Foreword to the 30th Anniversary
Edition of Listening Hearts

I first met Suzanne Farnham in the spring of 2001 at Washington National Cathedral, where I was serving as the cathedrals canon for spiritual formation and director of the Cathedral Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage. Those were the years of the Cathedral sponsoring large conferences with thousands of people hearing dozens of famous speakers, but the prayer center itself was holding smaller gatherings at the time specifically for refugees from normal church lifelabyrinth walkers, meditators, contemplative practitioners, Christian spiritual nomads, and other seekerswho wanted to deepen their relationship with God and others in an authentic spiritual community.

Two books were handed to me that Suzanne co-wrote with others in her learning community: Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community and Grounded in God: Listening Hearts Discernment for Group Deliberations. The first volume was a primer for how someone can discern Gods call in the context of a listening community, and the second was a guide for decision-making groups on how to incorporate practical spirituality and consensus-building into their meetings. I was more than excited to read these books, which I devoured immediately, and have since come back to again and again for the spiritual wisdom contained in them. I invited Suzanne to come to the Cathedral as part of our Lenten series on spiritual practices to introduce her guidelines for discernment before a rather surprisingly large group of attendees. We were especially eager to hear her insights into how we could use Listening Hearts principles to create small prayer groups within the cathedral community.

Not long after that wonderful evening, the Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage launched several weekly gatherings for centering prayer, scripture meditation, spiritual direction, and other ancient spiritual practices that have lain dormant in much of the church for centuries. At these small gatherings in some simple prayer rooms in a large gothic-style cathedral, we learned to listen to one anothers stories. And we learned to listen to God.

Listening is the bedrock discipline of the spiritual life. Many, of course, would insist that prayer itself is the primary discipline, but what is prayer except a journey into mutual listening? Mother Teresa was once asked what she says to God when she prays. She replied:

I dont say anything. I just listen. The questioner persisted, Well then, what does God say to you? He doesnt say anything. He just listens.

I have been listening to God ever more deeply because of Listening Hearts Ministries, which Suzanne founded in 1987. It began as a grassroots effort in Baltimore among several communities of faith to help people understand the dynamics of discerning Gods call to them in their personal relationships, vocational choices, ordering of priorities, and responses to moral or ethical dilemmas. Through workshops, conferences, and individual consultations, Listening Hearts has been a faithful guide to thousands of people who make the journey into spiritual discernment. I have benefitted personally from meeting regularly with Suzanne and a few other Spirit guides ever since I became a bishop in 2008; it is through these monthly spiritual discernment sessions that I have been sustained in my vocation as well as in all other aspects of my life. We are grounded in the principles contained in this newly revised version of Listening Hearts.

This thirtieth anniversary edition of what is destined to become a classic spiritual work is needed now more than ever. We live in uncertain times, and our societys need for more spiritual grounding is palpable; this book is well positioned to meet that need. The new edition also recognizes the changing twenty-first-century religious landscape. Reflecting the growing diversity of faith expressions, it has been updated to invite more seekers who claim to be spiritual but not religious. There is no better time than now to reach out to persons who do not darken the doors of our houses of worship.

The spiritual writer and retreat leader Sister Joyce Rupp, OSM, reflecting on what the future may hold for us both as individuals and as a society, once said:

When the time is ripe,

the vision will come.

When the heart is ready,

the fruit will appear.

When the soul is mature.

the harvest will happen.

The time is ripe. Our hearts are ready. The soul of Listening Hearts has matured.

The harvest will happen.