Book study: The Pastor; a Spirituality

I’m easing into the sabbatical with The Pastor; a Spirituality by Gordon W. Lathrop. Dr. Lathrop was my liturgical professor in seminary; he inspired me with the historical themes and the contemporary hunger for a deep liturgical rhythm.

Here’s seven quotes from his introduction:

“The pastor lives among symbols… No wonder that she or he can become—to many other people, often to society and certainly to the community of his or her service—also a symbol…the pastor among symbols, as a symbol” (p. 1).

“Just so, if the pastor is a symbol, that symbol needs to be understood as broken. Pastors have experience in being expected to be like shamans. …A responsible pastor will want to be careful here. Unbroken, these expectations can lead to massive disappointment for the community, an impossible burden for the pastor, and huge distortions of Christian meaning for us all. The tragic stories of clergy burnout, clergy abuse, and tyrannical clericalism document this disappointment and distortion” (p. 5).

“The ordained one does not make religious connections alone, like a powerful shaman, but only in the midst of the assembly and in relationship to that Word [which lives in the heart of the assembly]” (p.6).

“…the pastor. The title means ‘shepherd.’ …Only, what does this imply about the congregation that such a ‘shepherd’ serves? …Are they only sheep, dumbly following, waiting to be fed? And are they gathered in order for the shepherd to fleece or slaughter them? …Near Eastern kings were commonly called ‘shepherds,’ and these shepherds did indeed often fleece and kill their ‘sheep’ for their own benefit… Trustworthy pastors will always realize with both humility and relief that they are themselves not that shepherd, instead pointing beyond themselves to the One who lives at the heart of the assembly’s symbols. Trustworthy pastors will be transparent to the one Shepherd” (pp. 10-11).

“The pastor is often admitted to a place of closeness [with those they serve]; the pastor must know that this place is symbolic, mediated.

“The moment must be carried with great care, protected, allowed to be a symbol, received as a gift, and then let alone” (p. 12).

“A responsible pastor will be learning to value his own wisdom, while also knowing what a fool he is, how to value her own kindness, while also knowing that she cannot be the All-friend” (p. 13).

These are good. I will let them stand on their own.