Foreword
John Yeager has written a useful book. Frustrated by a lack of Bible study material for adults, he developed a series of weekly essays that reflect on scriptures passages from the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B. He calls on his own experience in the secular world, his experience as a pastor, and the work he's done with alcoholics and other addicts. He also draws on a wide variety of authors including Karl Barth, C.S. Lewis, and Mother Teresa as well referencing recent films and TV shows. These "think pieces" are short, usually no more than 3-4 pages each.
Originally designed and written for busy Christian educators and others teaching adult Sunday School classes, he has learned from his own experience that most Sunday School lessons get planned on Saturday night or Sunday morning and sometimes they're thought up in the car on the way to church. This book addresses that reality. This is material that can be thrown on the copier at the last minute and distributed for discussion. It includes the scripture passages that the essay is based on as well as several questions for reflection that are intended to spark dialogue even if there's only two-three students in the class.
John Yeager is a Commissioned Ruling Elder in the Presbytery of West Virginia. That means he has served as ruling elder in one of our local congregations and then went through the training program that we've developed to teach people what they need to know so that they can faithfully serve as pastors, usually for some of the smaller churches in our presbytery. Often these people feel called to the ministry but they don't feel called to attend seminary. So they not only have years of experience working in a church but they also have years of experience in business or education or in other helping professions which they draw on for their ministry.
Saint Augustine described a pastor's job this way: "Disturbers are to be rebuked, the low-spirited to be encouraged, the infirm to be supported, objectors confuted, the treacherous guarded against, the unskilled taught, the lazy around, the contentious restrained, the haughty repressed, litigants pacified, the poor relieved, the oppressed liberated, the good approved, the evil borne with, and all are to be loved."1 That still sounds relevant today even though he wrote it more than 1500 years ago.
I think John may have unconsciously recognized this final and most important pastoral duty when he entitled his book Called to Love. Whether this book is used in adult education classes or for personal devotions or as a "sermon starter," the theme of God's love consistently shines through.
Rev. Ed Thompson, General Presbyter
Presbytery of West Virginia
1 Miller-McLemore, Bonnie J. John Wiley & Sons "Sermon CCIX." Qtd. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology, December 27, 2011.
