Dcn Leah Sandwell-Weiss

Dear Friends,

And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you determine what really matters, ….(Philippians 1:9-10)

How do you “determine what really matters?”

At first glance, I read today’s reading from Philippians as another standard introduction to Paul’s letters. I tend to skim them to get to the meat of the letter, if I read them at all. I have to admit that I have problems with Paul’s writing style and prefer more straightforward stories or history than his working out of theology as he writes.

So I hadn’t caught this phrase as important until I read today’s reading from Forward Day by Day (a booklet of daily meditations that reflect on a passage in the assigned reading for the day). The author notes that “the phrase in Greek connotes discernment, as well as making evident, searching and assessing, as well as showing.”

When I think about discernment, I often think about discerning my calling or what my next step should be. That’s often an individual process—involving prayer, research, and reflection. But it doesn’t need to be—and Paul appears to recommend doing it in community. That can be one-on-one with a spiritual director or a therapist or ybest friend. Or in a group—friends, Bible study, or a special study group, like the anti-racism discussion group at Saint Philip’s.

Of course, discernment isn’t always for an individual. We may need to determine what WE as a community should be doing next. What should we do to take action about an issue or a problem? And then we need to share what we’re doing. As the author of the Forward Day by Day reading writes, Paul wants us “to perceive more clearly what matters most and to bear witness to what matters so that others may perceive it too.” [my emphasis]

Anything else? Well, of course: Love. Paul says that he is praying that the Philippians’ love may grow “more and more” which will lead to knowledge and insight to determine what really matters. And it appears that this love should be done in community. The author of the Forward Day by Day reading writes: “Communal love is the source of the knowledge that the community needs.” Can we share that communal love to discern what really matters?

—Dcn Leah