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Hi! Welcome to Greatheart’s Table.

A friend recently stopped by a donut shop in Michigan whose slogan is “Donuts: We made them taste good; you made them famous.

I want to adopt that idea. I do what I can to make these posts taste good. If you agree, then I need you to make them “famous.”

Fame is not my goal, but being a service to as many as I can is. If you find these posts tasty, please let others know.

I hope you have others to tell, not just for my sake, but in a real sense for yours as well. I touched upon the need for friendship in our last conversation. Pull up a chair as we continue that them in this post called “A Quiet Place, Part II.”

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EPISODE NOTES

I’ve titled the previous post and this one after the movie and its recently released sequel for reasons which I hope become clear.

If the notion of sailors performing an on-board rendition of The Messiah seems a stretch, it is because our view of the shipboard culture of that time is shaped by legend and not reality. O’Brian has done his research deep in the archives of the British navy.

Patrick O’Brian, The Ionian Mission (United States: W. W. Norton & Company, 1992), p. 166.
If I make frequent references to these books it is because O’Brian’s insight into humanity is so rich. It’s also because I’m a fan.

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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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Thanks for joining us at The Table.

To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

You can email us at GreatheartsTable@gmail.com.

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Hi! Welcome to Greatheart’s Table.

If you have not joined us before, I encourage you to read or listen to the first post which explains what Greatheart’s Table is all about. I hope this to be an encouragement to pastors, and to those who care for them, and to any others who might take a seat at the table.

Pastoral ministry, I suggested in our last post, can be panic inducing. In this one, I’d like to suggest a remedy, a vaccine if you will, against despair and panic, something to help us do ministry without a mask and with greater freedom and safety.

So pull up a chair at the table and let’s consider the importance of pastoral friendship in this post entitled “A Quiet Place.”

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EPISODE NOTES

It’s the peril of forced “quiet” that has led me to title this post and the next one after the movie A Quiet Place and its sequel. The reasons will be made clear in the next post.

When I began ministry, a recommended book was Survival Tactics in the Parish published in 1977 by Lyle Schaller. Recently, 2016, my friend Michael Osborne published Surviving Ministry (Wipf and Stock). The theme in these titles is revealing.

Harrison Scott Key, Congratulations, Who Are You Again? (United States: Harper Perennial, 2018), p. 125.

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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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Thanks for joining us at The Table.

To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

You can email us at GreatheartsTable@gmail.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Welcome to Greatheart’s Table.

There is a lot of conversation about pastors being in crisis. It certainly can feel like a crisis moment, and I understand the panic some feel. But perhaps that is a bit premature. Perhaps we need some perspective.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. You can email me — greatheartstable@gmail.com — or leave comments on the newsletter. The more I hear the more I know what you are thinking. Conversation befits a table.

And if you like what you hear, invite others to join us.

A reminder: Greatheart’s Table is published the first, second, and fourth Mondays of each month. This means that there will be no installment on Memorial Day, May 31st, which is a fifth Monday. We will return on June 7.

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EPISODE REFERENCES

Russell Moore is leaving this post to take up a role at Christianity Today.

Moore’s email can be found here.

Edwidge Danticat, Brother, I’m Dying (United States: Vintage, 2008)

Patrick O’Brian, The Truelove (United States: W. W. Norton & Company, 1993) p. 266, 277.

1 Corinthians 15:58

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Podcast music provided by Over the Rhine, and used with permission.
Intro: “All My Favorite People” / Lyrics
Outro: “Called Home” / Lyrics

---

Thanks for joining us at The Table.

To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

You can email us at GreatheartsTable@gmail.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Thanks for joining us at Greatheart’s Table.

Since my plan is to publish on the first, second, and fourth Monday of the month, there will (probably!) be no installment released on May 17. I say “probably” because I’ve enjoyed doing this and could see myself just plowing on through. Nevertheless, you can for sure expect to hear from me again on the 24th of May.

In this post I’d like to consider how people look at us as pastors compared with how Scripture speaks of us. It is Scripture of course that should shape our self-assessment, but, well, I know we listen to those outside voices a bit too much. So pull up a chair as we consider the “Nobility of Office.”

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References:

The gallup poll can be found here: https://news.gallup.com/poll/328136/ethics-ratings-rise-medical-workers-teachers.aspx (accessed 5/4/21) It’s notable that only 39% of the American public believe clergy to be honest and ethical. That is the environment in which we do our ministry.

Paul’s words to Timothy are found in 1 Timothy 3:1.

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Podcast music provided by Over the Rhine, and used with permission.
Intro: “All My Favorite People” / Lyrics
Outro: “Called Home” / Lyrics

---

Thanks for joining us at The Table.

To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

You can email us at GreatheartsTable@gmail.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Thanks for joining us at Greatheart’s Table.

I wanted to give a shout out to Nicole Turner who designed the logo for Greatheart’s Table. I am finding that in some nooks and crannies of the internet my placeholder logo frustratingly still appears. When that happens, it only goes to show how good Nicole is, and I’m grateful for her work.

Sometimes, I think pastors don’t realize the potential we have. We may feel useless or ministry may be frustrating. But there is a way that we have influence that we too easily forget.

Pull up a chair and let’s talk about how we might be doing ministry by “Rubbing off on Others.”

Quote is from – David Brooks, The Second Mountain: the Quest for a Moral Life (United States: Random House, 2019), p. 3.

Podcast music provided by Over the Rhine, and used with permission.
Intro: “All My Favorite People” / Lyrics
Outro: “Called Home” / Lyrics

Thanks for joining us at The Table.

To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

You can email us at GreatheartsTable@gmail.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Thanks for joining us here at Greatheart’s Table. If you have comments or questions, I’d love to hear from you. When you leave a comment or send an email, you will help shape the direction this takes.

In this edition, we note that it is not only running a church that can make pastoring hard for pastors. Sometimes the demands screaming from every corner of the church are painfully frustrating.

I for one find encouragement in the oft quoted and oft sung (but possibly offensive!) aphorism “don’t let the bastards get you down.”

Pull up a chair and let’s talk about it.

Podcast music provided by Over the Rhine, and used with permission.
Intro: “All My Favorite People” / Lyrics
Outro: “Called Home” / Lyrics

Thanks for joining us at The Table.

To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

You can email us at GreatheartsTable@gmail.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The inadequacy some pastors feel may arise from a disconnect between what they feel called to do and what they are expected to do. We want to care for people; the people expect us to run a church. Somehow we have to find a way to do both.

So pull up a chair and let’s consider how we might think about this idea of “Running a Church.”

Quote is from – Eugene Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor (United States: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1989), p. 59.

Podcast music provided by Over the Rhine, and used with permission.
Intro: “All My Favorite People” / Lyrics
Outro: “Called Home” / Lyrics

Thanks for joining us at The Table.

To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

You can email us at GreatheartsTable@gmail.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This episode welcomes you to the podcast giving listeners an idea of what we are about here. As with all episodes, it replicates the content of the print newsletter. To check that out or subscribe, you can go here.

Podcast music provided by Over the Rhine, and used with permission.
Intro: “All My Favorite People” / Lyrics
Outro: “Called Home” / Lyrics

Thanks for joining us at The Table.

To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

You can email us at GreatheartsTable@gmail.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download