We live in a rock star culture.

No doubt about it.

And I happen to work at a school that’s known for attracting wanna be rock stars — because we routinely produce them.

But not all of those hopeful, incredibly talented and well-trained students get to see their dreams realized. In fact, it’s a small fraction that do.

And that can be hard, especially because so many of these students come from hometowns where they were a rock star — their dreams were not just their own, but often those who supported them, encouraged them and became their fans along the way.

Everyone wants to be rock star — of one kind or another — in one way or another.

And I think this is one of the reasons we so often struggle to relate well to God.

Because God is — and will always be — the Star of this great story.

We are all called to play roles in this story — and at times, in some way or another, Go might invite us to play a greater role in His Kingdom work — but we will always be one in a cast of many within the story of God.

I continue to process the things I’m learning from reading Eugene Peterson’s memoir, The Pastor.

Today I sit with this passage:

I thought that my pastoral task at this point was to do my best to get my congregation to understand scripture, and for right now Acts, as a story. Not Acts as information about our church ancestors, not a record of the assent to truth required for membership, but a story that includes us, a story in which we are invited in as participants.

… But this is also part of the church as story. Not everyone wants to be in the story if she (or he) doesn’t have a starring role.

… Getting to know these men and women as participants in God’s story, not as problems that we can fix. Letting them be themselves. Not trying to force them into the story. Americans are not used to taking stories seriously as a way to deepen our participation in the communities where we live and as a way to expand our participation in what God is doing.

A part of our task as pastors to college students is to help them recognize their story within the greater story of God… and to be OK with playing the role that God has for them in this life.

Some will be more willing to surrender to this idea than others.

Some will take to it more quickly than others.

But our task, at least in part, is to paint the story of God in such a way that students can’t help but find themselves within it — willing to play the role that God has set aside just for them.

What do you think?

> What sticks out to you in this passage from The Pastor?
> How have you seen students struggle to want to give God the “starring role” on your campus?
> What have you found to be effective in helping students to make this important spiritual transition?

Thanks for sharing any insights you might have.

Other posts inspired by Eugene Peterson’s The Pastor include:

> Every Step An Arrival

> Helping Students Identify a Call to Pastor

> Pastoring in North America

> Local and Personally Present

> A Story Among Stories

> The Americanization of Congregation

> Are Your Expectations Too High? Probably.