Eugene Peterson: The Pastor on Preaching, Women Clergy

Last updated on: March 10, 2015 at 10:03 am by Cathleen Falsani

Eugene Peterson: The Pastor on Preaching, Women Clergy 2015-03-10T10:03:12-07:00 Cathleen Falsani

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

NEW YORK CITY — Today and Wednesday, I have the privilege of attending a private gathering here in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan with Eugene Peterson, the 80-year-old theologian and prolific author best known for his para-translation of the Bible, The Message.

The two-day event, Q Practices, is part-retreat, part-seminar on the theme of how we might cultivate our inner lives in an age of epic distractions.

I’ll be reporting more fully later, but wanted to share with you a few gems from Peterson, who recently published a marvelous memoir titled, simply, The Pastor, from this morning’s sessions.

Peterson, who is a Presbyterian minister (now retired from the pastorate after 30 years), grew up in Montana in the Pentecostal Christian tradition. His mother, in fact, was a preacher who later founded and pastored her own church.

While discussing the idea of vocation, Peterson explained that he learned to preach by watching his mother, who would visit a nearby prison on Sunday nights and preach to the inmates. As a child of three and four, Peterson would accompany here. “My mother was a great storyteller,” he said. “Preaching is storytelling.”

“There are so many ways to be a preacher,” he said, cautioning the pastors present that they should not try to mimic his or any other preacher’s style. Rather, they must find their own, unique way of teaching the way of Jesus.

His way, Peterson said, is to be relational, relaxed and unafraid of silences in a worship service because it encourages the congregation to be contemplative and meditative.

“There is a way we can preach without being bullies, or being in a hurry … and without having everything tied down,” he said. “I think sermons suffer greatly for a lack of ambiguity.”

After a few years of preaching at the prison on Montana, his mother abruptly stopped after some of her Pentecostal friends pointed out Bible passages that said women were not to speak in church. A godly woman devoted to teaching the word — and, moreover, living it — she did not want to be disobedient to God and therefore stopped preaching.

But then, a few years later, Peterson’s mother returned to the pulpit. As a teenager, he asked her why. Her response, “In effect, I found a better hermeneutic.”

His mother’s devotion to the prisoners (and perhaps her fleeting belief that women could not be called by God to the ordained ministry), led to Peterson’s lifetime commitment to reach out to folks on the margins of society (secular or religious.) “I have a sympathy and attraction to the outsider,” he said, “People who are considered outsiders get my attention and … it influenced my opinion of women in ministry.

“I’m not exactly objective, but I think I’m biblical,” Peterson said, as a few of the handful of women in the gathering of 99 evangelical Christian leaders (many of them male pastors) quietly cheered.

Cathleen Falsani is Web Editor and Director of New Media for Sojourners. For timely reports from the Q Practices gathering in NYC, follow Cathleen’s tweets on Twitter @GodGrrl.

Previous Post

February 19, 2012

WomanKind: Gracespotting Word Collage

Next Post

March 1, 2012 Lost in Translation: Eugene Peterson and 'The Message'

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A little happy ARCHIVED COLUMNS BECOMING FAMILY BelieberNess BREAKING NEWS! Disquiet Time DJ JEFF'S SPINTASMS falsani FILM from OCRegister From Sojo.net God Nods GODSTUFF I Take Requests incubatespirit LURKING IN THE NARTHEX On My Nightstand ONEMOMS Polling the Room PONTIFEXCELLENT Thru My Eyes TWO CENTS Uncategorized Upcoming Events VASCO VASCO'S HEART

Select a Month January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 May 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 April 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 October 2003 March 2003 December 2002 October 2002 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who is Abraham’s wife?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ruth Esther Naomi Sarah