I have had several conversations over the past couple of days regarding pastoral loneliness, the isolation of a pastor’s heart, and the matters that pastors find it hard to confess. Pastors are isolated, and are pressured to be perfect. We are to have no cracks, no weakness, no vulnerability, and we buy this narrative.
But, of course, we can’t be perfect, and we need the gospel.
Even though we may preach the gospel week after week, who will so preach it to us? Is that our job as well? To preach the gospel to ourselves?
Thanks for joining us as we ponder that question.
I’m grateful for all who pull up a chair around Greatheart’s Table.
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EPISODE NOTES
Notes and resources relevant to this episode:
Kelly Kapic, Embodied Hope: A Theological Meditation on Pain and Suffering (United States: IVP Academic, 2017).
The entire book is valuable. The portion on preaching the gospel to oneself, which begins at page 138, is set in the broader context of confession of sin to one another.
The chapel message is found here. Again, the whole is worth hearing, but the relevant portion begins at about minute 20:10.
Thomas Cary Johnson, The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney (United States: Banner of Truth, 1977), p. 480.
Podcast music provided by Over the Rhine, and used with permission.
Intro: “All My Favorite People” / Lyrics
Outro: “Called Home” / Lyrics
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