Most pastoral work actually erodes prayer. The reason is obvious: most people are not comfortable with God in their lives...
And so pastors, instead of practicing prayer, which brings people into the presence of God, enter into the practice of messiah: we will do the work of God for God, fix people up, tell them what to do, conspire in finding the shortcuts by which the long journey to the cross can be bypassed since we all have such crowded schedules right now. People love us when we do this...
If we have even an inkling of apocalypse, it will be impossible to act like the jaunty foreman of a home-improvement work crew that is going to re-landscape moral (or immoral) garden spots. We must pray. The world has been invaded by God, and it is with God we have to do.
The Contemplative Pastor, p43
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