I've started reading the third part of Eugene Peterson's five volume (the last two still to be published) magnum opus on spirituality. The Jesus Way - A Conversation in Following Jesus is fairly classic Peterson - packed full of entire pages you want to highlight and enough in most chapters for weeks of careful thought and chewing over.
Here's a taste from early on:
More often than not I find my Christian brothers and sisters uncritically embracing the ways and means practised by the high-profile men and women who lead large corporations, congregations, nations, and causes, people who show us how to make money, win wars, manage people, sell products, manipulate emotions, and who then write books and give lectures telling us how we can do what they're doing.
But these ways and means more often than not violate the ways of Jesus.
Christians today are conspicuous for going along with whatever the culture decides is charismatic, successful, influential - whatever gets things done, whatever can gather a crowd of followers - hardly noticing that these ways and means are at odds with the clearly marked way that Jesus walked and called us to follow.
Doesn't anybody notice that the ways and means taken up, often enthusiastically are blasphemously at odds with the way Jesus leads his followers? Why doesn't anyone notice?
[Eugene Peterson - "The Jesus Way" Page 8]
It's reassuring to know that whilst most of us have been reading Harry Potter (going along with the culture!) at least one person is bucking the trend and reading proper books! I'm impressed.
Posted by: David Keen | July 26, 2007 at 09:48 AM
...yes, but that's only because we bought only one copy of the book - and since C was the one who pursuaded me to read them in the first place, she got first dibs...
She finished it at 11.45pm last night - I'm now on chapter 5!!!
:o)
Posted by: Richard Frank | July 26, 2007 at 10:36 AM