What is the podcast about? 

Low in the Water offers a benediction. A good word for those who are called to speak a good word, and for all of us who need to receive a good word. The common lectionary will give focus to the weekly conversation, both scripturally and seasonally. Then monthly, Mandy Smith and Winn Collier will join Nathan for a wider-ranging conversation.

How did we get the name – Low in the Water?

Eugene Peterson wrote a poem (published in his volume of poetry, Holy Luck) about one of the many guests who showed up to Flathead Lake – a common loon. In that loon, Peterson saw something intriguing and important:

Low in the water, this contemplative
loon is an icon for living present
but detached.

This common loon is a window into the unseen angles that give integral shape to the pastoral vocation. One of those angles is spiritual direction, “living present, but detached.” Pastoral life is being present with people, but detached from managing, fixing, controlling, or manipulating them.

I rarely see him fly
but he can fly. This loon dives, dives
long and deep. No mere surface
bird, he goes for the depths.

Another angle is paying attention to the Scriptures: diving deep, going for the depths – low in the water. The common loon is not a flashy flyer or a mere surface bird. The loon spends a fair amount of time diving, exploring, hunting, and hidden under water. Other birds (or congregants) might be suspicious, “What are they doing down there for so long?” The contemplative loon (and pastor) know that there is treasure down there.

When he dives
I think he prays, searching deep waters
for what keeps him and us alive,
grace and quiet, buoyant with Presence.

The final angle is prayerfulness – searching, deep crying out to deep. The vastness of God’s grace in the quiet waters is the life of the pastor and the life of the church. Daily provision is found underneath our surface identities – down, down low in the water to our most basic baptismal identity: beloved.