Eugene Peterson, one of the truly fine Christian ministers of our time, has passed away. As a pastor, professor, and writer he influenced thousands of ministers during his lifetime. I was one of them. Although I never met the man, his books found their way into my library where they were read again and again. My favorite was Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity.
In that book Peterson pointed out that many of us in ministry focus on the visible tasks of ministry: preaching, teaching and administration. After all, it is in these areas where our congregations evaluate us. After a few short years in ministry almost anyone can become rather skilled in each of these tasks and enjoy a respectable ministry.
However, it is in the invisible, quiet tasks of ministry that gives integrity to what we do. These invisible tasks are prayer, scripture reading and giving spiritual direction. These are what Peterson called the angles of ministry, and he wrote that if we got "the angles right it was a simple matter to draw in the lines. but if we are careless with or dismiss the angles, no matter how long or straight we draw the lines we will not have a triangle, a pastoral ministry."
He then reminded his readers, "We can impersonate a pastor without being a pastor. The problem, though, is that while we can get by with it in our communities, often with applause, we can't get by with it within ourselves."
I've had seasons in my ministry where I felt I was merely impersonating a pastor. While I was going through the motions, at times it felt like I was robo-pastor. Just push a button and out pops a sermon. Push another button and I show up at the hospital. But, during those times I felt empty, and I knew I was not what God had called me to be.
The first time I read this book I realized what was missing: the angles. I had abandoned the times of prayer and scripture reading I needed to feed my own soul, and when your soul is sitting on empty it's hard to give spiritual direction to another. Any time I felt myself falling back in my old ways I would read this book again to be reminded of what God had called me to be as well as what He had called me to do.
A number of Peterson's books sit on my shelves. While all have benefitted me, none touched me or impacted my ministry as much as Working the Angles. The church lost a great Christian leader, but Peterson's influence will be felt for many more years to come.
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