Thursday, January 08, 2009
The Life and Work of a Priest
A few days ago, I finished The Life and Work of a Priest, by John Pritchard, Bishop of Oxford. I've been meaning to review it, as it's an excellent book, right up there with standard works such as Ministry in Three Dimensions, by Steven Croft. It's got a strong Anglican bias, given the authorship, but I'd say it was applicable to all those considering priesthood or ministry. I even rang up the head of ERMC, my theological college to tell him about it, and was very pleased to discover that they already recommend it to their students.It's a very realistic approach to priesthood, with real humour and humanity. I particularly liked the discussion on prayer, but most important was the realism. Pritchard knows that none of us can be perfect, and neither does he pretend that we can ever expect to be. The priests he's talking about are broken individuals who are hopefully striving to something closer to godliness. There was a little about MSEs (Ministers in Secular Employment), but I'd like to have seen more about ministers like me - those in "normal" 9-5 jobs, who have little opportunity for explicit ministry in their employment, and whose main ministry is elsewhere. Still, a very, very rewarding book, and I'd heartily recommend it to anyone involved in ministry in any way.
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