There are a variety of ways to access the resources provided by Listening Hearts. Many get to know us first through our Books. Ongoing support and ideas are available through our newsletter, Explorations (which comes out three times a year), and our Bulletin Board blog.

We are most excited to offer a new way to deepen and share your practice of discernment: Open Hearts, our library of free online resources for you to download and use on your own or in groups. Our Open Hearts library includes the following resources, and there are more below under the heading “Free Downloads“:

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The work of our organization is closely tied to the books we have published over the years. The creation of our primary titles, Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION (available in English and Spanish editions), Grounded in God: Listening Hearts Discernment for Group Deliberations, and Keeping in Tune with God: Listening Hearts Discernment for Clergy drove the development of the various workshops we offer in the areas of spiritual discernment and consensus decision-making. Each book provides a survey of the key issues involved in their respective subject areas. All of them were written to help people at different stages of their spiritual journey. Multiple readings over time result in fresh new insights.

The other books in our catalog were created to meet the needs of particular audiences. The Manual for Discussion Leaders is for those who wish to lead a Listening Hearts book discussion group. The Retreat Designs and Meditative Exercises book provides useful tools for creating programs that build on the initial knowledge gained through one of our programs.

These books were all originally available through Church Publishing (and Listening Hearts and Grounded in God still are), but Keeping in Tune with God and the Manual for Discussion Leaders are now available for free digital download. In addition to these downloads, a limited quantity of print editions of each book are available from the Listening Hearts Office at 410-366-1851 or listening@listeninghearts.org. The purchase price for Keeping in Tune with God is $11.50 per copy plus shipping and handling, and for the Manual for Discussion Leaders, $8.00 per copy plus shipping and handling.

The Listening Hearts Songbook contains a variety of songs, chants, and canons that are easily integrated into Listening Hearts-based programs. The Songbook and other materials are available through the Listening Hearts Office – see Ordering Info below. Click here to view and listen to the hymns included in the collection.

First, two complete books are available as free downloads! Keeping in Tune with God: Listening Hearts Discernment for Clergy is our book of Listening Hearts wisdom designed particularly for clergy. And the Manual for Discussion Leaders is for those who wish to lead a Listening Hearts book discussion group.

Second, we have our ever-growing Open Hearts library. Think of this as a huge box of Lego parts, free to anyone looking for a more intimate relationship with God. Each piece is a component that can be printed out on a single sheet of paper to put together a program on spiritual discernment for yourself or to share with a friend. If you are in a leadership role you can design a retreat, class, or workshop and duplicate the material to use with a group. The various sections are listed below. Some, now in preparation, will be added as soon as they are complete. Meanwhile, enjoy creating your own spiritual adventure with these resources!

If you find these materials useful, you may want to make a contribution so that Listening Hearts con continue to develop free online resources.

Community

What is the role of community in discernment?

Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. – Matt. 18:20

As followers of Jesus, we are called to live as Jesus did: in a community of faith. Something happens to us when we consult one another in Christian community. In sharing our thoughts with others, surprising insights often emerge—opening our eyes to what we have not seen and our ears to what we have not heard. This can transform and liberate us beyond our narrow expectations.

Although God calls each of us personally, as individuals we see only partially.

Another role for community is … to encourage us in our love of God and keep us from becoming conformed to the world … in this company, in the light and presence of Christ, we can see through the sham of wordly values yet share in God’s love for all creation. In this company, we are strengthened to live as God’s people. – Listening Hearts, p 53 – 56

Spiritual Discernment

What is spiritual discernment?

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God … – 1 John 4:1

Discernment comes from the Latin word discernere, which means “to separate,” “to distinguish,” “to determine,” “to sort out.” In classical spirituality, discernment means identifying what spirit is at work in a situation: the Spirit of God or some other spirit. Discernment is “sifting through” our interior and exterior experiences to determine their origin.

Discernment helps a person understand the source of a call, to whom it is directed, its content, and what response is appropriate. Discernment also involves learning if one is dodging a call, is deaf to a call, or is rejecting a call.

Discernment is a gift from God. But it also includes an intentional attempt on our part to hear God’s call in our life. It takes work; it is also a matter of grace. It involves our full humanity as well as communion with God. – Listening Hearts, p 23 – 24

Discernment is a focused endeavor to identify the Spirit of God at work, to sense where the Spirit may be pointing, and to hear what God may be saying. Discernment is a type of contemplative prayer. Discernment and decision-making are not synonymous, although discernment normally points toward a decision.

Spiritual discernment incorporates our intellects, but proceeds on the assumption that God’s mind is infinitely greater than ours and God’s perspective is far broader than ours. It is a quest for evidence of and companionship with the Spirit. Spiritual discernment is not synonymous with what might be described as prayerful Christian decision-making. It is that and something more, something much deeper.

Call

What is call?

… let each of you lead the life … to which God called you. – 1 Cor. 7:17

People call us to get our attention, to make contact with us, to draw us closer to them. So it is with God. A call may come as a gradual dawning of God’s purpose for our lives. It can involve an accelerating sense of inner direction. It can emerge through a gnawing feeling that we need to do a specific thing. On occasion, it can burst forth as a sudden awareness of a path that God would have us take … In whatever way call is experienced, through the centuries God has chosen to speak to us and bids us to listen.

God calls each of us. There are a variety of calls, and no one call is inherently better of higher than any other … It is our faithfulness to God and not our station in life that honors a call.

God speaks to us through the language of everyday events. Each new moment in life, each new situation, the present condition of a person or community, of events, time, place, people and circumstances—all hold clues to God’s call. – Listening Hearts, p 7 – 9

Prayerful Listening

How do we listen prayerfully in discernment?

“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” – 1 Samuel 3:10

Prayerful listening begins with a reverent heart, one attuned to God’s presence in all that speaks: God present in nature, God present in people – friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances, and strangers. A reverent heart detects God’s voice in friend and foe, success and failure, sunlight and rain.

In prayerful silence we listen with all our senses; the silence is alert, alive, attentive, receptive. This is a specific discipline that is contemplative in nature. It begins at the rational level, but then bids the mind descend into the heart – which in classical spirituality is at the very center of a person’s being. It asks that we be centered in God and listen with all that we are. It takes place not in our heads, but in our depths.

Some of the material used in Listening Hearts trainings and for use in groups using spiritual discernment as a tool are available only from our offices. Of course the books are available in both print and e-book versions and can be ordered online.

To order materials, please download the order form and fill it out. Then either email it to Laura McConnell or print it out and mail it to:

Listening Hearts Ministries
The Mill Centre
3000 Chestnut Avenue, Suite 100B
Baltimore MD 21211

Shipping and handling will be calculated in the office and you will be invoiced for your order.