In his attempt to recover the essence of pastoral ministry and help pastor's hold onto their essential vocation, Eugene Peterson takes an image from an unlikely source: mathematics. I have found a metaphor from trigonometry to be useful in keeping this clear; I see these three essential acts of ministry as the angles of a …
Learning to Pay Attention [Working the Angles with Eugene Peterson, part 2]
If we are to hold onto our identity and calling as pastors in North America, then we must resist the consumer-driven impulses that have infested our culture and even the church. We must become, as Eugene Peterson suggest, more than religious shopkeepers who keep the budget growing, the building improving, and the congregation busy. We …
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Abandoning Our Pastoral Calling [Working the Angles with Eugene Peterson, part 1]
In reflecting on the ways Eugene Peterson shaped my pastoral ministry after his passing (see "Remembering Eugene Peterson") on Monday, October 22, I took a look through his writings again. I asked myself a number of questions, amongst them being: what was it about Peterson that helped me so greatly as a pastor? I saw a …
Continue reading "Abandoning Our Pastoral Calling [Working the Angles with Eugene Peterson, part 1]"
Calling (discussion questions)
Here are the discussion questions that accompany my message, "Calling," from this past weekend at Eastbrook Church. This is part of our series, "Jesus on the Move." The texts for this week are from Luke 5 & 6. Discussion Questions: We continue the series “Jesus on the Move” by looking at a series of stories …
Glory in the Ordinary
There is a beautifully striking painting by Vincent van Gogh entitled "The Red Vineyard." This painting was the only official purchase of a van Gogh painting within the artist's lifetime. Building on the work of Millet before him, van Gogh paints a group of common peasants working diligently in the vineyard, bathed in the warm …
Matthew Erickson 