I've been reading - for the umpteenth time - a book that's been a constant companion over my (very nearly) ten years as a pastor. Eugene Peterson is a prolific author (best known for his version of the Bible: The Message), but at his best, I think, when reflecting on ministry and leadership.
This particular book, subtitled "Reflections on Christian Ministry" was originally called The Gift, but for reasons unknown, it's now The Contemplative Pastor.
His way in to the first section of the book is about the adjectives needed to qualify the word "Pastor" - he suggests three: unbusy, subversive, apocalyptic! As ever, even the first on its own has been enough to give me stuff to think about for the rest of the week - I wonder how it strikes you and whether you think it applies beyond the life/work of a pastor?
If you had to apply adjectives to your job title ("Mother", "Lawyer", "Friend"), what would they - really - be?
"The poor man," we say. "He's so devoted to his flock; the work is endless, and he sacrifices himself so unstintingly." But the word busy is the symptom not of commitment but of betrayal. It is not devotion, but defection. The adjective busy set as a modifier to pastor should sound to our ears like adulterous to characterise a wife or embezzling to describe a banker....It is, as you can imagine, a hugely challenging chapter - especially when he comes to what he believes are the three core roles/duties/jobs of a Pastor:
Hilary of Tours diagnosed our pastoral busyness as ... a blasphemous anxiety to do God's work for him.
...if I vainly crowd my day with conspicuous activity or let others fill my day with imperious demands, I don't have time to do my proper work, the work to which I have been called. How can I lead people into the quiet place beside still waters if I am in perpetual motion? How can I persuade a person to live by faith and not works if I have to juggle my schedule constantly to make everything fit into place? [p17-19 excerpts]
...when I think of what my past seven days have consisted of, I'm not sure I match up tremendously well! When you look at your own role - whether in business, in your home, in relationships - how much time and energy is devoted to the core of what you're meant to be about?
- Praying
- Preaching
- Listening
If you had to apply adjectives to your job title ("Mother", "Lawyer", "Friend"), what would they - really - be?
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