Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Spring 2013 Issue | Page 7

Discernment fed my own desire to seek out communities in the Episcopal Church who ask radical questions about what it means to be the body of Christ in the world today. Do we have a building? A prayer book? A priesthood? No one on my committee had answers but encouraged my questions, encouragement that helped me step out to spend my time in seminary continuing the search, meeting people who have dreams of holy mischief in the Church and the world, and opening my own sense of call up to possibilities I could not have dreamed while in discernment. Three years later, I can say I have fewer answers than when I began, but I’m rather skilled at asking a good question. And still I have that deep sense that the world needs space where it’s OK not to know, not to have it all together. But in all our not-knowing, we are to know and proclaim what God has shown us in Christ: We are God’s beloved children. The Rev. John Ohmer Rector, The Falls Church, Falls Church The best definition of “discernment” I’ve heard is “listening to various voices.” That definition recognizes that the voice of God is not the only voice we hear; it’s a recognition that many other things compete for our attention. And because the voice of God is most often “a still, small voice – the Ohmer sound of soft stillness” (1 Kings 19), it can be easy to miss hearing God’s call. Jesus, we