Sacred Compass - The Way of Spiritual Discernment - By J. Brent Bill - A cogent and illuminating work on the way of spiritual discernment by a gifted Quaker writer. - Book Review by Sun and Planets Spirituality AYINRIN

 Sacred Compass -

The Way of Spiritual Discernment -

By J. Brent Bill -

A cogent and illuminating work on the way of spiritual discernment by a gifted Quaker writer. -

Book Review by  Sun and Planets Spirituality AYINRIN 

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J. Brent Bill is a popular retreat leader, a Friends (Quaker) minister, and the author of Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality and Mind the Light: Learning to See With Spiritual Eyes. On the first page of this cogent and illuminating book on discernment, he states, "Many times I wish God spoke as clearly and as obviously as Mapquest or Google Maps or a GPS. But God doesn't."

We must find our way using what Bill calls "our sacred compass" which operates in our souls and calls us to a life full of adventure and meaning. The standard operating procedure for a spiritual person is to carefully listen to God who speaks to us through our bodies, our stories, imagination, inclinations, opportunities, dreams, authenticity, seasons, hearts, voices, and days. These leadings are in sync with a prayer by St. Patrick:

God be in my head, and in my understanding;

God be in my eyes, and in my looking;

God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;

God be in my heart, and in my thinking;

God be in my end, and at my departing.

Bill calls those on this path pilgrims, not tourists. There is a serious intention here to discern the plan that God has for our lives. Like the pilgrim we must constantly watch for signs and guideposts. And at times we will lose our way. To a tourist that spells catastrophe, whereas to a pilgrim it is seen as another opportunity to ask the right questions and to grow in grace.

The way may also take us to unexpected places. That is okay since the pilgrim can learn a lot through surrender to mystery and openness to the unknown. Along this path, we come to rely on spiritual mentors and friends who provide inspiration, encouragement, and hope. Quakers call those who support us as "weighty." We rely upon whatever wisdom they can provide. In addition to one-to-one spiritual friendship, there are clearness committees, a simple "gathering of a group of spiritual friends with the holy aspiration to help a person reach a sense of sacred clearness." Bill closes with a helpful resource collection of hiking equipment and First Aid supplies.

Read an Excerpt on Grace 

Sacred Compass

The Way of Spiritual Discernment

By J. Brent Bill

J. Brent Bill on walking the prairie as a metaphor for moving through life watching for signs.

A Book Excerpt on Grace

"Though I couldn't remember who said it, the words, 'You never really know your land until you walk it' came to me. Canadian thistles had sprung up in multitudes. I had slung on my backpack sprayer and was killing them so they wouldn't overwhelm the wildflowers and prairie grasses. Though I had driven over the property many times before, during this walk I sensed the subtle risings and fallings in the land that looks flat to the eye or feels flat to the tush on a tractor. The soles of my feet communicated to my soul the infinite variety of topography on our nine-acre prairie — soft ground, hard ground, mats of grass, and thick stems of ironweed. My 'eye-view' was lower than usual, too, so I saw the ground and growth differently — rattlesnake master and brown-eyed Susans beginning to bloom, bluestem grass reaching slowly toward the sun. There were rabbits where there'd been no rabbits before, butterflies fluttering by, and red-winged blackbirds calling out, warning me not to come too close to their nests.

"All in all, besides increasing my love of the place I call home, my walk that day drove home the responsibility I have to keep the land tended as well as I can so that someday there will be even more rabbits, butterflies, deer, and someday, wild turkey and quail. It reminded me of the joyous, ecstatic creativity of God when this was all called into being by a word. It reminded me that I'm a more attentive person to God around me when I'm walking than I am when I'm mechanized — whether driving across the prairie or speeding through life. Walking fits with the pilgrim life. God has opened the way for me to be a father, grandfather, husband, boss, writer, and tree and prairie grass farmer for a reason. I have a responsibility to live up to the way. 'And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it." '

"Walking the prairie is also a part of the path of God's continuing revelation to me. This is another part of the responsibility of the way — the responsibility of continual learning and deepening. The actual act of walking the prairie is spiritually renewing, but it is also a metaphor for how I should be moving through life — which is with my spiritual feet on the ground feeling the terrain and my spiritual eyes following the path and looking for the signs that will help me navigate successfully. Those signs come in a variety of ways — through people I meet, books that friends think I should read, music I hear, a question I'm asked. All of life, when we live as pilgrims, is a spiritual experience — an opportunity for living deeper into God's grace."

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