On March 6, 2011, Eugene Peterson was interviewed on NPR concerning his new memoir, Pastor.
In the book, Peterson described his introduction to congregations as a young apprentice working in his father's butcher shop in Montana. He recalls how his mother made him a white apron, just like his father's. /2011/03/06/134233358/eugene-petersons-chronicles-memories-in-pastor http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/atc/2011/03/20110306_atc_09.mp3?dl=1
"I always thought of myself as Samuel wearing a priestly robe and my dad was a ... priestly kind of person," he says. "Everybody who came in that place was greeted by their first name. It was holy work for him." Peterson says his father's demeanor made a great impression on him. He would treat prostitutes who came into his shop the same way he did everybody else: with respect. "The brothel was just about two streets down from our shop. And there was always talk on the street about the whores," he says. "But when they came into our store, people knew their first name, they treated them with dignity.
