I’ve been sitting with this phrase today… every step an arrival.

It’s the subtitle for Eugene Peterson’s Memoir entitled: The Pastor. I read this book for the first time last summer, and am planning to reread it this summer (and probably every summer to come — it’s one of those books).

Peterson credits a poem written by Denise Levertov, in which she gives an account of her development as a poet, for the origin of the phrase. As you might deduce, Peterson now uses it as a way to encapsulate his vocational unfolding as a pastor.

Every step an arrival.

Every step.

An arrival.

The journey of life and faith described — not in terms of years lived, or miles logged, or even souls saved — but by single, solitary steps.

Each one counting.

The ones that we like and the ones that we don’t.

The ones that we take with great intention and the ones that we don’t.

The steps that leave noticeable impressions and the ones that do not.

It implies that there are no mistakes — at least none that can’t be utilized in some way — as a part of the journey.

Every step an arrival.

Sounds like college life.

Every step an arrival.

Every decision.

Every relationship.

Every day.

And it sounds like ministry.

Every conversation.

Every prayer.

Every sacrifice.

But does it describe our ministry with college students?

I find myself wondering:

• How does this idea of “every step an arrival” form our understanding of ministry with college students?
• How does it shape the kinds of questions we ask? The kind of posture we take?
• How does it guide our response to students when they come to us in their success? and failure?
• How does it provide us the space to make mistakes, or not get things perfect the first time around?
• And how does it inform our own sense of vocational development?

I’d love to know what you think! And if you’re reading Peterson’s The Pastor this summer, hit me up… and love to chat with you about it!