The Calling of a Pastor

My back yard

I'm loving slow-cooking in Eugene Peterson's prophetic, inspirational The Pastor: A Memoir. Peterson define a pastor's calling. He writes: "My work is not to fix people. It is to lead people into the worship of God and to lead them in living a holy life."

I'll put this another way. In 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 Paul writes: With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here the "calling" of every Jesus-follower is: Christ glorified in you. A pastor is to keep focusing on this as the raison d-etre of the Christ-life. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Pastor-shepherds nurture this reality, about which all things will one day come together.