Working the Angles by Eugene Peterson

Introduction. In his book, Working the Angles, Eugene Peterson identifies the work of the pastor or leader by drawing on the geometric imagery of a triangle. “The visible lines of pastoral work,” says Peterson, “are preaching, teaching, and administration” (Eerdmans Publishing, 1987, 5). This is often how pastors identify themselves, that is, primarily as the preacher, teacher, or church administrator. Before reading his book, one of, or a combination of these three duties is how I often envisioned myself in future ministry opportunities. But these three important straight lines are at the mercy of the three angles that actually form the triangle. To this Peterson writes, “Most of what we see in a triangle is lines. The lines come in various proportions to each other but what determines the proportions and shape of the whole are the angles” (5). The lines are the visible and the expected of the pastor’s duties, but the angles dictate everything. “The small angles of this ministry are prayer, Scripture, and spiritual direction,” Peterson continues (5). Without these angles, the lines hold little shape or semblance of meaning.

This is not a book review. Rather, what follows is a self-reflection. This is an evaluation of my prayer life, study of Scripture, and present spiritual direction through my understanding of Peterson’s book. I will offer my thoughts and ideas about the concepts of Working the Angles, through the same structure as the book. Peterson breaks his book down by three sections following the same focus of each angle: prayer, Scripture, and spiritual direction. I will do the same for this post.

Upfront I can say that I feel that two angles of my triangle are developing well and are a strong part of my life; but one angle is the regular subject of my prayers and is in need of serious help and growth. In addition, I have been working though a difficult decision regarding the Army chaplaincy and this book has greatly helped guide my decision away from that direction.

Prayer. Peterson expresses that prayer is of the utmost importance for every pastor and leader. Everything should always come down to prayer, always. Prayer is not simply for getting things started at secular gathering and meetings, as if it is the starter pistol of a track race. And it should not be a token thing; it is powerful and dangerous, significant. The pastor or leader’s life, according to Peterson, must be strongly identified through a life of regular, honest, meaningful prayer.

As I read though the significance of prayer, I found myself in strong agreement. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in a time of need” (ESV). Because of this passage and others, I feel confident to boldly approach God in prayer; and as I read Psalm 139, I know that God knows me thoroughly. Therefore, my personal prayers can be honest and guttural. While I confess, at times I selfishly ask for God to bless me in this way or that, much of my prayer life is my desire to draw nearer to God to know him, myself, and my relationship with Jesus so much better. I wake with prayer, pray in the shower, when I’m shaving and brushing my teeth, walking past neighbor’s homes, riding the bus, working, after meeting with co-workers, when I'm studying, and before I go to bed. I pray at any moment I can, even when I am using the restroom. Yet, sometimes I will forget to prayer and go for hours without talking with God. There is loneliness, but then again I am drawn back to him to share joy and pain, confusion and understanding.

However, I am coming to realize that I often shelter my relationship with God by avoiding the deeper approach toward God when I pray with others, sometimes even when I daily pray with my wife and children. It is my prayer that I feel comfortable to boldly approach God with them too.

I am in the process of re-entering the military as a chaplain; or I should say I was in the process. Much of my concern with the chaplaincy falls squarely in the three angles of this book. There is debate about the chaplain’s ability to pray honest prayers to Jesus, in his name. While I do not think it is absolutely necessary to end a prayer specifically, “in the name of Jesus” as a recently removed Navy chaplain does, I do believe prayer should not be that token thing to hold on to tradition. Thinking back to my eight years in the military, I cannot recall a chaplain’s public prayer that was not simply a cursory prayer to “get things started.” It is as if having the chaplain open a ceremony with a prayer is the Army’s way to appease some and hold on to tradition. After reading Peterson’s book, I am no longer confidant that I can be a participant in the capacity required by the Army. And if prayer is a significant angle (which I believe it is), than it stands to reason that counseling sessions and various other aspects of the chaplain’s duties with soldiers should include honest prayer. However, the last four decades have seen a shift away from Christian prayer in the chaplain ministries (with the exception of Sunday services), in many cases actually preventing prayer in this capacity.

Scripture. The pastor or leader should be a man (or woman) of the Book. If the Bible is to be understood as God’s written word to us—and I believe it is—than the pastor should know the material inside and out. There should be a strong desire to read and hear from God often. But as Peterson explains, knowing the material is not just the ability to regurgitate a passage as needed or achieve high marks on a test, it is to breath it in, live it, understand it, deeply know it. It should sustain life and shape how the leader understands everything. I believe my approach to the Bible (as God’s Word) is an honest approach to getting closer to God, hearing from him, and infusing the Scripture into the core foundations of my life. Like Eugene says should be the case, my “office,” where I most often read, is actually called my “study.” Although I also listen to Scripture when I am commuting to work and on occasion I will read from my iPhone when I’m standing in line or passing time.

I typically start my time in Scripture with prayer. I read from a daily reading plan, and I journal. At times, I will read large portions of the Word for a broad overview or to capture the meta-narrative. Other times, I will read one verse repeatedly, chewing on it, praying it, trying to make it a part of me like a blood transfusion. I read from many translations and sometimes I will read from the Greek (although I still greatly struggle with this). Sometimes I read and study at the “101 level,” that is, the devotional reading for peace and enjoyment. Other times my reading is a deeper study, exegeting passages and examining words; and still other times I involve commentaries to seek out a much deeper or more academic understanding. Scripture is the focus of most, if not all of my reading. My purpose for reading Scripture is to hear the word of the Lord and to know him more. And Scripture is the measuring stick of how I come to understand everything else.

Spiritual Direction. As I hinted in the introduction, one life area is in dire need of improvement. It is this area—spiritual direction. At times over the past three years, I have acted as a spiritual director or mentor for others; but through much of that time, I have been void of a serious, dedicated spiritual director. I have two or three guys I can go to for prayer and help with big decisions, but I do not feel like I have a go-to guy for the little things, the mundane, who will call me out when I need it most and stick with me as I work through my junk. It is often my prayer that God will bring this man into my life, and soon.

As Peterson says, every person needs a spiritual director in his or her life, throughout the entire lifetime of the believer. I absolutely trust he is correct. When we are hermits, that is, when we are not deeply known by other believers, we tend to see ourselves as 'amazing,' much better than reality would state. But when we have a spiritual director, there is an honesty that is not present otherwise. There is humility and growth and help and honesty about us, pointing us toward repentance, sanctification, and a better relationship with God. I do not, at present, have this level of support, which is why entering the chaplaincy is risky at best, irresponsible, and unwise. Peterson’s section on spiritual direction is a stark reminder of something that has been a long struggle for me. Peterson also struggled with the lack of a spiritual director. He said it was because he did not want to give up control. This is somewhat true for me too. And I am struggling to find a willing, capable mentor that I trust and feel I can be open with. I see that I need to repent and work through this issue. I realize, as Peterson eventually did, that the reason I do not have this man in my life is due to problems I am struggling to deal with and embrace in a repentant, honest manner. (The level of frank honesty might be a bit high for this post, but is this not somewhat the point of the final section of the book?) So, I keep praying, waiting, and watching.

Conclusion. I found Peterson’s book informative and convicting. Ultimately, I was questioning my readiness to enter the chaplaincy and Working the Angles acted as a conformation that I am not yet there. I need to continue to pray and listen to God’s word and guidance through reading Scripture. I need to open my life up to a spiritual director. Until I can get the angels resembling a triangle, the lines of preaching, teaching, and administration will not connect, leaving me with a haphazard and unfruitful ministry.

* I have no material connection to this book. This post was, in its entirety or in part, originally written in seminary in partial fulfillment of a M.Div. It may have been redacted or modified for this website. 

Tithing: It's About Heart

Introduction.  In First Corinthians, Paul writes (in part) to the church in Corinth about a collection that is being taken up (16:1-4).  The money will support and care for the believers in Jerusalem who were likely in hiding during a time of persecution.  Malachi 3:10a says “Bring the full tithe to the storehouse.”  Twice Paul quotes Deuteronomy 25:4, that “you shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading the grain” (ESV), and in his first letter to Timothy he says, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching” (ESV), making an argument that ministers of the gospel should be paid.  While all of these passages are used in support of giving or tithing to God through the Church, the means of ministry funds is not what God is after.  God, as the Bible teaches, is after the believer’s affection.   Giving the first fruits, be it money or otherwise, is more a work happening within the believer than anything else.

God does not NEED your money.   It is a mistake to think the work of God’s desire will not happen if we, the Church, do not raise the money for his will.  While reflecting on God and his own life, Job said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.  The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21, ESV).  Job understood that he came into the world with nothing.  All that he had and all that he lost was a blessing from God, but he did not have a greater claim than God to any of it because it was all God’s to give and take.  Leviticus 27:30 teaches that every tithe, whether it is willfully given to God or not belongs to God, and the rest of Malachi 3:10 says that withholding this tithe is actually stealing from God.  Psalm 50:8-12 reads, "I have not complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly offer.  But I do not the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens.  For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.  I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine.  If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it" (NLT).
   
When the King Ahasuerus’ edict demanded to have all the Jews killed, Mordecai asked Esther to appeal to her husband, the king, in order to save the Jews from genocide.  In verses 4:13-14, Mordecai says to Ester, "Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.  For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish.  And who knows whether your have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  (Esther 4:13-14, ESV, emphasis added)  Mordecai understood that God will have it his way whether it works through Esther or through some other avenue or person, but Esther had the opportunity in that moment to be faithful and obedient to God.  Giving to the Church is much the same way—we can be obedient to the Bible and give or not, but our disobedience will not keep our Sovereign from accomplishing his will.  However, this is not a reason not to give our tithes and offering to God as he as instructed. 
 
It is about the heart.  In the 18th chapter of Luke (also Matthew 19 and Mark 10), a rich man asked Jesus what he must do to have eternal life.  Jesus asked him if was he had kept the last five Commandments.  The man had since his youth.  But then Jesus went after the real issue—the man's idol, that is, the love of his great wealth.  The rich man had placed his love of money above his love of God, thus violating the First Commandment.  Every sin we commit can generally be tied back to placing something above God, worshiping an idol rather than the living God.  One of the most prevalent idols in the West today is money. 
 
Money itself is not bad; but both Hebrews 13:5 and First Timothy 6:10 say that the love of it is.  Like the rich man, the believer must strip away the idolatry and the love of money if he is going to follow Christ.  This, at times, comes with resistance.  Criswell writes, “The true gospel preacher is confronted today by a new-time antinomian. . . . Where stewardship of money is concerned they are antinomians; elsewhere they are satisfied to preach the moral code of Jehovah” (Criswell 1980, 148-149).  However, the gospel preacher must continue to call men and woman to give cheerfully, not because God needs the money, because God wants the heart. 

References:
Criswell, W.A. Criswell's Guidebook for Pastors. Nashville, Tenn: Broadman Press, 1980.

*Photo is licensed under a creative commons license.  This post was, in its entirety or in part, originally written in seminary in partial fulfillment of a M.Div. It may have been redacted or modified for this website.

The Word of God, Hebrews 4:12

A deist is one who believes that God created the world and set it in motion, but does not interact with his creation; or if there is interaction, it is extremely rare, and only in the miraculous. The analogy of the clockmaker is often used; that is, that God is like a clockmaker that created a clock, wound it up, and then set it on a shelf never to touch it again. But the Bible does not teach that God has walked away from his creation, uninterested.  In fact, there are hundreds of stories, thousands of scriptures, that demonstrate the opposite. And while we could look at many, many scriptures, today we'll examine Hebrews 4:12.

 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  (Hebrews 4:12, ESV)

Here, we see that the Word of God is alive and doing something in this world, in us.  In this verse, the Word is dividing "soul and spirit" and "discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." The NIV translation says "it judges the the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12, NIV). But what is the Word of God that is alive and active?

The "Word of God" has several different meanings throughout the Bible.  The word "word" is translated from the Greek word (the language the New Testament was originally written in) logos.  The word itself has many possible meanings, which is why the phrase can carry multiple meanings.  The Word of God could mean the speech of God or maybe God's decrees (Genesis 1:3, for example).  It could be the actual words spoken to a person or people, like when God spoke to Moses (Exodus 20:1-3) or when God spoke to the crowd at Jesus' baptism (Matthew 3:17).  There are many Old Testament instances of God speaking through a human prophet; Deuteronomy 18:18-20 explains how God spoke through these men.  And of course the Word of God can mean the written scriptures, that is, the Bible.  (Please see Joshua 24:26 or 1 Corinthians 14:37.) And there are rare Scriptures that indicate that the Word of God is also Jesus Christ.

(1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3, ESV)

Here we clearly see that the Word was with God but was also God.  The reference to "the beginning" is a reference to Genesis 1:1 when God was creating the world. This is not simply spoken words or the Scriptures.  And we see that all of creation was made through the Word.  But what or who is this Word.  John 1:14 gives us the answer:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14, ESV)

Clearly this Word is not like the aloof clockmaker; this God entered flesh and walked among the creation.

Getting back to Hebrews 4:12, it is most likely that the Word of God is the Scriptures (although it is beautiful to see the deeper connection between the Scriptures and the Christ).  Often the Holy Spirit uses what is written to convict us, to show us where we have blemishes in our intentions and attitudes.  And through this conviction we find we can turn to Jesus Christ, who has made a way for us to escape the punishment of sin and dwell with God eternally.  If, however, God is like the clockmaker, why do our thoughts and attitudes need investigation?  Why even leave man with the living and active Word of God at all? No, this God is not like the clockmaker.  This God is living and active in the lives of his creation.