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[PCUSANEWS] Eugene Peterson tells pastors it's OK to be 'out of


From PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>
Date 28 May 2003 20:09:31 -0400

Note #7745 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Eugene Peterson tells pastors it's OK to be 'out of control'
GA03056

Eugene Peterson tells pastors it's OK to be 'out of control'

by Eva Stimson

DENVER, May 27 - The Rev. Eugene Peterson has learned a few things in his
nearly 45 years of ordained ministry. 

	The retired pastor and popular author shared his wisdom during a
General Assembly luncheon sponsored by the Company of Pastors, a community of
Presbyterian ministers, lay pastors and educators who commit together to
daily disciplines of prayer and study.

	Peterson said he entered the ministry with "great ideals" and
"glamorous ideas" about what he could do with his first congregation. "I was
packed full of knowledge," he said, "but nothing I expected happened."

	Peterson said he soon realized that nurturing a congregation "was
slow, slow work." He compared congregations to glaciers, saying they are
slow-moving, "but once they start, you can't stop them."

	Another thing he learned, he said, was that "God calls the people. We
don't do it."

	He said God brings together a congregation, and "no place in
scripture are these gatherings very impressive. Just think what God could
have done if he'd called a different group of people."

	Rather than choosing the people of Israel, Peterson said, God might
have called those of one of the world's mighty empires - the Egyptians, the
Greeks, the Romans. "He had all these options, and what did he do? He took
this rag-tag group of people and patiently worked with them," Peterson said.

	The biggest challenge for pastors, he added, is "letting God be the
one who elects, who chooses."

	He said pastors also must learn how to read the Bible.	

	"We are trained to read for information," he said, "but the Bible is
a story, not an encyclopedia. It's a story that includes us. We can only
enter the story by being submissive. We can't take control of the story."

	Peterson said the most frequent complaint he hears about The Message,
his translation of the Bible into contemporary English, is that there are no
verse numbers. "People say, 'How can I study this? I don't know where I am.'"

	That's the point, he tries to explain to these critics. "You're out
of control."

	Peterson closed with a few comments on Jesus' resurrection. In the
Gospel accounts, the story is presented as "a very quiet thing," he said,
with "no glamor, no fireworks."

	"The disciples were astonished; they just stood around. They were
totally unprepared for the resurrection," he said.

	The temptation for pastors is to try to "make it important," with
lilies, trumpets, sunrise services and 13-point sermons explaining what
happened that first Easter Sunday.

	"Resurrection is not like that," he said. "It's God doing his work in
people, in ways we never expected."

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