Teenagers

I've got this opinion going where I think teenagers, while not yet adults, should nonetheless be treated like adults wherever possible. I guess this opinion comes from what I remember of adolescence - you just want to be understood by adults and given dignity. I figure lots of bonehead behaviour could be mitigated by this approach. But I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. Ask me in 15 years time when I'm hopefully (?) the parent of an adolescent.

Anyhow, our man Peterson suggests that in place of a youth group, teenagers should be invited round to cook a meal once a fortnight.

First, it's something you like to do and are good at. . . . your kitchen opens up a world of care for food and its painstaking preparation will strike them, to use one of their words, as awesome. Second, you will be taking them seriously as persons, without any condescending adaptation to their status as adolescents. You are inviting them into your adult world and making them participants in it . . . Third, you will be working out of a context of hospitality, probably the very best setting in which to develop personal relationships and develop conversations that include Jesus . . . . Every so often you could prepare a huge pot of soup and take it to downtown Moorhead or Fargo and help out with one of the street missions to the hungry and homeless. When a person or family shows up in worship on Sunday, any one of the youth is free to invite them over for supper.

E.H. Peterson, The Wisdom of Each Other

Pov prayers

My 'prayer life' is pretty messy. It could be more regular, fervent, devout and loved. But I try not to feel too bad about it. I mean, momentary chats to God pepper my day and my prayers are said with sincerity. I'd like to get better but I figure it'll stay messy while I'm on this earth and I trust God will use and guard my feeble efforts.

For someone like you, lacking a lifetime of habit and routine in Scripture and
prayer, the best strategy is to start small. What I am saying, I guess, is that
you shouldn't take on the burden of single-handedly going against the whole
culture. Infiltrate brief prayers into the interruptions and noise.

E.H. Peterson, The Wisdom of Each Other

Peterson says not to think of praying in terms of time, but rather to think of it as a thing you do, something that's part of your daily routine.

Other worldly

I'm not big on conferences, partially because of an irrational, peculiar life approach of mine, but also because . . .

Conferences on the spiritual life are wonderful - occasionally. I think very occasionally. They do not provide the substance for a life of obedient faith. They contribute almost nothing, maybe even less than nothing, to a life of spiritual maturity. . . . When you next feel the need for some outside encouragement and refreshment, you would do better to book a three day vacation in Hawaii. Lie on the beach and soak in creation.

The reason is that the Christian life is thoroughly organic - the Holy Spirit grows the spiritual life in you, forms Christ's life in you, in the particular conditions in which you live - Minnesota weather, rural culture, estranged wives, stand-offish children, uncomfortable income, and a still uncomfortable Lutheran liturgy.

E.H. Peterson, The Wisdom of Each Other

Unremarkable words

The conversations that take place in the parking lot after Sunday worship
are as much a part of the formation of Christian character as the preaching
from the sanctuary pulpit. The small talk that accumulates around the ritual
of putting children to sleep for the night is as sacred as the most solemn
of eucharistic liturgies. Most of our lives, after all, are not in crisis.
We also need ways of conversing about our lives in Christ.

E.H. Peterson, The Wisdom of Each Other

Fulltime secular ministry

Eugene Peterson writes a letter to a friend advising them what to say to their pastor who wants them to go into ministry:-

. . . I realised that I have also been called into full-time Christian ministry. And I need your help. . . . Two things in particular I need from you. First, I need your blessing on my ministry. . . . [cf Mk 5:18-9] . . . . In the immediate context of my life, 'family' translated into my daily work. . . . it is not easy, for none of my associates at work nor my new Christian friends understand it as ministry. I'm beginning to feel very isolated, even beleaguered. That's why I need your blessing - your blessing and your prayers, validating and strengthening me in my full-time Christian ministry. The second thing I need is your protection. This is demanding work and requires much concentration and energy. The longer I am in this church the more I feel that
people here are distracting and diverting me from my ministry. If I lived out my Christian faith the way they think I should, I would end up simply putting in 'secular' hours at the laboratory and saving up my 'Christian' energies for evening meetings and weekend church projects. . . . the help you need is the word of God preached with imagination and conviction. Tell them you need to be prayed for with passion and faithfulness and listened to without distraction or hurry.

The Wisdom of Each Other by Eugene H. Peterson.

Mentoring

My Sydney church used to run a program where the same two people met ten times throughout the year. The purposes for these meetings were quite defined. The first two were to get to know each other's stories. The mentee (hate that word) then picked three or so areas to work on and together they worked on those things across the rest of the year.

New in Town

Chapter The First: In Which Our Heroine Sends Things To Her Pastor. Sure to be a hoot.