I love being an American. I love this place in which I have been placed—its language, its history, its energy. But I don’t love ‘the American way,’ its culture and values. I don’t love the rampant consumerism that treats God as a product to be marketed….The cultural conditions in which I am immersed require, at least for me, a kind of fierce vigilance to guard my vocation from these cultural pollutants so dangerously toxic to persons who want to follow Jesus in the way that he is Jesus.Eugene Peterson in The Pastor: A Memoir. Eugene has been one of the most clear-eyed guides in helping me navigate the pastoral vocation these past 6 years. Words like these help me to stay sane and know that I am not alone.
(Source: pbs.org)
