the pastor as minor poet: a review

I cannot tell you how many times I have been visiting someone, whether in the hospital or at their home or even in my office, and I realise that what we are talking about is not the real issue.

Someone comes to complain about the praise band, when they are really worried that they have not been able to feel God’s presence in their lives. Someone dislikes a certain worship leader and it becomes obvious that they really just miss the old worship leader.

The things that are really bothering us, says M. Craig Barnes in his book The Pastor as Minor Poet, are the sub-text of our lives. They are the things that are driving us, our actions, are thoughts, our discussions. They are the things that cause us comfort or pain. It is this, says Barnes, that the local pastor needs to pay attention to.

The local pastor, as the resident minor poet, needs to be able to assist his people in a conversation between the sub-text of their lives and the sub-text of scripture.

The poet belongs to the sonnets of covenantal love between God and the frustrating people whom God cannot abandon.

The pastor is called to help the people of God truly see God, he is called to help the people dream.

Pastor’s are not the only ones working on the kingdom of God. But they don’t help by abandoning their specific call to be poets and taking on the work of the realists and the engineers. Someone has to teach people how to dream.

Barnes splits this book into two parts; The call of the poet, and the craft of the poet. In both of these sections he portrays the life of the parish minister as one who is deeply involved with the people of the congregation, and the Word of God.

There were times when I found this book maddeningly opaque and I had to lay it aside and let it sink in before I could continue. The journey, however, was more than worth it. Barnes solidified and reinforced some things which I have known are incredibly important in parish ministry, but seem to get lost behind all the other expectations congregations place on a pastor.

When more and more pastors are confusing their role with that of an entertainer this is a strong and passionate plea not to abandon the hard work of helping people see God.

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