No life of faith can be lived privately. There must be overflow into the lives of others. Eugene H. Peterson More Quotes by Eugene H. Peterson More Quotes From Eugene H. Peterson I get asked, 'What do you miss most about being a pastor?' I think it's the intimacy, the incredible gift of intimacy. You go through death with somebody, with their families, and there's an intimacy that comes through that that is just incomparable. Eugene H. Peterson incrediblesmissingthinking That's why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they're blue in the face and not get it. Eugene H. Peterson nudge-nudgebluepeople I believe God takes the things in our lives - family, background, education - and uses them as part of his calling. It might not be to become a pastor. But I don't think God wastes anything. Eugene H. Peterson usebelievethinking There is nothing terribly difficult in the Bible - at least in a technical way. The Bible is written in street language, common language. Most of it was oral and spoken to illiterate people. They were the first ones to receive it. So when we make everything academic, we lose something. Eugene H. Peterson peoplewayfirsts If we get our information from the biblical material there is no doubt that the Christian life is a dancing, leaping, daring life. Eugene H. Peterson biblicalchristianlife The poor are not a problem to be solved but a people to join. Eugene H. Peterson poorproblempeople Love is not a word that describes my feelings; it is not a technique by which I fulfill my needs; it is not an ideal, abstract and pure, on which I meditate or discourse. It is acting in correspondence with or in response to God in relation to persons. Eugene H. Peterson actingfeelingslove If people don't know their pastor, it's easy to put the pastor on a pedestal and depersonalize him or her. It's also easy for pastors, who don't know their congregations, simply to classify congregants as saved or unsaved, involved or not involved, tithers or non-tithers. Eugene H. Peterson pedestaleasypeople Suffering attracts fixers the way road-kills attract vultures. Eugene H. Peterson helping-otherssufferingway Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what's best - As above, so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You're in charge! Eugene H. Peterson squaresheavenfather Like the sacramental use of water and bread and wine, friendship takes what's common in human experience and turns it into something holy. Eugene H. Peterson wineusewater We cannot be too careful about the words we use; we start out using them and they end up using us. Eugene H. Peterson carefulendsuse Pity is one of the noblest emotions available to human beings; self-pity is possibly the most ignoble . . . . [It] is an incapacity, a crippling emotional disease that severely distorts our perception of reality . . . a narcotic that leaves its addicts wasted and derelict. Eugene H. Peterson emotionalattitudereality Exile (being where we don't want to be with people we don't want to be with) forces a decision: Will I focus my attention on what is wrong with the world and feel sorry for myself? Or will I focus my energies on how I can live at my best in this place I find myself?...'I will do my best with what is here.' Eugene H. Peterson focussorrypeople If we don't understand how metaphor works we will misunderstand most of what we read in the Bible. No matter how carefully we parse our Hebrew and Greek sentences, no matter how precisely we use our dictionaries and trace our etymologies, no matter how exactly we define the words on the page, if we do not appreciate the way a metaphor works we will never comprehend the meaning of the text. Eugene H. Peterson appreciategreekuse Pastors need to know what's going on in the world and what has been going on for 4,000 years. We need a way to read Scripture which is imaginative, interpretive. Eugene H. Peterson worldyearsneeds "Sabbath is not primarily about us or how it benefits us; it is about God, and how God forms us. It is not, in the first place, about what we do or don't do; it is about God - completing and resting and blessing and sanctifying. These are all things that we don't know much about......But it does mean stopping and being quiet long enough to see - open-mouthed - with wonder - resurrection wonder.....we cultivate the "fear of the Lord". Our souls are formed by what we cannot work up or take charge of. We respond and enter into what the resurrection of Jesus continues to do." Eugene H. Peterson blessingmeanjesus When you are part of a megachurch you have no responsibility to anybody else. Eugene H. Peterson responsibility The moment the organic unity of belief and behaviour is damaged in any way, we are incapable of living out the full humanity for which we were created. Eugene H. Peterson unitybehaviourhumanity The task of the prophet is not to smooth things over but to make things right. Eugene H. Peterson smoothprophettasks
