The Way of Truth and Life.

[In making wise decisions, we must give] due attention to the three poles of experience: the world around us, our inner life, and the cultural word about the world. That will lead us to conclude that discovering the truth and sound discernment depend, first, on facing reality, especially the reality of the victims; second, on personal transformation and discerning interior movements; and, third, on identifying with a community that can sustain an alternative vision and praxis. (Brackley, 160)

All this week we have been reading the section titled "Discerning and Deciding." In the quote above, Brackley shares what is perhaps the second most important lens of all for thinking through how we discern and decide: The "three poles of experience," or the three legs on which we sit to see the world.

1) "Facing reality, especially the reality of the victims." We see the world through the lens of the cross, as Luther did. This means seeing the world not only through the cross of Jesus but also through the crosses of today's victims.

2) "Personal transformation and discerning interior movements." We are reborn in baptism - a "baptism once begun and ever to be continued," as Luther put it. We are surprised again and again by the boundless creativity of God's Spirit who continues to make and remake us - as individuals and as communities - in the different seasons of our lives. Sometimes we find that we must take time to notice when this is happening within us.

3) "Identifying with a community that can sustain an alternative vision and praxis." So often this one is forgotten! Forgotten by us introverts, yes, and forgotten, too, by religion that is steeped in our culture of rugged individualism - with all the pros and cons that implies. Is this what church is for us?

If so, it can help us with the ongoing "discerning and deciding" in our lives. Listen as Brackley elaborates (167):

We can only escape from [unhealthy hyper-individualism] if we recognize our need for a moral community that can support and challenge us in our search for truth and the right thing to do. Not every community will do for this, only those that draw on a deep tradition of practical wisdom. That is what churches are for. What they should do for us is nourish an experience of transcendence, a shared [experience of reality, especially the reality of the victims], and an alternative vision; and help us sustain that alternative in a hostile environment and communicate it to others. The first Christians faced just this challenge: to conserve and transmit their experience of Jesus and his vision. The Christian church was the answer to that need.

May our churches continue to answer that need in our day.