Evan Beck

“Treating souls for whom Christ died as numbers or projects or resources seemed to me something like a sin against the Holy Spirit.”
― Eugene H. Peterson, The Pastor: A Memoir

“Pastor, we think we might be on to something. That empty tomb—could that be an echo of the empty mercy seat of the ark? That the two angels in ‘dazzling clothes’ who gave witness at the empty tomb of Jesus might be an allusion to the two cherubim marking the emptiness that is fullness at the ark?”
― Eugene H. Peterson, The Pastor: A Memoir

“Theologian Karl Rahner was once asked if he believed in miracles. His reply? ‘I live on miracles—I couldn’t make it through a day without them.’ Still another name for it is mystery.”
― Eugene H. Peterson, The Pastor: A Memoir

“What is the most important thing you do in preparing to preach each Sunday?” I think we were all surprised by the answer, at least I was. His answer: “For two hours every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, I walk through the neighborhood and make home visits. There is no way that I can preach the gospel to these people if I don’t know how they are living, what they are thinking and talking about. Preaching is proclamation, God’s word revealed in Jesus, but only when it gets embedded in conversation, in a listening ear and responding tongue, does it become gospel.”
― Eugene H. Peterson, The Pastor: A Memoir