Peterson: inane speech

It is easy for us to say whatever comes to mind, our role as pastor  compensating for our inane speech.  It is easy to say what either flatters or manipulates and so acquire power over others.

The Contemplative Pastor, p156

Kruse: grace

The word charis is found one hundred times (in 95 verses) in Paul’s letters, signifying that it represented a most important theological concept for him. With only nine exceptions (where charis is used of the kindness shown by believers or to express thanks), it denotes the grace of God. It is found frequently in the opening and closing greetings of Paul’s letters (e.g., in 1   Cor 1: 3: ‘Grace and peace to you from God our Father’,  but most often to refer to God’s goodwill expressed in action for the benefit of believers. Paul speaks of God’s grace, God’s goodwill expressed in action, in many different connections. He mentions it in relation to (i)   his own calling and empowering to be an apostle (1: 5; 12: 3; 15: 15; 1   Cor 3: 10; 15: 10; 2   Cor 1: 12; 2: 14; 12: 9; Gal 2: 9; Eph 3: 2, 7-8; 1   Tim 1: 14), (ii)   the calling of believers to faith in Christ through the gospel (Gal 1: 6); (iii)   God’s gift of salvation and justification (3: 24; 5: 15, 17; 2   Tim 1: 9; Tit 2: 11; 3: 7); (iv)   God’s empowering of believers (2   Tim 2: 1); (v)   the fulfillment of God’s promises and the hope he places before believers (4: 16; 2   Thess 2: 16); (vi)   the standing believers have before God (5: 2; 6: 1, 14-15); (vii)   God’s redemptive activity through Christ (5: 20-21; 2   Cor 4: 15; 6: 1; 8: 9; Gal 2: 21; 5: 4; Eph 1: 6-7; 2: 5, 7-8; Phil 1: 7; Col 1: 6; 2   Thess 1: 12); (viii)   God’s choice of the faithful remnant (Rom 11: 5-6); (ix)   God’s gifts of ministry (Rom 12: 6; Eph 4: 7); and (x)   God’s work enabling generosity and concern for others in the lives of believers (2   Cor 8: 1, 6-7, 16; 9: 8, 14).

Kruse, Colin G. (2012-07-01). Paul's Letter to the Romans (Pillar New Testament Commentary) (pp. 185-186). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.

Peterson: historical amnesia

Another characteristic of the adolescent that has spread into the larger population is the absence of historical sense.  The adolescent, of course, has no history.  He or she has a childhood but no accumulation of experience that transcends personal details and produces a sense of history.  His world is highly personal and extremely empirical.

As a consequence the teenager is incredibly gullible...they have no feeling for the past, for precedents and traditions, and so have no perspective in making judgments or discerning values...The result is that they begin every problem from scratch.  There is no feeling of being part of a living tradition that already has some answers worked out and some procedures worth repeating.

This state of mind, typical in adolescence, is, within certain parameters, accepted.  The odd thing today is that there is no change when a person reaches adult years...

The Contemplative Pastor, p125

Peterson: unwell with immaturity

Each generation is, in poet John Berryman's words, "unwell in a new way."  The way the present generation is unwell - that is, the forms under which it experiences sin - is through episodes of adolescence.  There was a time when ideas and living styles were initiated in the adult world and filtered down to youth.  now the movement goes the other way: lifestyles are generated at the youth level and pushed upward.  Dress fashions, hair styles, music, and morals that are adopted by youth are evangelically pushed on an adult world, which in turn seems eager to be converted.  Youth culture began as a kind of fad and then grew into a movement.  Today it is nearly fascist in its influence, forcing its perceptions and styles on everyone whether he likes it or not.

...instead of being over and done with when the twenty-first birthday is reached, it infects the upper generations as well.  It is common to see adults in their thirties, forties and fifties who have not only adopted the external trappings of the youth culture but are actually experiencing the emotions, traumas, and difficulties typical of youth.

The Contemplative Pastor, p121-122

See also
Growing Pain