Poems
Eugene Peterson
Blessed are those who are persecuted Unfriendly waters do a friendly Thing: curses, cataract-hurled Stones, make the rough places Smooth; a rushing whitewater stream Of blasphemies hate-launched, Then caught by the sun, sprays rainbow Arcs across the Youghiogeny. Savaged by the river's impersonal Attack the land is deepened to bedrock. Wise passivities are earned In quiet, craggy, occasional pools That chasten the wild waters to stillness, And hold them under hemlock green For birds and deer to bathe and drink In peace persecution's gift: The hard-won, blessed letting be.
We were both apprehensive, my wife and I. We had been away from our congregation for twelve months, a sabbatical year, and we were on our way back. It had been a wonderful year, soaking in the silence, gulping down great drafts of high-country air. Could we handle the transition from the solitude of the Montana Rockies to the traffic of Maryland?
Being a pastor is a difficult job, maybe no harder than any other job any job done well requires everything that is in us but hard all the same. For a year we had not done it: no interruptive phone calls, no exhilarating/exhausting creativity at pulpit and lectern, no doggedly carried out duties. We played and we prayed. We split wood and shoveled snow. We read and talked over what we read. We cross-country skied in the winter and hiked in the summer.
Every Sunday we did what we had not done for thirty years: we sat together and worshiped God. We went to the Eidsvold Lutheran Church in Somers with seventy or eighty other Christians, mostly Norwegians, and sang hymns that we didn't know very well. Pastor Pris led us in prayer and preached rich sermons.
Comfortable in the pew on an April Sunday, I had an inkling ...
Like the preview? To read this complete article
and 20,358 more in the archive—JOIN NOW!
Easily find high-quality, well-researched materials that provide a Christian perspective on topics ranging from headlines to history.
Start using this invaluable tool TODAY for preparing your Bible studies, presentations, class lectures, sermons, meetings, and more.
|
It's easy and quick to join:
Brought to You by Christianity Today Int'l |  |
|
| 
Find similar articles
E-mail this page
