Where the Heart Longs to Go: A New Image for Pastoral Ministry

By Thad Rutter

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0835808491
• ISBN13: 9780835808491
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Upper Room Books
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.5" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

An Ancient Practice New

Actually, Rutter's "new image for pastoral ministry" seems a very old understanding, but one that our busy-ness prefers to forget. Rutter writes about a ministry rooted in contemplative prayer. It is a strangely modern and ancient practice, one that does not fit our planning calendars. Yet contemporary writers such as Henri Nouwen speak of being judged not by our activities, but by our prayers. Ancient pastors, sometimes known as shepherds, sometimes known for caring for souls, spent hours each day and perhaps whole days each week in prayer. Surely those prayers included thanksgiving and petititon and intercession, but those prayers must also have included contemplation--sitting in silence and listening for God.As a pastor, I feel the pressure to perform, to be everywhere and do more than seems possible. I do this in a way that exhausts me. I know that I can spend some time daily in the prayer that Rutter describes. I know that when I practice this contemplative prayer, my ministry feels more real. But the temptations to not pray in such a way are many. And most of those temptations are in my calendar! Read this book and then be gentle with yourself.

Calling to Contemplative Action

This is a fascinating book for pastors who often get caught up in the business and busy-ness of church-institutional needs. Rutter makes the case that pastors should heed their initial call to love God and to grow toward God. He writes of an attentiveness to God, which may not be possible in the distractedness of contemporary culture--even in the church. Read the book. Argue with the author, but take seriously his personal story as a pastor.