Spiritual Direction

I continue to read Eugene Peterson's book, "Working the Angles." I have read about the first two angles: prayer and scripture. These are very important angles, and ones that I read about and was convicted of ways that I need to think about and work on. However, of all the angles, I think the third is the most important, not only because it is, I think, the most neglected and needed by and for pastors, but because it can help us (and help us help others) pursue the other two. Here are some thoughts from Pastor Peterson on the topic of Spiritual Direction.

"Spiritual direction takes place when two people agree to give their full attention to what God is doing in one (or both) of their lives and seek to respond in faith."

"Ironically, this is the work that many people assume that pastors do all the time: teaching people to pray, helping parishioners discern the presence of grace in events and feelings, affirming the presence of God at the very heart of life, sharing a search for light through a dark passage in the pilgrimage, guiding the formation of a self-understanding that is Biblically spiritual instead of merely psychological or sociological."

The last two Sundays, I have preached at our church. This, coinciding with my approaching resignation from the church, has prompted many to voice what, apparently, people have been saying amongst themselves for some time: "Paul, you would make a great senior pastor." I'm flattered and encouraged that God has been using my preaching to challenge, encourage, help, and maybe even convict people. However, I see a tremendous danger that doesn't seem to bother anybody. There seems to be the assumption that my ability to preach a good sermon, or even (to make it spiritual) my ability to hear God's voice and communicate to people through a sermon what God has told me they need to hear (though it's not really my ability at all, but that's another issue entirely) makes me a candidate for being a good senior pastor. It's like it's the primary criteria, or something of that nature.


I'm not downplaying sermons to the place of being completely peripheral. God has used sermons to impact people in a variety of ways, and I've been impacted by things pastors/speakers have said from the pulpit. They are important. However, the reality is that anybody can put together a good sermon if they have the skills and research time and ability. I'm in the middle of reading, "The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher," where the author makes this point quite convincingly. Pastor Peterson makes the point, and I agree with him, that the part of the pastor's job that is much more important than preaching (besides the other two angles) is spiritual direction - those times, often informal, though they can be formalized, when we speak into people's lives on an individual basis.

Thursday afternoon I met with a student I've been mentoring for the past two years. As I talked with him, I realized again how much he's grown in his faith. He made observations, and we talked about his plans, that showed me how God is transforming him. This transformation has occurred because we have walked together, not because of all the sermons he's heard me give in youth group. It's because we've talked about the dailiness of life, and where God is in that dailiness.

Pastor Peterson talks about a pastor who feels the most like a pastor when he's at a diner talking with one of the waitresses about spiritual things. Why doesn't he do stuff like that more? Because he's not getting paid for that. Where have I felt the most like I'm pastoring? When I'm developing relationships with kids on the track team I'm helping to coach, and one of them opens up to me about something going on at home. When a staff person with the Boys and Girls club that meets at our church shares about the violent loss of a family member, and I get the opportunity to pray with her. When I'm sitting with a teenager over ice cream and I get the opportunity to tell them about the leadership gifts I see in them, then challenge them to step up and take a swing at being more purposeful about leading people by example. When the owner of the local coffee shop I've been frequenting shares how she's thinking about coming to church, and I get a chance to talk with her a little about church, life, and the struggles of running a business. These times are pastoring. These times are the times when I know I'm going about God's work. Formal preaching and teaching are important. As a pastor, we must to the administrative stuff. But Spiritual Direction is the place where I think more pastors need to find ways... purposefully make ways... aggressively make ways to spend more time in so that we can pour into people's lives and actually help them grow.