Hey,
I am Greg and I am a pastor. I live my life trying to figure out what it means for me to serve God and serve the world in his name. As you might guess, trying to be a pastor, trying to always figure out what God wants me to do in a situation and trying to lead a church isn’t always easy, enjoyable, successful, or possible. There is way more guess work and trial and error involved in pastoring than you are ever taught in seminary or even told by the pastors you meet. Well, I will give it to you pretty straight. I’m a yankee so I can get away with those things.
I grew up in a tradition within the Protestant church that always talks about holiness. The theology that God has set his people aside and called them to be a holy, a righteous wholly different nation of servants in God’s name, is the dominant thought of my tradition. And you know what? I think that most of the people I have ever known who are so focused on holiness really have no idea what holiness is about and how we acheive it. They viewa life of holiness as a self centered exercise in sin management that requires a constant checklist of what you have done wrong and right. After living my formative years in this kind of environment it occurred to me that if that is what the Christian life is really about, then frankly I am not sure I want anything to do with it. A life lived just trying to manange sin and figure out if I have sinned all the time is a crappy life. There has to be more. So in my role as a pastor, theologian, friend, writer, father, husband and pilgrim, I am dedicating my life to holiness reeducation. I will exhaust my time and energy seeking a better understanding, lifestyle, and teaching of the doctrine of holiness. Come on and enjoy the ride with me.
Creeping towards Christlikeness-
Greg
February 14, 2006
Church of the Nazarene, My Life, The Church