Furthermore, these pastors not only intentionally locate the nearness of God in these encounters, but they name it or even proclaim it. These pastors look for life-giving images — like the Rose of Jericho — that can encourage and give hope. At times, a pastoral countervoice can be necessary, precisely because someone’s life is going downhill. In the pastors’ descriptive moments in which this happened, it is striking. In these encounters in which one listens to silences, the sight of God can be opened (Bons-Storm 1989, 21). The imagination of the pastor is very important. This is the heart of
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