There is this about a story: when we get caught up in a story, we don’t know how it is going to end. Nor do we know who else is going to be part of the story. … Noting in a skillfully told story is predictable. But also, nothing is without meaning—every detail, every word, every name, every action is part of the story. … That means we can’t know the details of how it will look, who will in it, or how it will end. The only thing we know for sure is that it is the story of Jesus bring retold with us being the ones listening, responding, following, believing, obeying—or not.
[Psychology] clarified what I was not: I was not primarily dealing with people as problems. I was a pastor calling them to worship God. … but congregation is not defined by its collective problems. Congregation is a company of people who are defined by their creation in the image of God, living souls, whether they know it or not. … But their work [counseling] is not my work. … And my work is not to fix people. It is to lead people in the worship of God and to lead them in living a holy life. … I will find ways to pray with and for people and teach them to pray, usually quietly and often subversively when they don’t know I am doing it. But I’m not going to wait to be asked. I am a pastor.
Eugene H. Peterson, The Pastor: A Memoir, 118; 136-7,142
