The poet is the person who uses words not primarily to convey information but to make a relationship, shape beauty, form truth. this is St John's work; it is every pastor's work...
The pastor's task is to shape the praying imagination before the gospel. This revelation of God is a fact so large and full of energy, and our capacities to believe and love and hope are so atrophied, that we need help to hear the words in their power, see the images in their energy...
Communication is a good, but a minor good. Knowing about things never has seemed to improve our lives a great deal. The pastoral task with words is not communication but communion - the healing and restoration and creation of love relationships between God and His fighting children and our fought-over creation...
The Contemplative Pastor, pp44-46
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