The Contemplative Pastor

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Blessed are the pure in heart Austere country, this, scrubbed By spring's ravaging avalanche. Talus slope and Appekunny Mudstone make a meadow where High-country beargrass gathers light From lichen, rock, and icy tarn, Changing sun's lethal rays To food for grizzlies, drink for bees Heart-pure creatures living blessed Under the shining of God's face. Yet, like us the far-fallen, Neither can they look on the face And live. Every blossom's a breast Holding eventual sight for all blind and Groping newborn: we touch our way Through these splendors to the glory.

Atug of war takes place every week between pastor and people. The contest is over conflicting views of the person who comes to church. The result of the struggle is exhibited in the service of worship, shaping sermon and prayers, influencing gesture and tone.

People (and particularly people who come to church and put themselves in touch with pastoral ministry) see themselves in human and moral terms: they have human needs that need fulfilling and moral deficiencies that need correcting. Pastors see people quite differently. We see them in theological terms: they are sinners persons separated from God who need to be restored in Christ.

These two views the pastor's theological understanding of people and the people's self-understanding are almost always in tension.

The word sinner is a theological designation. It is essential to insist on this. It is not a moralistic judgment. It is not a word that places humans somewhere along a continuum ranging from angel to ape, assessing them as relatively good or bad. It designates humans in relation to God and sees them separated from God. Sinner means something is awry between humans and God. In that state ...

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