Clearness
Committee
“A
Clearness Committee is designed to provide a spiritual community
approach to personal discernment, and comes from the Quaker
tradition.”
Parker
Palmer (website Sacred Structures by Jim Baker)
Much of Barbara Brown
Taylor's emphasis last weekend at Awakening Soul was around
discernment. She used the Exodus story of Moses and the Hebrews being
led out of Egypt and into the desert. Yahweh went before them in a
pillar of cloud by day and a a pillar of fire by night, but the route he took was not straight, nor short, nor direct. They spent a “very
long time” (forty years) getting from point A to point B, “the
promised land.” Presumably, it took that long because Yahweh wanted it to take that long—he gave them time to decide what they
wanted to be. The Hebrews had been in captivity in Egypt for a while,
and many of them had done what the Baptists call “back-sliding.”
They had turned to other gods and adopted the religious beliefs, or
at least, the religious practices, of their captors. In fact, when
Moses went up Mt. Sinai to consult directly with Yahweh, he was away
for so long, they got scared and built themselves a golden idol of
Baal to worship. Let's face it, most of us have it in us to adopt an
idol or two when we're afraid and lost in the desert. It's hard to
know what to do when you don't know the way and there is no reliable
leader to follow—you can get way off course, just as the Hebrews did.
One way of calling upon
people we trust to help in the discerning process is a Quaker
tradition called a Clearness Committee. My understanding of the
function of this committee is that it is a group of people drawn or
appointed by one's faith community to help an individual or family
make major life decisions. They worship together, listen to the
questions and concerns brought by the individual or family, ask
careful questions and reflect back what they hear. Clearness
Committees do not give advice, judge, or ask leading questions.
They listen, ask open-ended questions (who, where, how, what), and then speak about what they
hear and observe from the individual or family, including what they
see in their non-verbal language. Then the person or persons have a
wider vision of what their options are and how to proceed. This exercise of discerning one's next moves calls upon both one's inner spiritual
resources, and the outer resources of one's community.
I like the idea of having
a group of trusted friends listen and guide. Since the Quaker
tradition has no designated head, no minister or pastor, they see
most things as communal. The questions we ask ourselves and the
decisions we make affect the people closest to us—why not call upon
them to help make those decisions. It is called a “clearness”
committee, because it helps us to clarify for ourselves what we want
to do, why we want to do it, and what the next steps may be.
Sometimes our decision may be to wait, or to scrap the idea all
together. And, sometimes we will move ahead with the full help and support of
our community. That idea appeals to me. If you are interested in
forming a Clearness Committee, you can check out the website, Sacred
Structures by Jim Baker, where you will find a full page of
suggestions about the organization and operation of such a committee.
I hope this day is a
blessing to you and they you are a blessing to others. Happy Sabbath.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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