Discerning the Spirits: Finding Christ’s Voice
The Light in Every Thing is a podcast of the Seminary of The Christian Community in North America. Learn more about the Seminary at our website or become a friend and supporter with access to more content at our Patreon.
Our thanks to Elliott Chamberlin who composed the opening music, "On the Road" and the closing music, "Seeking Together". You can find more of his music here.
Episode 1: The Good Shepherd
With this new episode, we are entering a series of conversations around cultivating spiritual discernment; can we develop the ability to perceive Christ’s nature and voice at work in our lives and the world around us? What other voices ‘compete’ with Christ’s voice? How do we turn towards Him, align ourselves with Him and follow Him as our Helping Guide?
Episode 2: Psalm 23
In this second episode on spiritual discernment, Patrick and Jonah delve into Psalm 23, a ‘Song of David,’ as a way to deepen our understanding of what it means to align ourselves with and be guided by Christ. David’s song characterizes, line by line, what his guidance leads us to - and through - it culminates in an experience of being elevated from sheep to king: anointed with oil and blessed with goodness and mercy "all the days my life". King David reveals to his people the secret of being a good shepherd; he reveals that he himself is being guided by the greater king, the King of Kings.
Episode 3: In the Presence of Our Enemies
In this third episode of our series on learning to discern Christ's voice - around us and within us - we take a deeper dive into Psalm 23: "The Lord is My Shepherd". After focusing the mystery of the overall structure of David's Song, Patrick and Jonah open up the questions of how and why the "Valley of the Shadow of Death" and the presence of the enemies of our humanity would belong to the path the Good Shepherd leads us through.
Episode 4: Putting on God’s Armor
In this episode we dive deeper into the Christian world-view that orients us as to who our ‘enemies’ are - and perhaps even more important for our growing capacity of discernment, who they are not. Working with Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we learn that the enemies of our true humanity, the adversaries we encounter on the path, are “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). A view of a dynamic cosmic drama opens and reveals that we are facing enemies that far outrank us in the universe. Therefore, in order for us to stand with Christ on this spiritual battleground, Paul instructs Christ’s disciples to put on “the armor of God”. Jonah and Patrick begin to unpack specific characteristics of God’s armor, as well as how we might grow into receiving it.
Episode 5: Light in the Darkness
In this episode we focus more specifically on naming the ‘Powers of Darkness’ active in the present age, the ones St. Paul refers to in his letter to the Ephesians. How do we discern their voices; both speaking within our own souls and expressed in the events of the world taking place around us? How do we bring the light of understanding towards these powers of darkness? These powers are described in the Christmas liturgy of The Christian Community as having two distinct dynamics - beings of false light and beings who draw us into the senses’ unworthy craving. These signposts help us begin to distinguish the forces acting upon us that seek to rob us of our true humanity.
Episode 6: The Snake and the Beast
After contemplating the place of darkness, emptiness and ‘void’ at the moment of the creation of our world (Genesis 1), Jonah and Patrick turn their attention to two key players, two decisive beings who play their part in the story of humanity: the ‘snake’ from Genesis 3 and ‘the beast’ that is introduced in Genesis 4. What is this ‘snake’ that approaches Eve, the knower, in the realm of paradise? And who is this ‘crouching at the door’ that influences Cain, the doer, just after being ‘cast out’? And how do they stand in relationship to the one who offers up his life, in love, for all humanity? These questions and more are taken up in this episode.
Episode 7: The King Ruled by the Beast
In this episode we continue to get to know one of the enemies that oppose us in our true humanity, who would corrupt us in our true kingship: the beast. In the gospel of Matthew, Chapter 2, we are given an image of five different kings. It is a meditation, in a short tale full of rich imaginations, on the nature of true kingship. And kingship, itself, is an image of the sovereign human self.
Episode 8: Driven into the Wilderness
In this episode, Patrick and Jonah begin to explore the very first scene of the gospels after the baptism at the Jordan river - Jesus Christ’s encounter with the adversary in the desert. He is led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness and reveals to us a right relationship to the adversary. We can ask ourselves - Who am I when alone and hungry in the desert? Do I remain faithful even when I feel disconnected and challenged on all fronts?
Episode 9: "All the Kingdoms of the World..."
In this episode we continue to follow Christ as He is led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to meet the adversary, the ruler of all the kingdoms of this world. These next two temptations help us further understand the relationship we, who look towards him and follow him, are called to have with the adversaries. How can we relate to them while living in their realm, working together with Christ to build the New Kingdom and the New Human Being, seeded here on earth and in us?
Episode 10: "Who are you worshipping?"
"...It may be the devil or it may be the Lord but you're gonna have to serve somebody." - Bob Dylan.
With this episode we follow up on the last element of the story of Christ's temptation by the devil - “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me” (Matthew 4:9). The last step will take us into the deepest expression of what we call religious life: What does it mean to worship some thing or someone? Are there qualities of worship that reveal whose voice we are following?
Episode 11: “The Lamb, the Beast and the Mystery of’True Life’”
Building on the idea from last episode that human beings are, by their very nature, worshipping beings, this episode turns to how our 'enemies' use this against us, tempting us with 'false gods' that seem worthy of our attention and life energies. The Book of Revelation offers us powerful pictures that contrast the beasts of earth and water, and the city of Babylon, with the Lamb who suffers with us and for us and the New Jerusalem in which he will be its very light. How do we awaken and direct our hearts more and more freely towards the One who holds our true selves in His Being, and through the cross, offers us true Life?
Episode 12: Q&A
In this episode, we take up two very broad questions that arose from patrons over the course of the “Discerning the Spirits” series. In response to the first question, Patrick and Jonah explore how the Holy Spirit lives and works in our discerning. The second question relates to suffering, human evolution and karma. If Christ is merciful and we are discerning His voice in our hearts and lives, does that mean we’ll suffer less?
