As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God

by Eugene H. Peterson

Living Out the Word Made Flesh   “Sixty years ago I found myself distracted,” Eugene Peterson wrote. “A chasm had developed between the way I was preaching from the pulpit and my deepest convictions on what it meant to be a pastor.”   And so began Peterson’s journey to live and teach a life of congruence—congruence between preaching and living, between what we do and the way we do it, between what is written in Scripture and how we live out that truth.   Nothing captures the biblical foundation for this journey better than Peterson’s teachings over his twenty-nine years as a pastor. As Kingfishers Catch Fire offers a never-before-published collection of these teachings to anyone longing for a richer, truer spirituality.   Peterson’s strikingly beautiful prose and deeply grounded insights usher us into a new understanding of how to live out the good news of the Word made flesh. This is one man’s compelling quest to discover not only how to be a pastor but how to be a human being.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Christianity, Nonfiction, Faith, Christian Living, Religion

378 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Eugene H. Peterson was a pastor, scholar, author, and poet. For many years he was James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He also served as founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. He had written over thirty books, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language a contemporary translation of the Bible. After retiring from full-time teaching, Eugene and his wife Jan lived in the Big Sky Country of rural Montana. He died in October 2018.

Reviews

[Jason Kanz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I waited for the release of As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God (Waterbrook, 2017) by Eugene Peterson for many months, yet when I received it, I was reluctant to begin. There is a certain desire to savor what may be one of the final books by a favorite author. Yet ultimately, it does no good to look at a meal with admiration; one must eat. And Kingfishers is a satisfying meal.

I knew little about the book when I pre-ordered it in November. When it arrived, I was pleasantly surprised at its length, 372 pages. In the opening letter to the reader, I was also surprised to discover that the book was a collection of 49 teachings from Peterson's 29 years as a pastor. The editorial team wrote, "Throughout this definitive collection of teachings, Peterson is intentional in keeping the main idea the main idea: that we, as Christians, live lives of congruence. Put another way, that the inside matches the outside. Or as we used to hear, that we indeed practice what we preach." Congruence is a good descriptor.

The 49 sermons were broken into seven parts. Each part contained seven sermons centered around the writings of Moses, David, Isaiah, Solomon (save one about Job), Peter, Paul, and John. The sermons cover the ground between Genesis 1 and the end of John's Revelation.

Through his books, Peterson has reinforced several themes for me: the importance of prayer, the sacredness of the ordinary, and the the beauty of the Word, expressed through words. Each of these themes found their way into the pages of Kingfishers.

Although I love words, I fail to capture meaning and beauty the way Peterson so consistently does. My hope is that sharing a few of his words whets your appetite for more.

Regarding the Sabbath--"One day a week stop what you are doing and pay attention to what God has been and is doing" (page 13).

"We are always drifting off into the impersonal. It is easier and less demanding. But it is also demeaning and estranging. 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" (p. 25).

"We live in a culture that knows little or nothing of a life that listens and waits, a life that attends and adores" (p. 77).

From my favorite chapter, The Beauty of Holiness, "Beauty is the outside and holiness is the inside of what is essentially the same thing: life full and vibrant, life God created and God blessed, life here and now" (p. 78).

"We read and live at different speeds" (p. 158).

"A critical question every Christian has to deal with is 'How can I best assist others to a full, mature growth in the Christian way?'" (p. 189).

"International diplomacy takes time and careful listening. Parenting takes time and careful listening. Friendship takes time and careful listening. And Scripture takes time and careful listening" (p. 236).

"You think religion is a matter of knowing things and doing things. It is not. It is a matter of letting God do something for you: letting Him love you, letting Him save you, letting Him bless you, letting Him command you. Your part is to look and believe, to pray and obey" (p. 291).

"I want to know that the nitty-gritty of my life is taken seriously by the gospel, not just the state of my soul. I don't want a religion of neat little slogans about sunsets and heartthrobs. I want something practical that gets into the working parts of my life" (p. 303).

"If Jesus makes it into our daily behavior, observers will begin to think there might be something to this after all" (p. 307).

"In Christ we see the putting to death of self, the killing of self-centeredness, the crucifixion of the ego" (p. 310).

Once again, Peterson has instructed me in the Jesus way, showing me with thoughtful prose the beauty of Jesus and of a life lived with him.

[Logan Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that came along at the perfect time. It's a collection of sermons by Eugene Peterson that have been arranged and shortened. And aside from Gentle and Lowly, it's the most I've underlined a book in years.

I now have an entirely different perspective on Peterson, his ministry, and The Message. I now grasp so much more of what is important for a pastor to communicate consistently to his congregation. And most important, I gained a deeper understanding of how tangible the Christian life is meant to be. The Gospel isn't abstract. It's the most practical, habit changing, life altering truth there is.

One of my favorite quotes, out of oh so many: Every time someone says that the body is wicked, that flesh is an embarrassment, that matter is evil, that mere things are profane-every time someone tries to isolate the spiritual from the physical, the invisible from the visible, the thinkers and saints in the church have stopped them and brought them back to earth, poured the water of baptism on their heads, put the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper in their mouths, and thrust the memory of Christ on the cross before their eyes.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another great Peterson book (the last published before his death), but this one is a little different in that it is a collection of his sermons.

It must have been very interesting to be a member of Peterson’s congregation. Peterson the author is not interested in the practical, or the how-to. He doesn’t break down Scripture to see what we can get from it, but who God is in it. That’s one of the things I love about him.

But I guess I just assumed that was only his books, and that his preaching was more practical and how-to. Nope! His sermons are just as abstract and beautiful and frustrating as his books. Good for him. Would love to have heard him in person.

[Jillian Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Kingfishers Catch Fire is Eugene Peterson’s collection of sermons from twenty-nine years as a pastor. This book is one of the most enriching books on spirituality I’ve ever read. Each chapter includes scripture with a teaching unpacking life in the Kingdom of God. Peterson’s insights are encouraging, straightforward, and humble. I worked through the book slowly on purpose so as to let everything soak in. Peterson’s passion is for the external life of the believer to match the internal life. He expounds upon scripture in a deeply meaningful way and I found myself constantly sending snippets of this book to friends and family. It’s just so good!

It’s impossible to choose a favorite quote, but here’s one I loved: “The core message of the gospel is that God invades us with new life, but the setting for this is most often in the ordinariness of our lives. The new life takes place in the place and person of our present. It is not a means by which God solves problems. God creates new life. He is not a problem solver but a person creator.”

[Bo White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I'll likely treat this as more devotional than a one time book and will say that I'll return to it again and again. Peterson is one of those writers for me.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eugene Peterson's sermons are delightful and insightful, occasionally quirky but always worth reading. The book is divided in seven, each section "preaching in the company of" a preacher from the Bible, and perhaps my favorite part of the book is Peterson's introductions to each section. This book includes many ideas that show up in his books, and from that standpoint, it's interesting to see them tried out on his local congregation first. This isn't the best of his books, but it is well worth reading.

[Mary-Elizabeth (Emie) Salem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having not had the opportunity to sit under Peterson’s teaching, I loved the ability to read some of what he shared with his congregation over the years. He had a unique gift of bringing scripture to life in a way that made Jesus and the Good News of the Gospel palpable. Grateful to have started this book a week before the hurricane, slowly chewing on each sermon/chapter day by day ever since (with several hiatuses here and there)

[Carissa-Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me a LONG time to read, but obviously not for lack of enjoyment. Each chapter is a seperate sermon and because of this I felt I could read a chapter which is only a few pages then have lots to think about! I really appreciate the content of the book and would recommend it to anyone looking for good story telling and good teaching.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent the summer slowly soaking in this book and it was incredible! Peterson does an outstanding job of digging in to the Word of God in a way that is understandable, relatable, practical and yet at the same time, inspiring and amazing. Each sermon made me feel like I was part of his little community church too, which was an unexpected bonus to this book.

[Natalie Judson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful daily devotion-type book soaked in Scripture. I always love Eugene Peterson's preaching/writing format

[George P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Near the beginning of his pastorate, Eugene H. Peterson found himself tossed about by “the winds of the times.” The 1960s were a tumultuous decade, and many voices — Civil Rights! Vietnam! Flower Power! — clamored for his attention. On top of that, he felt “increasingly at odds” with his denominational advisors, whose ideas of leadership came “almost entirely from business and consumer models.”

Then three things happened. First, he realized he didn’t know how to preach. What he was doing on Sunday morning was “whipping up enthusiasm” for the church’s programs, not preaching for the “nurturing of souls.”

Second, he heard a lecture by Paul Tournier, a Swiss physician, who treated patients not from a “consulting room” but from his “living room,” using “words…in a setting of personal relationship.” In his lecture, Tournier exhibited what Peterson calls a “life of congruence, with no slippage between what he was saying and the way he was living.”

Third, he came across a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem, “As Kingfishers Catch Fire,” whose last stanza reads:

I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is —
Christ. For Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.

In Hopkins’ poetic vision, it is Jesus Christ who “lives and acts in us in such ways that our lives express the congruence of inside and outside, this congruence of ends and means.” These three things — pulpit, lecture, poem — came together and shaped Peterson’s understanding and practice of ministry, first as a pastor, then as a writer and professor.

As Kingfishers Catch Fire is a collection of 49 sermons Peterson first preached at Christ Our King Presbyterian Church during nearly thirty years of ministry there (1962–1991). The sermons are divided into seven groups, each grouped together with the formula, “Preaching in the Company of _____,” where the fill-in-the-blank is Moses (the Law), David (Psalms), Isaiah (the Prophets), Solomon (Wisdom literature), Peter (the Gospels), Paul (the Epistles), and John (the Johannine literature). Throughout, Peterson strives to “enter into the biblical company of prototypical preachers and work out of the traditions they had developed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”

The result is a master class in what Scripture says about the pastoral care of souls. Peterson eschews the notions that spirituality can be pursued apart from everyday life or that it can be sought without the company of others. Instead, as he writes in a characteristic passage:

It is somewhat common among people who get interested in religion or God to get proportionately disinterested in their jobs and families, their communities and their colleagues. The more of God, the less of the human. But that is not the way God intends it. Wisdom [literature] counters this tendency by giving witness to the precious nature of human experience in all its forms, whether or not it feels or appears "spiritual" (emphasis in original).

This isn’t to deny that spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Scripture reading, and corporate worship are vital. But, Peterson is saying, unless those disciplines make us better workers, family members, neighbors and friends, we haven’t yet achieved the congruence of life to which Scripture bears witness: persons who act in God’s eye what in God’s eye we are, that is, “Christ who lives in [us]” (Galatians 2:20).

This is not a book I would recommend to some pastors. For example, if you’re looking for a book that gives you a fool-proof three-step process to ______ (whatever it is that you’re trying to do), skip this one. Or if you’re looking on Saturday night for a three-point sermon you can preach the next morning, don’t read this. Peterson’s sermons are ongoing conversations, not plug-and-play outlines.

However, if you’re tossed about by the winds of the times or you’re tired of slapping Bible verses on business principles or if your ministry lacks congruence between the means of discipleship and the ends of Christlikeness, please read this book. It will feed your soul, and through you, the souls of your congregation.

Then read it again.

 

Book Reviewed:

Eugene H. Peterson, As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Way of God Formed by the Word of God (Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBrook, 2017).

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P.S. If you found my review helpful, please vote “Yes” on my Amazon.com review page.

P.S.S. This review was written for InfluenceMagazine.com and appears here by permission.

[Jason Herrington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings about this one. It’s a collection of edited sermons spanning the Bible. Some are really good & I have a few quotes below from those. Others felt a little too much like vague spirituality.

Regarding Psalm 23, Peterson says:

“Our lives are lived in the company of both the Shepherd and the shadow.”

“He is the Shepherd who guides us in our wanderings and sustains us in our fugitive lives.”

“A personal God is protection and guidance on the one hand, and grace and refuge on the other.”

And this quote from Barth was so good:
“This Lord is never absent, passive, non-responsible, or impotent, but always present, active, responsible, and omnipotent. He is never dead, but always living; never sleeping, but always awake; never uninterested, but always concerned; never merely waiting in any respect, but even where he seems to wait, even where he permits, always holding the initiative.”

Regarding Philippians 4, Peterson says:

“What he knows is that what God has done within him is far more important and lasting and real than anything that could be done to him from the outside by weather or government or persons.”

“The gospel doesn’t impose a way of life on us from without, and tell us that we have to live up to it. It creates a new life within, and then encourages and directs us to the living out of it. It is not an ironclad, inflexible demand, but a surging promise.”

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I read slowly through this excellent book, I was again astonished by Peterson's clarity, insight and deep spirituality. These "conversations" are his teaching and preaching compiled over 60 years. There are seven parts from Genesis to Revelation...with seven commentaries in each part. They are short, concise and accessible. Wonderful resource.

[Joel Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.

Peterson preaches 49 sermons from the Old and New Testament, giving 7 sermons around each person he considers to be prominent - Moses, David, Isaiah, Solomon, Peter, Paul, and John.

This book would have been rated 4, possibly 5, stars if it was strictly sermons from the OT. However, while there were great one-liners and beautiful prose found in his NT sermons, there was also a lot of theological imposition on the text, e.g. "Here's our text for today. I'm going to cover it on a surface level, pick up some interesting tidbits that you'll really love, but then say what I want to say about God anyway." That kind of preaching only works some of the time, and only when the Scripture and one's personality are well-connected. For instance, Peterson is at his BEST when preaching from David and Solomon because of their use of poetry and metaphor. Peterson is a poet and he understands these texts as they truly are. However, not all of Scripture is poetic and metaphorical and this can cause Peterson some trouble when it's time to take something literally as the Biblical author intended. This caused some hermeneutical problems in the NT where propositional language can sometimes abound - the ever poetic Peterson couldn't help but spiritualise things.

Read this for his work on the OT, especially David and Solomon, but be cautious about his theological conclusions about God from the NT, for they are really impositions masquerading as conclusions.

[Chad D · Rating 5 out of 5]

What sermons catch a reader's attention with epiphanic insight depends on the reader, obviously, on what the reader already knows or is thinking about. Some of these sermons I could have done without, but some enlightened experiences I was already processing, and some taught me lessons I had not yet even begun to learn. Throughout is an emphasis on the lived relationship with God. It is a real relationship. God is a real person, a friend, incarnate. Knowing Him is the most intense and important relationship available to the human. And it is available to all. And it is such a rich relationship that it just keeps opening up. There's a whole lot to learn about it: about what it is, about how to be in it. Peterson knew God for many decades. He has a whole lot to teach.

[Liz Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Eugene Peterson because I really respect him as a fellow believer, but he also experiences God just slightly left of center of how I experience God so I learn from him. This book was excellent—a collection of 49 of Peterson’s sermons over his three decades of preaching. I read it sort of as a devotional.

One of my biggest takeaways, which feels especially significant coming out of the year we’ve just had, is that Jesus intersects our actual human everyday lives. How we live in our houses and neighborhoods should be changed because of how we know God. God isn’t a distant reality or a set of ideas to agree with, but an active part of our daily lives. Definitely recommend, especially if you want to live a life of greater congruence, as Peterson describes it, where the faith and God you talk about on Sundays permeates every part of your life.

[Amanda Rogozinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really easy to read. Insightful but not dense. As a collection of sermons the analysis was kept a bit shorter than I would have preferred. At times I wished he would dig a little deeper on a train of thought, but these readings are formatted to be read in 15 min a chapter. Still, his insight and the honesty of his person that comes out in his writing has definitely made me want to read more and has gained my respect.

You are invited to read my full review at The Willow Nook

*Review copy courtesy of WaterBrook Press*

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary: A collection of 49 of Peterson’s sermons grouped into seven sections, focused on lives congruent with the teaching of scripture.

I’ve been a follower of the writing of Eugene Peterson since I heard him speak on the parables of Jesus after a very successful conference, where he warned us of the dangers that may come with success. He is a person who repeatedly has challenged me to look beyond the obvious, the “glittering images,” to the bedrock realities of keeping company with Jesus.

This is a kind of valedictory book, that Peterson has described as his last book, bringing together preaching over the course of his pastoral work into a collection of 49 of his sermons. He groups these is seven groups of seven organized around “preaching in the company of…Moses, David, Isaiah, Solomon, Peter, Paul, and John of Patmos.” Each section is preceded by a brief introduction about the one being kept company with in that part.

A theme which ties this collection together in his mind is congruence, particularly between our faith as articulated in Holy Scripture, and the ways we live out that faith. Peterson explains this further in introducing the collection:

“The Christian life is the lifelong practice of attending to the details of congruence–congruence between ends and means, congruence between what we do and the way we do it, congruence between what is written in Scripture and our living out what is written, congruence between a ship and its prow, congruence between preaching and living, congruence between the sermon and what is lived in both preacher and congregation, the congruence of the Word made flesh in Jesus with what is lived in our flesh.”

I find it almost impossible to summarize all the good I found in this collection without writing a very long review. What is compelling in these sermons is the joining of thoughtful engagement with the biblical text, thoughtful reflection on life, and unforced connections between the two. One sermon that caught my attention was “Train Up a Child” from Proverbs 22:6. After observing that the word we translate as “train” literally means “to rub the gums of a newborn child with oil before it begins to suck its mother’s breast” (scripture is so earthy!), he discusses the implications of this warm, intimate act of helping a child get started right in life. He writes,

“Some people have a box labeled ‘Sunday school,’ where training takes place for an hour every week. There is another box labeled for parents that is consulted occasionally when there is misbehavior. One of the most visible boxes these days is child psychology, which is fairly expensive, but at least you know the person working out of that box knows a lot more than you do, which relieves you of some of the responsibility.

“All these boxes are useful from time to time, but they have little to do with what is involved in the biblical proverb. The proverb doesn’t come from a box but out of a life lived. It has little to do with advice giving, counseling, or analyzing. Rather it is initiated through personal example and caring. It means that every time you engage in an act of faith in Christ, you are training another person. Every time you love another in obedience to Christ’s command, you are educating someone else. Every time you forgive someone because Christ forgave you, you are assisting materially in the Christian growth of that person. Every time you hope because Christ has promised his help, you are opening up new possibilities of growth in another person.”

Each sermon probably takes ten to fifteen minutes to read, but gives you plenty to reflect on for the next half hour, the next day, even the next week. Peterson writes at the beginning of the book his attempts to fit into his denominations expectations of him to motivate people to grow their church, to cast vision, and how this just didn’t fit his sense of pastoral calling. What we are given instead is transcripts of addresses of a pastor bringing out in plain language the meaning of texts, and considerations of what it means to live them out in everyday life. We are also given examples of how this may be done from Genesis to Revelation, from Moses to John of Patmos. These 49 sermons cover much of canonical scripture and begin to help us see how the Word of God written may become indeed, the Word of God for us.

This book has been caught up in controversy. At the time of its publication, Peterson gave what was meant to be a kind of “valedictory” interview, during which the interviewer, with his own agenda, pursued a line of questioning about Peterson’s views and pastoral practice around LGBT issues. After the article came out, Peterson, facing bookstores pulling his books, issued a “clarification.” In the end, no one was particularly happy. I question the interviewer’s judgment of pursuing his line of questioning in what was a kind of valedictory interview. I wish Peterson had responded differently or not at all, particularly because his answers and later clarifications might have discouraged people from discovering a treasure. I think it better that this book serve as his “valedictory address.” For me, it not only summed up his life and ministry, but modeled the skillful work of the diligent pastor in preaching week by week. We need more models like this.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher via Edelweiss. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

[Robert Turnage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Different from his others, in that it spanned the entire scripture canon, rather than focusing on a single book or prophet. The book is a collection of his sermons, but well organized so that you read five or six on the Pentateuch, five or six on the prophets, etc. Not my favorite, but it is kind of hard to stay focused when every ten or so pages you’re starting a new sermon/chapter.

[Chuck Meade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading a collection of sermons doesn’t immediately excite me but there is something special and unique about Eugene Peterson. His messages are filled with deep, simple truth broken down into eloquent almost poetic language. I love the breakdown of each section as collections of messages through different portions of Scripture. It’s something I will glean from as I look to preach through these passages in the future. A phenomenal devotional!

[Garrett Saul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely marvelous. I owe a huge debt to Eugene Peterson for forming me to be the pastor that I am today. I hope to read all of his books but this collection of sermons stands out because Peterson gives examples of what a finished sermon ought to look like. I was encouraged to become a better preacher and fortified in my faith. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to have a conversation on the ways of God formed by the words of God.

[Rod Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m usually not a fan of sermon books, but this is one of the richest, reading and listening experiences I’ve had. I know it’s not groundbreaking news that Eugene Peterson is incredible, but his ability to bring scripture alive in life-transforming ways is pretty amazing. It’s also amazing that Sermons that he prepared 30 to 50 years ago hold up so well. I also liked listening to this book as opposed to reading it, because sermons are primarily an oral communication medium. I’ll listen to this one again.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. This is a simple book of sermons by Eugene Peterson, that he wrote and preached to his congregation after a shift in his own understanding about what it meant to preach. The Word of God is not a means to an end. Those “good ends” can be a number of things such as encouraging social good, political progress (on both the left and the right) and even trying to increase congregational engagement. If you are weary of hearing people’s opinions for you, on what it means to be good, but long to capture a vision of God’s love and truth, go back to His Word. As you engage with God’s words, those good ends will unfold, but they will be mediated by Christ, the living Word - who knows you and loves you and created you for good works in the life you have been given to live.

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading this book. It's essentially a collection of (short) sermons by Peterson covering nearly the entire Bible. It can be read devotionally (due to the brevity of the chapters), and Peterson's heart for ministry and way with words is just captivating. I love his humble but poignant approach to the scriptures. Highly recommend this to anyone and everyone.

[Jacob Vahle · Rating 5 out of 5]

49 delightful and challenging short sermons - my first Eugene Peterson book - great at zooming in on words or phrases I miss when I read for the main point. Brings each verse to the personal very well. Organized by writer (Moses/David/Isaiah/Solomon/Peter/Paul/John) - a Book I will definitely go back to!

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pastoral insight through preaching

A fine collection of sermons from Petersen who routinely brings his listeners to Jesus and his grace. Artful and precise exposition and calls to live the ordinary life of Christian worship.

[Shelby Deeter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this book and the one thing I am sure to take away is that I need more Eugene H. Peterson in my life. His voice is timely in this season and he speaks some much needed truth in a manner that leaves you seeing scripture as beautiful, convicting, and awe inspiring. Devouring more of his work is in my future.

[Laurel Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought, « The Message ? » and then I happened upon the titles of Peterson’s other books. He knows my favorite poets! I love the way he can elegantly tie books of the Bible together and sum up a book in a few paragraphs that don’t look like all the other book summaries out there.

[Kayleigh Espinosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This breathed fresh life into scripture for me. I admire how Eugene Peterson makes the gospel come alive, in ways that have implications for the right here, for the now & everyday. What a spiritual giant!

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Peterson's best! A great collection of sermons. This is not a quick read but rather one to be chewed on slowly and deliberately.