Eugene Peterson says the three most important things a pastor can do are (1) to pray, and teach people to pray; (2) to preach in such a way that people hear a distinctive note of authority from God's Word, and know that their own lives are being addressed on their home territory (and that kind of preaching is a creative act that requires quietness, solitude, concentration, intensity); and (3) to listen in unhurried leisure.
For a pastor, being "too busy" is ignoble; a scandal, even blasphemy; being "busy" is a symptom of laziness ("letting others decide [priorities] rather than resolutely deciding myself") and vanity.
...If I vainly crowd my day with conspicuous activity or let others fill my day with imperious demands, I don't have time to do my proper work to which I have been called. How can I lead people into the quiet place beside the still waters if I am in perpetual motion? How can I persuade a person to live by faith and not by works if I have to juggle my schedule constantly to make everything fit into place? (Eugene H. Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction, 19).
And so here we are (fellow pastors, especially)... about to enter Holy Week... and how often do you catch yourself saying, "I'm SO busy" and wearing that like a badge of honor? I'm more guilty than anyone........
And so I "begin" Lent AGAIN today, praying "Lord, have mercy."
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