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photo by Daniel Daily
Part 1 of 3 posts on Pastoral Integrity… My ruminations on Eugene Peterson’s book, “Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity.”
Prayer
Eugene starts off this chapter by asking a simple, yet profound question in the context of the vocational pastor — he asks, “Is pastoral work mostly a matter of putting plastic flowers in people’s drab lives — well-intentioned attempts to brighten a bad scene, not totally without use, but not real in any substantive or living sense?“1
He goes on to say that most people see pastors as this very thing, and even more than a few pastor’s probably have fallen into this line of thinking…. Believing that their job, while it may have moments of inspiration, consists mostly of repeated promises to congregants about the wonderfulness of Heaven post Armageddon; never grasping the “Kingdom Now” principle Jesus so adamantly preached towards. Pastors seem to focus on the easier task of staunching the wound until the release of pain, that is, death finally comes; instead of the arduous task of healing the body, in effect vanquishing the pain, so that life may be lived to the full.
Why so many misguided pastors? Truth be told it’s not because of laziness, in fact, pastor’s have become very adept at the art of busyness, probably trying to outrun the stereotype of the country pastor who sits around all day reading books, delivering a ho-hum message on Sunday — their one day of work.
In response, Eugene prods, that “the pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches. They are preoccupied with the shopkeepers’s concerns — how to keep the customers happy, how to lure customers away from competitors down the street, how to package the goods so that the customers will lay out more money.” 2
The point?
We have become too overwhelmed with the todo’s of today and the immanency of our death or better said, the shortness of life – that we cut short the foundational angle of pastoral ministry — prayer.
He says later, that “the inner action of prayer takes precedence over the outer action of proclamation. The implication of this for pastoral work is plain: it begins in prayer. Anything creative, anything powerful, anything biblical, insofar as we are participants in it, originates in prayer.” 3
Nothing is more fundamental. Nothing is more important. Nothing is more difficult.
And that is the takeaway for me… In college I realized that my track practices were so difficult because I needed to be mentally and physically ready for the speed at which the race will be won.
And that holds true with prayer, it is the hours of silence and the depths of conversation that we find the fortitude, inspiration, and joy to face the pain of today, not only to withstand the pain but to conquer it and bring Kingdom to the now.
So. What is standing in the way of prayer in your life?
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1. Peterson, Eugene; “Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity.” 1987; Erdman’s Publishing; p. 22.
2. Ibid; p. 2.
3. Ibid; p. 40.
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