Words about God

Eugene Peterson serves up another treat in his newest title. This forty-nine part delight directs us to lives of congruence and fruitfulness as disciples of Christ.

These forty-nine chapters are former sermons gathered around the writings of key bible leaders. The shape and flow of these are measured, weighty and inspiring. Peterson’s gift is wisely weighted words. This book drips with wisdom and is full of life. His heartbeat for the gospel is gently and winsomely proclaimed, “Always and everywhere in Scripture our attention is brought back to the central fact: God is a person; God makes persons; God remakes persons. A person like me.”

There is sting and insight galore in the way Peterson engages to point us to Christ. “We live in a culture that knows little or nothing of a life that listens and waits, a life that attends and adores.” His pursuit of integrity and congruence are graciously unrelenting.

Ego will be challenged, selfishness rattled but the beauty of life with Jesus is clearly on offer for each reader. My bias is this; Peterson has been the most formative pastor-writer in my life. His brilliance, consistency and godly sting are so helpful for me. His gentle scholarship is a gift for the church. As Peterson pens it, “our lives are lived in the company of both the Shepherd and the shadow.” The call to godly attentiveness in an anxious age is what shines through from beginning to end.