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| Chicago |
I am a pastor. I am thankful that God called me to this. It is instructive to understand what I am not called to; viz., I am not called to be a custodian of the prevailing culture.
Eugene Peterson calls pastors "countercultural servants of Jesus Christ." He writes: "We want to be free of the Egyptian slavery to the culture and free to serve our wilderness world in Jesus' name." (Peterson and Dawn, The Unnecessary Pastor: Rediscovering the Call, Kindle Location 70)
Pastors, writes Peterson, are "unnecessary," in three ways.
1. "We are unnecessary to what the culture presumes is important: as paragons of goodness and niceness." (Ib.)
There's a man in my community who is a leader. He's not a follower of Jesus. Whenever he sees me he calls me "Reverend." I have asked him not to do this. "Just call me John," I say. He has a hard time complying with my request.
When he calls me this he reduces me to something kindly and benevolent. He puts me in a box. He doesn't understand that, while kindness and niceness can be good, I am called to subvert and overthrow his thoughtless secularism. He doesn't realize it, but I don't fit into his happy world. Or, he does realize it, sees me as a threat, and imprisons me as the benign Reverend. Or, he mindlessly accepts the label which insulates him from me.
As a pastor my world is about the realities of life and death, freedom and bondage, meaningfulness and meaninglessness, love and hate, hope and despair. My calling is to reality, not some role culture assigns to me.
2. "We are... unnecessary to what we ourselves feel is essential: as the linchpin holding a congregation together." (Ib.)
When I assign pastors to pray I request that they leave their cell phones behind, because God wants to break them of the illusion of their indispensability. It is important for them to grasp the fact that none of us are indispensable. God doesn't need us. God loves us, and wants to use us for his kingdom's sake. But his redemptive activity does not rise or fall with us.
Peterson writes: "We have important work to do, but if we don't do it God can always find someone else - and probably not a pastor."
3. "We are unnecessary to what congregations insist that we must do and be: as the experts who help them stay ahead of the competition."
Peterson writes:
Congregations "want pastors who lead. They want pastors the way the Israelites wanted a king - to make hash of the Philistines. Congregations get their ideas of what makes a pastor from the culture, not from the Scriptures: they want a winner; they want their needs met; they want to be part of something zesty and glamorous...
With hardly an exception they don't want pastors at all - they want managers of their religious company. They want a pastor they can follow so they won't have to bother with following Jesus anymore."
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Two of my books are - Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.
Leading the Presence-Driven Church
