The pastor has come to the parish to escape the illusory Christian identity proposed by the world; ...to see the roots of illusion within, in the longing to be dramatically and satisfyingly in control of life, the old familiar imperialism of the self bolstered by the intellect (quoting Rowan Williams quoting St Benedict, p21)
The congregation is the pastor's place for developing vocational holiness...we dare not separate what we do from who we are... (p21)
Ordinary congregations are God's choice for the form church takes in locale, and pastors are the persons assigned to them for ministry... (p23)
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
So much!
I found so much in today's passage I don't know where to start - I don't think my comments could match up to it, so here a few quotes I want to think through by writing them out:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Along similar lines, I thought this was spot-on: "the vocation of pastor has to do with living out the implications of the Word of God in community".
ReplyDeleteThere's a great (& necessary) focus today on preaching well. Maybe a commensurate emphasis on living well among others would be equally helpful?
Very much so.
ReplyDeleteBut also, that second quote I put in (along with the context) sort of simply answers that profound point he made in the introduction, about the division between personal and pastoral life. It can't be separated, because we are in a sense called to be ordinary Christians in this vocational context. Although I'm sure that doesn't preclude the fact that we all need to take time away from 'church life' as pastors (I know he does cos he goes off for long walks in the mountains with his wife). I think in the first part (however long that was, maybe 10 years) of my ministry there were times when I drew the distinction absolutely and had times where I withdrew too completely; I suspect in the last several years I have gone too far the other way, and don't get away often enough. That also has a price.