Brain on Peterson on Pastors

…it is difficult to break out of a routine long enough to put in place work practices that will contribute to renewal and refreshment…Eugene Peterson suggests we are busy because we are lazy. He explains:
I indolently let other people decide what I will do instead of resolutely deciding myself. I let people who do not understand the work of the pastor to write the agenda for my day’s work because I am too slipshod to write it for myself. But these people don’t know what a pastor is supposed to do. The pastor is a shadow figure in their minds, a marginal person connected with matters of God and good will. Anything remotely religious or somehow well-intentioned can be properly assigned to the pastor. Because these assignments to pastoral service are made sincerely, I lazily go along with them.

Going the Distance, p172