Facilitator Resources for Called to Life

Introductory Session

Background reading for facilitator:

• Diane Millis. Conversation—The Sacred Art: Practicing Presence in an Age of Distraction. Woodstock, VT: SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2013. Ch. 2-3, Appendix.

Suggestions for opening or closing reflection:

• Lectio divina on Deuteronomy 30:11-15, 19-20 (Participant Guide p. 6)
• Video from Lives Explored video story-telling project

Session One: How God Calls

Background reading for facilitator:

• Suzanne G. Farnham, Joseph P. Gill, R. Taylor McLean and Susan M. Ward. Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 1991. Ch. 1, 3.
• “Discerning God’s Calll” by Jennifer Grant Haworth in On Our Way: Christian Practices for Living a Whole Life. Edited by Dorothy C. Bass and Susan R. Briehl. Nashville, TN: Upper Room Books, 2010.

Suggestions for opening or closing reflection:

• “Prayer for Discernment” by Thomas Merton, In Thoughts In Solitude. New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 1958 .
• Rumi, “The Guest House” (translation by Coleman Barks)

Session Two: Our Plans & God’s Plan

Background reading for facilitator:

• Douglas J. Brouwer, What Am I Supposed to Do with My Life? Asking the Right Questions. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans: 2006, Ch. 1-2.
• Parker Palmer. Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2000. Ch. 1-2.

Suggestions for opening or closing reflection:

• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ. “Patient Trust” in Hearts on Fire, Praying with Jesuits. Michael G. Hartner. Chicago: Loyola Press, 1993.
• Howard Thurman, “Center Down”

Session Three: Many Callings, One Life 

Background reading for facilitator:

• Jack Fortin. The Centered Life: Awakened, Called, Set Free, Nurtured. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2006. Ch. 1.

Suggestions for opening or closing reflection:

• William Stafford, “The Way It Is”   

Session Four: Struggles & Challenges

Background reading for facilitator:

• John Neafsey. A Sacred Voice is Calling: Personal Vocation and Social Conscience. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2006. Ch. 7.

Suggestions for opening or closing reflection:

• John O’Donohue, “For Suffering.” From To Bless the Space Between Us. New York, NY: Doubleday, 2008.

Session Five: Changes Over Time

Background reading for facilitator:

• Evelyn Eaton Whitehead and James D. Whitehead. Christian Adulthood: A Journey of Self-Discovery. Liguori, MO: Liguori, 2005.  Ch. 2 and 3.

Suggestions for opening or closing reflection:

• Mary Oliver, “The Journey”
• Wendell Berry, “Sabbath 1999 VII” from Given