10th February 2022, Langham, Rutland

Aslan has taught me a lot about how to be a pastor. Not the lion, my puppy, Aslan. My wife and I decided that Aslan would be a fitting name for a yellow Labrador.

I’ve just got in from taking Aslan out for a walk, his second of the day. Throughout this week, I have been taking Aslan for two walks a day, which better reflects his ever-increasing energy levels as he gets older. Today I bumped into a woman from church outside her home, and I chatted with her for about twenty minutes. We spoke about work, holidays, PCC, faith and church. It was amazing to have this opportunity to practice being a pastor.

I’ve been listening to Winn Collier’s biography on Eugene Peterson, ‘A Burning In My Bones.’ I have been inspired by hearing Peterson talk about how he discovered his heart for being a pastor. Several years ago, when I read Peterson’s ‘Under the Unpredictable Plant,’ he also spoke about his heart for being a pastor. At the time, it encouraged me and resonated with my desire to have a pastor’s heart, which is what I felt that God was forming in me. Even now, the impact of Peterson’s words in that book still resonates with me. When I listened to this biography on Peterson, hearing the stories again of how Peterson developed his pastoral heart resonated with me deeply, connecting with something that has been forming in me for many years.

Every time I have taken Aslan out for a walk this week, I have stopped and talked with my parishioners. Aslan disrupts the rhythm of my day and gives me space to be a pastor to my flock, and it is a joy to be simply present in a dog walk and get to stop and chat with people. There is no agenda, nothing to solve; I just get to be a pastor and be with them. I am coming more and more to the conclusion that being a pastor is less about what I do for people and more to do with being their pastor with them in their life. Being a person who can give permission without words to speak and hold their lives out before God. Peterson’s temptation as a pastor was to get caught up in doing things for the church to run it rather than being its pastor. When he changed his life, thus resolving this issue, it was amazing to see how he could minister to people in simple and ordinary ways. His life could be a living, open space to encounter God.

I am so grateful to Aslan for taking me to meet my parishioners every day. Would I meet them and chat with them as much without Aslan? I’m not sure I would. Aslan not only takes me out to meet people, but his constant dependency on me and his regular interjections throughout the day teach me that I need to lead a life that has space to respond to where he is at. My puppy teaches me how to create the space of a pastor in my life. I hope that Aslan helps me become a pastor who has space to help people see where God is in their lives. That’s the pastor my parishioners deserve. That’s the pastor that embodies God’s pastoral heart.