Contemplative Insights

I finished mining Eugene Peterson’s book “The Contemplative Pastor” and boy, was there lots of helpful stuff. Some of what I found most helpful I won’t bother discussing in this forum as it related specifically to pastoral issues. The book as a whole is very accessible to lay persons and clergy members alike, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone. There were three things that strongly resonated for me. The first had to do with Peterson’s approach toward sin. I loved Peterson’s discussion because it has a lot to say about the ways we deal with the challenges of living together in community. Let me see if I can lay out a brief sequential sampling of Peterson's point here. In his eleventh chapter titled "Unwell in a New Way", Peterson wrote, “To call a [person] a sinner is not a blast at his [or her] manners or his [or her] morals. It is a theological belief that the thing that matters most to him [or her] is forgiveness and grace.” He continues, “If a pastor [then] finds himself resenting his [or her] people … that is a sign that he or she has quit thinking of them as sinners … and has secretly invested them with divine attributes of love, strength, compassion, and joy.” Of course I believe these attributes are in each of us to varying degrees (in other words, I wouldn’t embrace the doctrine of total depravity that some of my Reformed sisters and brothers would). Peterson goes on to clarify that if we are able to interact with one another as individuals whose lives are in some way connected to this thing called sin, then we would be better “prepared to share grief, shortcomings, pain, failure, and have plenty of time left over to watch for the signs of God’s grace operating in this wilderness, and then fill the air with praises for what [we] discover” (119). The second thing of value that I found was in Peterson’s words about the “voice” we should use in our spiritual lives. He introduces the idea that our spiritual lives should be grounded in the middle voice. “When I speak in the active voice,” Peterson begins, “I initiate an action that goes someplace else… When I speak in the passive voice,” he continues, “I receive the action that another initiates… When I speak in the middle voice,” he concludes, “I actively participate in the results of an action that another initiates” (103). What a wonderful framework to use for worship – a place where we “actively participate in the results of an action that [God] initiates. Third, I benefited from his thirteenth chapter titled “Desert and Harvest: A Sabbatical Story”. In it, he reflects briefly on his experience with his own one year sabbatical. He gave me one very practical idea: one should take 2 days off a week during one’s sabbatical instead of working seven days a week. Since the start of my sabbatical on June 1, I’ve been working 7 days a week between my readings and postings. I need to take 2 days off a week for the rest and renewal piece of the sabbatical experience. That will start this weekend as I head to Nebraska to spend time with one of my best friends, Andrea. Thanks, Eugene, for those important words regarding a sense of balance in one’s sabbatical experience. Peterson also helped plant a wonderful vision of what the congregation and I might find upon my return in September. In speaking of the congregation he returned to after his sabbatical, Peterson found, “They can take care of themselves and know that I can take care of myself. [We both have a sense of enhanced] maturity. We are both, the congregation and I, experiencing a great freedom in this: neither of us neurotically needs each other. I am not dependent on them; they aren’t dependent on me. That leaves us free[r] to appreciate each other and receive gifts of ministry from each other” (151). My hopes and prayers are that this will be the case at Mountain View United as well. Thanks Eugene Peterson for a wonderfully contemplative experience. Til next time…