Clearness Committee
Time/Location: Determined as Needed
Cost: Free
“Many of us face a series of difficult dilemmas when we are trying to deal with a personal problem, question we are holding or decision. On the one hand, we know that the issue is ours alone to resolve and that we have the inner resources to solve it, but those resources are often hidden from us by layers of inner “stuff.” On the other hand, we know that other people might help us discover our inner resources and find our way, but by exposing our problem to others we run the risk of being “invaded” by their judgment and assumptions and advice, a common painful experience. As a result, we too often privatize these vital questions in our lives. At the very moment when we need all the resources we can get, we find ourselves cut off from our own resources and from the resources of the community.”
-Parker Palmer, The Clearness Committee: A Communal Approach to Discernment
The clearness committee helps us do exactly what it says in its name sake: find clarity. Gathered with a group of individuals a person facing a decision, personal problem or question comes to a small group community of three or four individuals who help one listen for clarity, for God’s voice, as they listen to the presenting question, decision or problem. The group does not advice give, try to fix or remedy the situation but trusts the God-given inner resources of the person they are listening with and into being. The process brings guidance and clarity in a loving, supportive, non-threatening environment.
One Person Writes:
“I found the experience of the clearness committee to be very moving. Finding and listening to God in the silence I was filled with this wonderful, peaceful presence that created a space to ask questions of the young man we worked with and to mindfully listen to him and reflect upon what he was saying. It was a very powerful and profound form of communion where the speaker and the listener became one and felt as if we were being held together in the hand of God.”
If you are interested in having a clearness committee set up, contact Center’s Director, Rev. Jennifer Gregg.