61259

in_honor_of_dad

yesterday my dad preached his last sermon at salinas valley community church, the church he helped to found and to flourish for 27 years. as usual i find other's words more adequate to the task on this occasion. when i think of my dad, these are some of the things i think about:

from II Timothy: "preach the word. be prepared in season and out of season: correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. for the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. but you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, discharge all the duties of your ministry...

"...i am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. i have fought the good fight, i have finished the race, i have kept the faith." (4:1-7)

and from eugene peterson: "the norm for pastoral work is stability. twenty-, thirty-, and forty-year-long pastorates should be typical among us (as they once were) and not exceptional. far too many pastors change parishes out of adolescent boredom, not as a consequence of mature wisdom. when this happens, neither pastors nor congregations have access to the conditions that are hospitable to maturity in the faith...

"...it is interesting to listen to the comments that outsiders, particularly those from third world countries, make on the religion they observe in north america. what they notice mostly is the greed, the silliness, the narcissism. they appreciate the size and the prosperity of our churches, they energy and the technology, but they wonder at the conspicuous absence of the cross, the phobic avoidance of suffering, the puzzling indifference to community and relationships of intimacy...

"...what i object to most is the appalling and systematic trivializing of the pastoral office. it is part of a larger trivialization...there are other days, though, when we catch a glimpse of glory--a man here, a woman there determined to live nobly: singing a song, telling a story, working honestly, loving chastely." (from under the unpredictable plant)

determined to live nobly...that pretty much sums it up perfectly. that example is a good, good gift. thank you, dad!

60259

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.