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the_jugular (friday_reflections)

"pastoring is not managing a religious business but a spiritual quest." --eugene peterson

i recently re-read peterson's under the unpredictable plant. i read it in college and i didn't really get it back then. i have a present context (campus minister...which will be synonymous with pastor for the purposes of this post) that has brought his words to life in a new and fresh way. 

the thrust of the book is to remind pastors (campus ministers) of their vocation: this is not just a religious job. peterson, perhaps better than any one else, 'gets' the trials and tribulations and temptations of pastors...to become a manager, to be a program director, to blame the congregation (or the students), to build something flashy and shiny and awesome (idols?) but avoid God at the same time.

i need that reminder and i need this (read pastor/campus minister where it says "he"): "God and passion. he spurned the fads and went for the jugular. he created. he lived immersed in passion. he lived expectant of God. and he did this vocationally, making a calling out of passion and God."

i love that. that makes my heart beat fast. pastors (campus ministers) live under an incredible burden of expectations: be nice, be loving, be wise, be there for me, be good, be a listener, be a doer, accomplish things, lead, manage, don't judge, don't screw up, don't be wrong, don't be late. i have rarely heard people say i want my pastor to be rooted in passion and God.

that makes me sad.

we need workers and producers of goods, we need healers and teachers. counselors, bankers, bakers, doctors, lawyers, street cleaners, bus drivers, engineers, business entrepreneurs. needed. necessary. all naming and ruling and co-creating with God. Genesis 1 and 2 type activities.

we also need pastors. campus ministers to confront us with Jesus, scripture, the cross, God. 

pastors are wading in treacherous waters: the deepest, most primal, fundamental, wild realities of the universe. and it is easy to settle for less than God, to settle for god.  

maybe we are afraid of passion and we are afraid of God. if our students (congregants) see nothing else (and it can be hard to see...so much of ministry is hidden)...i hope they see God and passion. i hope they see us going for the jugular. i hope they pray that for us.

i hope we pray that for all of us.