"Spirituality for All the Wrong Reasons"

Today I re-read a Christianity Today interview of Eugene Peterson that was recommended to me a few years ago. I must confess that I am not a huge fan of Peterson's writing style - but he has some marvelous things to say. I hate to admit it - I started reading "Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology" about a year and 1/2 ago - but just couldn't finish. Humbling I guess. I like him though cause he's got a beard. I love beards. Except when they are only comprised of neck hair. That's gross. Anyways, here are a few highlights from the interview.

--> What is the most misunderstood aspect of spirituality? "That it's a kind of specialized form of being a Christian, that you have to have some kind of in. It's elitist. Many people are attracted to it for the wrong reasons. Others are put off by it: I'm not spiritual. I like to go to football games or parties or pursue my career."

--> Many people assume that spirituality is about becoming emotionally intimate with God. "...This promise of intimacy is both right and wrong. There is an intimacy with God, but it's like any other intimacy; its part of the fabric of your life. In marriage you don't feel intimate most of the time. Nor with a friend. Intimacy isn't primarily a mystical emotion. It's a way of life, a life of openness, honesty, a certain transparency."

"...I've been a pastor most of my life, for some 45 years. I love doing this. But to tell you the truth, the people who give me the most distress are those who come asking, "Pastor, how can I be spiritual?" Forget about being spiritual. How about loving your husband? Now that's a good place to start. But that's not what they're interested in. How about learning to love your kids, accept them the way they are?"

--> You make spirituality sound so mundane. "I don't want to suggest that those of us who are following Jesus don't have any fun, that there's no joy, no exuberance, no ecstasy. They're just not what the consumer thinks they are. When we advertise the gospel in terms of the world's values, we lie to people. We lie to them, because this is a new life. It involves following Jesus. It involves the Cross. It involves death, an acceptable sacrifice. We give up our lives."

"I think the besetting sin of pastors, maybe especially evangelical pastors, is impatience. We have a goal. We have a mission. We're going to save the world. We're going to evangelize everybody, and we're going to do all this good stuff and fill our churches. This is wonderful. But this is slow, slow work, this soul work, this bringing people into a life of obedience and love and joy before God. And we get impatient and start taking shortcuts and use any means available. We talk about benefits. We manipulate people..."

"Spirituality is not about ends or benefits or things; it's about means. it's about how you do this. How do you live in reality?"

"I think relevance is a crock. I don't think people care a whole lot about what kind of music you have or how you shape the service. They want a place where God is taken seriously, where they're taken seriously, where there is no manipulation of their emotions or their consumer needs. Why did we get captured by this advertising, publicity mindset? I think it's destroying our church."

If you'd like to read the whole interview, you can find it here.