The Unbusy Pastor
Eugene H. Peterson
Our vocation is to live in the Spirit—not to be more and more remarkable animals, but to be the sons and companions of God in eternity.
Anthony Bloom
Although the pressures of going to a new church may force a pastor into a certain singlemindedness for six to twelve months, balance must still be maintained. The essential pastoral task must not be sacrificed to administrative concerns. Family life cannot be sacrificed. The well-rounded edges of our personal lives must not be squared to sharp, irritating points.
If you talk to Eugene Peterson, for the past twenty-one years pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland, you quickly discover he is a man who reads mysteries, extracts theological insights from classic novels, runs marathons, and goes for long hikes in the woods with his wife. But he has not always been so diverse in his interests.
"One of the worst years I ever had was in the early days of this church. Our building was finished, and I realized I wasn't being a pastor. I was so locked into running the church programs I didn't have time. One of my kids said, 'You haven't spent an evening at home for thirty-two days.' She had kept track!
"I was obsessive and compulsive about my administrative duties, and I didn't see any way to get out of the pressures. So I went to the Session one night to resign. 'I'm not doing what I came here to do,' I said. 'I'm unhappy, and I'm never at home.'
"Well, the Session didn't want me to resign, and I really didn't either if I could get back to pastoring. Together, we worked out a solution. I would trust them to run the church, and I would concentrate on being a spiritual leader. That's what I've done ever since."
In a book that tells you how to do something—the ...
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