You may know Eugene Peterson as the translator of the Message. He authored over 30 books, was a poet and a theologian, but he primarily considered himself to be a pastor. He pastored the same church for 29 years. Peterson’s memoir is titled The Pastor, and I have read it three times over the years. It has been a guide and a companion for me along the way, and I relate deeply to many passages in Peterson’s book. Here are some of your pastor’s favourite quotes from The Pastor:
“And my work is not to fix people. It is to lead people in the worship of God and to lead them in living a holy life.”
“Treating souls for whom Christ died as numbers or projects or resources seemed to me something like a sin against the Holy Spirit.”
“I don't want to end up a bureaucrat in the time-management business for God or a librarian cataloguing timeless truths. Salvation is kicking in the womb of creation right now, any time now. Pay attention.”
“Congregation is composed of people, who, upon entering a church, leave behind what people on the street name or call them. A church can never be reduced to a place where goods and services are exchanged. It must never be a place where a person is labeled. It can never be a place where gossip is perpetuated. Before anything else, it is a place where a person is named and greeted, whether implicitly or explicitly, in Jesus’s name. A place where dignity is conferred.”
“I didn’t want to be a religious professional whose identity was institutionalized. I didn’t want to be a pastor whose sense of worth derived from whether people affirmed or ignored me. In short, I didn’t want to be a pastor in the ways that were most in evidence and most rewarded in the American consumerist and celebrity culture.”