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photo by Nathan Friend
Part 2 of 3 posts on Pastoral Integrity… My ruminations on Eugene Peterson’s book, “Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity.”
Scripture
The second angle, after prayer, is scripture… And to give this context, I’m going to quote Eugene directly:
…This consumerism shapes us without our knowing it. There is nothing in our lives that it does not touch in one way or another. This acquisitive mode is so culturally expected and congregationally rewarding that it cannot fail to affect our approach to the Scriptures. When we sit down to read the Scriptures we already have an end product in view: we want to find something useful for people’s lives, to meet their expectations of us as pastors who deliver the goods. If someone says to me, “I don’t get anything out of reading Scripture,” my knee-jerk response is, “I will show you how to read it so that you can get something out of it.” The operative word is “get.” I will help you be a better consumer…
…At some point I cross over the line and am doing it myself — looking for an arresting text for a sermon, looking for the psychologically right reading in a hospital room, looking for evidence of the truth of the Trinity. The verb looking has taken over. I am no longer listening to a voice, not listening to the God to whom I will give a response in obedience and faith, becoming the person he is calling into existence. I am looking for something that I can use to do a better job, for which people will give me a raise if I do it conspicuously well enough.1
Wow.
The outright theme of this section is one of listening. Shutting our mouths as to what story we want the Scriptures to tell, and letting the narrative of the Bible so fully flow through us that instead of propositions to defend – we leave the text with an outward response – a response of penitence and action. Humbled by our lack of understanding, we do what is clearly the thesis of the Gospel — we love our neighbor as our self and in so doing bring redemptive healing to the lives of the lost, the marginalized and the broken (Luke 10:25-29).
Also referenced in this section is a call to rise above the traditions of Scriptural exegesis which “is surgical work: cutting through layers of history, culture, and grammar; laying bare the skeletal syntax and grammatical muscle; excising mistakes that were introduced inadvertently in the transmission of the text; repairing misunderstandings that have crept into interpretations across the centuries; observing the incredible and fascinating complexity of the organism as the hidden parts are exposed to view.” 2 A pastor would better use contemplative exegesis when approaching Scripture, which does not negate or supersede the importance of Scriptural exegesis, rather it puts the information in context to the relationship. It is holistic in the application of Scripture to our lives, not looking for knowledge to prove truth, rather relying on the relationship within the story to affirm Truth.
Contemplative exegesis is a subtle, yet profound shift in how we interact with Scripture, without negating the pursuit of knowledge, it emphasizes a different posture when approaching Scripture, as Eugene exhorts pastors to be listeners to the unfolding narrative of the Scripture as opposed to miners of the text, who look for nuggets of application to throw out to the crowd on Sunday. In adjusting our posture, we begin to hear the text as we have never heard it before… not as a playbook to guide our decisions or a medical kit to fix our wounds… but a living, breathing narrative of truth — that inevitably leads us in paths of righteousness, and heals us of our brokenness.
Tomorrow, I’ll delve into the last section of the book – Spiritual Direction.
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1. Peterson, Eugene; “Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity.” 1987; Erdman’s Publishing; p. 98-99.
2. Ibid; p. 108.
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