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SP2527 Spiritual Life and Leadership: Individual Discernment in a Group Context (Clearness Committee)
Participants of the class in Clearness Committee pose on the steps of Geneva Hall - May 2006 Time/place: Instructors: Stephanie Croom, Elizabeth Ford, Elizabeth Liebert, Kang Hack Lee Description This class
introduces participants to some theological and spiritual foundations of discernment through learning
about and engaging in Clearness Committee. This spiritual practice originated in the Society of Friends
to assist believers to discern within a faith-group context. Participants
will read and discuss several historical and contemporary Quaker texts. The center of the class,
however, will consist in small groups functioning as Clearness Committees for each of its members.
Each participant will serve in all the roles within the Clearness Committee structure and have the
opportunity to “seek clearness” on an issue of his/her own. Learning strategies: lecture, discussion,
role-play, reflective reading, small group process, reflection paper. Grading: pass/fail only. No
unexcused absences and no more than two excused absences.
Required
Palmer, Parker, “Clearness Committee,” Weavings (July/Aug 1988): 37-40. (handout)
Loring, Patricia, “Spiritual Discernment,” Pendle
Hill Pamphlet #305, 1992.
Steere,
Introduction, pp. 3-53, John Woolman, Journal (Abridgement), pp.159-237 and Carolyn Stephen, Quaker
Strongholds (Selections) in Quaker Spirituality,
pp. 239-258.
Recommended
Palmer, Parker, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation.
Course requirements Actively participate in the group process, taking a turn at each of the Clearness
Committee roles, and respecting confidentiality of all members of the group.
Read, process and share about the required reading, including brief written
response (ie a paragraph, containing “lessons and puzzles,” --something you take away and a question
that occurs to you). These
“lessons and puzzles” will be given to the group leader on Feb. 8, 15, 22 and March 15 They can also inform the final reflection paper.
Prepare a reflection paper of 4-5 pp. (typed, double-spaced, 12 pt font) in
which you reflect upon and integrate the readings and the Clearness Committee process in general
and in your particular experience of discernment. Hand in two
copies of this paper on May 3.
Recommended, but not required: keep
a journal that includes both the readings and the discernment process as you experience it over the
course of the semester. It will maximize not only your learning, but your own growth in self-awareness
through your discernment.
Course objectives 1. Identify insights from the Quaker tradition that inform this method of
discernment and compare and contrast with one’s own theological tradition (through lecture, readings,
brief written responses to the reading, final paper; evaluated by the group facilitator and the lead
instructor).
2. Frame a focused issue relevant to this form of personal discernment (through
practice in the small group; evaluated by the group facilitator)
3. Articulate the process of one’s own discernment through the writing of
the precis, responding appropriately to questions as posed within the Clearness Committee, and reflecting
on the process through the final paper; skills (not the quality or outcome of the
discernment) evaluated by the facilitators and the lead instructor.
4. Demonstrate the skills attendant in each of the Clearness Committee roles:
focus person, clerk, recording clerk and member of the committee (through role play, small group
practice and debriefing and final paper; evaluated by group facilitator and lead instructor)
5. Manifest behaviors that foster the discernment of others, specifically,
maintaining worshipful silence, holding the focus person in prayer before, during and after the Clearness
Committee, framing, testing, and timing useful discernment questions, avoiding indirect advice-giving
and problem-solving and maintaining confidentiality (through small group practice and debrief and
self-report, evaluated by the group facilitator).
6. Distinguish appropriate responses for a Clearness Committee from those
of Contemplative Listening and gain ease with the shift (through lecture, small group practice and
debriefing; evaluated by the group facilitator).
7. Identify insights and skills from the Quaker tradition and this spiritual
practice that can inform skills for ministry (through group process in final plenary session, small
group practice; evaluated by facilitators and lead instructor).
*
* * * *
Process for reflective (spiritual) reading to be used in this process
Divide the week's pages into several
sittings so that you can savor, chew, ponder the various levels of meaning, reading formationally
rather than informationally; that is, to let the readings address you rather than to master their
contents.
Begin each session by consciously
centering yourself and letting go what is running around in your mind. Be aware that the kind and
purpose of the reading you are about to do differs from the informational reading you do so much
of every day. Ask for the presence of the Holy Spirit in your reading.
Pick up the selected text and
read slowly, ruminating as you go, proceeding without hurry through the section. Write down your
significant movements/insights (whether or not they feel "positive") in your journal or
on sheets that you can keep cumulatively. (These entries can form the basis of the short written
reflections due with the reading assignments and also the reflection paper you will be writing later
in the semester.) Proceed to the next chapter or section, spending no more than one hour reading,
pondering, writing at each sitting.
At the conclusion of the sitting,
write down any questions about the content or the process which you would like answered, along with
something that struck you
Repeat this process on the next
day, again pondering/digesting for no more than an hour. Continue
the process until the assigned sections have been completed--usually no more than two hours total
per week. The evening before class, read over your jottings. Select one or several that you feel
comfortable sharing in written form with your group leader.
*
* * * *
Process for preparing Clearness Committee each week.
Focus person:
Prepare
a precis (summary) (3-5 typed pages) of the issue you for which you seek clearness. Give this to
the members of your group the week preceding your focus time.
Clearness committee members
Read
precis prayerfully, as a sacred text. (If you know Lectio Divina, you may use this method for praying
through the precis.) Listen for content, images, questions, connections or anything else which may
be helpful for the focus person. Listen, as well, for gaps, for what is not said. Make any jottings
you find helpful on the precis directly; it will be returned to the focus person at the conclusion
of the clearness committee. (The focus person may find your notes helpful, but in any case, this
procedure will respect the focus person’s confidentiality.) Do NOT, however, plan questions to ask
the focus person.
Clerk: In addition to
preparing the precis, prayerfully plan the opening and closing of the session. (In the spirit of
Quaker Meeting, the context out of which this practice grew, silence is encouraged at these moments.)
Recording clerk: In addition to preparing the precis, bring sufficient writing materials
for note taking; collect copies of precis and return to focus person along with all your notes at
the conclusion of the session.
* * * * *
Covenant for Clearness Committee
The small group context helps each discerner in important ways:
·
it “stands in”
for the larger church, the context of all Christian discernment;
·
it provides a context for the discerner to process aloud, hearing himself or herself
continue noticing, naming and weighing;
·
it provides a loving “container” for the focus person to do some inner work;
·
it provides a source of new data, as others share what they noticed as they listened.
Some agreements will help us to do with care this holy work on behalf of
those discerning:
1. Regular, timely attendance in the small group. (If group members come
and go, the group is unable to reach a trust level that facilitates discernment. If one member has
not yet arrived, the group is hesitant to start). Each member’s listening and offering prayerful
support and questions provides a different “lens” for the discerner to use in his/her process.
2. Contribute to the process: Take a turn at each of the roles of the
Clearness Committee. Prepare, in a spirit of prayer, for any
particular task you are undertaking, prayerfully reflect on the precis, and pray in particular for
the person who is seeking clearness.
3. “Test” the content and timing of the questions you ask in the Clearness
Committee.
4. Observe confidentiality: what is said in the small group remains in
the group. One exception: the group facilitator may share with the instructor on a “need to know” basis,
observing the professional confidentiality of a supervisory relationship.” (This kind of check-in
on the part of the facilitator with the instructor rarely needs to occur in any way that names the
person in question.)
5. Pray for each other.
* * * * *
Probable Calendar
Note:
February 1: Introduction to the Spirituality Concentration in
general and to this seminar; introduction of participants; introduction to the reading and the process
of reflection to be used with the reading; other organizational matters. Experiential base for discernment.
Spiritual discernment, what is it?.
February 8: Plenary: Overview of Spiritual
discernment,, cont. Quaker theology and practice as the context of Clearness Committee. Small group:
introductions, covenanting, scheduling of tasks, confidentiality.
Discussion of assigned readings.
Assignment: Read the following and write brief “lessons and puzzles”:
Patricia
Loring, “Spiritual Discernment” (all, pp. 3-32)
Parker
Palmer, “Clearness Committee” (all, handout)
February 15: Plenary: Introduction to the Clearness Committee,
framing an issue for discernment and writing a precis. Introduction to John Woolman. Discussion of
assigned readings in small group.
Assignment: Read the following and write brief “lessons and puzzles”
Douglas
Steere, “Introduction,” pp. 3-53
February 22: Plenary:
Fishbowl of Clearness Committee. Small group: discuss assigned readings.
Assignment: Read the following
and write brief “lessons and puzzles”:
John
Woolman, Journal (abridged) Chapters 1-8, pp. 161- 213.
NB: Focus persons for the first clearness committee gives precis this week.
.
March 1: Clearness Committee: Focus
person 1
March 8: Clearness Committee: Focus
person 2
March 15: Plenary: debriefing of clearness committee process.
Small group: [or plenary] discussion of readings.
Assignment: Read the following and write brief “lessons and puzzles”:
John
Woolman: Chapters 9-end, pp. 214-237
Caroline
Stephens: Quaker Strongholds, pp. 241-258
(focus person for third Clearness
Committee gives precis today)
March 22: Clearness Committee: Focus
person 3
NB:
focus person for April 5 gives precis today OR makes other arrangements with his/her group.
March 29: Spring Break (no class)
April 5: Clearness Committee: Focus
person 4
April 12: Clearness Committee: Focus person 5
April 19: Clearness Committee: Focus person 6
April 26: Clearness Committee: Focus person 7, if needed, or
continuation of individual process for clearness (use the same clerk and recording clerk as in the
original CC)
May 3: Clearness Committee: Focus person 8, if needed, or continuation
of individual processes for clearness (use the same clerk and recording clerk as in the original
CC)
Assignment: Semester reflection papers due today, in duplicate.
May 10: Plenary: bookkeeping,
pastoral applications of CC to other situations and contexts; course evaluation and closure; small
group closure.
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