Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Peterson: first-hand prayer

Peterson asks what would I do as a pastor if no one else asked me to do anything?  His first answer is:

I can be a pastor who prays. I want to cultivate my relationship with God.  I want all of my life to be intimate - sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously - with the God who made, directs, and loves me.  And I want to waken others to the nature and centrality of prayer.  I want to be a person in this community to whom others can come without hesitation, without wondering if it is appropriate, to get direction in prayer and praying.  I want to do the original work of being in deepening conversation with the God who reveals Himself to me and addresses me by name.  I don't want to dispense mimeographed hand-outs that describe God's business;  I want to witness out of my own experience. I don't want to live as a parasite on the first-hand spiritual life of others, but to be personally involved with all my senses, tasting and seeing that the Lord is good.

The Contemplative Pastor, p19-20

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