This is the second [hence the (2) in this post's title!] in a nascent series of posts on Brian McLaren's astonishing quest for "A New Kind of Christianity."
Already in Brian's Preface I knew this would be an approachable and honest book:
"I know I made a lot of mistakes as a pastor, and I know I had a lot of limitations. I wish I knew at the beginning half of what I had learned by the end. I also know I cared a lot and worked hard and poured out my heart. I feel about my tenure as a pastor the same way I feel about my experience as a father: I gave my very best, but my kids--and my congregation--deserved much better, so I always feel like apologizing" (page xii).
That immediately struck a chord in me, because my limitations as a pastor are a bit more on display currently than I would wish, and yet, with Brian, it helps to know that I too care a lot and work hard and pour out my heart.
Unlike Brian, I don't feel the need to apologize, because, like Brian, I know I've tried my very best, and therefore I take comfort in an insight that comes from a different-- but perhaps not so very different-- discipline called parenthood. Parents don't need to be spectacular parents (a comfort to this parent of two wonderful children), they just need to be adequate. And I know I've been an adequate priest, and from what little I've read and the day I spent at Brian's (figurative) feet, I know that Brian was also an adequate-- and perhaps even a far above adequate-- pastor!
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