Insightful

"A mood develops in which there is little respect for the past and even less knowledge of it. As the mood envelops pastoral work we are charmed into forgetting the very wisdom that we are called upon to share with others: the majestic reality of God and the immediate significance of each personal and local detail in the story of redemption. We are told that we must be au courant in the ways of looking at, studying, and working with persons, and that psychology and sociology will revolutionize our capabilities, putting us in the vanguard of those who will achieve a new human potential. But the whole work which has to do with the human's relation to God and God's will for the human does not come from knowing more about the times but from knowing humanity - and God. It has to do with continuities , not novelties; with what is essential in the human condition, not with what is accidental. that being the case, we are far more likely to get help from those whose experience has been tested in a variety of climates and cultures, and been demonstrated in the testing to be trustworthy." -- Eugene Peterson - Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work

I am still working through my summer reading list I had intended on completing - in the summer :-) I have read a few books that were not on that list in the meantime but now I am back to re-reading books that I read while in college and seminary that I felt were influential. the four books Peterson wrote on the pastoral ministry I recall being very influential when I read them 12-14 years ago. I am on volume 1. I think the above that Peterson writes is bang on. though I am uncomfortable with some of Peterson's approach to Scripture I think he has a lot of good things to say. I saw him give a presentation about 9 years ago and I was impressed. So - back to his books for the next little while.