“Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.” — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
That's the whole spiritual life. It's learning how to die. And as you learn how to die, you start losing all your… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“The gospel doesn't impose a way of life on us from without and tell us that we have to live up to… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
I think pastors are the worst listeners. We're so used to speaking, teaching, giving answers. We must learn to be quiet, quit… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
The vocation of pastor(s) has been replaced by the strategies of religious entrepreneurs with business plans. — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“the Bible, all of it, is livable; it is the text for living our lives. It reveals a God-created, God-ordered, God-blessed world… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“The cultivation of consumer spirituality is the antithesis of a sacrificial, "deny yourself" congregation.” — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
The religious leader is the most untrustworthy of leaders; in no other station do we have so many opportunities for pride, covetousness… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“Not that the study is not important. A Jewish rabbi I once studies with would often say, 'For us Jews studying the… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
Classically, there are three ways in which humans try to find transcendence--religious meaning--apart from God as revealed through the cross of Jesus:… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
There is nothing terribly difficult in the Bible - at least in a technical way. The Bible is written in street language,… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“No text can be understood out of its entire context. The most "entire" context is Jesus. Every biblical text must be read… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
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… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
The most important thing a pastor does is stand in a pulpit every Sunday and say, 'Let us worship God.' If that… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
The gospel is never about everybody else; it is always about you, about me. The gospel is never truth in general; it's… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“When men and women get their hands on religion, one of the first things they often do is turn it into an… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
Like a child exploring the attic of an old house on a rainy day, discovering a trunk full of treasure and then… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“Language is not primarily informational but revelatory. The Holy Scriptures give witness to a living voice sounding variously as Father, Son and… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“There are a thousand ways of being religious without submitting to Christ’s lordship, and people are practiced in most of them. We… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“What is the most important thing you do in preparing to preach each Sunday?” I think we were all surprised by the… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“The Christian life is the lifelong practice of attending to the details of congruence—congruence between ends and means, congruence between what we… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“You seem disappointed that I am not more responsive to your interest in "spiritual direction". Actually, I am more than a little… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“Door: So spiritual direction is a slow process that looks idle and inefficient. Peterson: It's subversive. I'm a subversive, really. I gather… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“And so Psalm 121 says no. It rejects a worship of nature, a religion of stars and flowers, a religion that makes… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
Religion is a very scary thing, because a pastor is in a position of power. And if you use that power badly,… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
There are no experts in the company of Jesus. We are all beginners, necessarily followers, because we don’t know where we are… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
The role of the pastor is to embody the gospel. And of course to get it embodied, which you can only do… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“The power that the world acknowledges comes out of the mouth of a gun; the power that the person of faith respects… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
Jesus almost never talked in terms of explaining. He was always using enigmatic stories and difficult metaphors. He was always pulling people… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
Church is the textured context in which we grow up in Christ to maturity. But church is difficult. Sooner or later, though,… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
One way to define spiritual life is getting so tired and fed up with yourself you go on to something better, which… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“An interest in souls divorced from an interest in Scripture leaves us without a text that shapes these souls. In the same… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
We've all met a certain type of spiritual person. She's a wonderful person. She loves the Lord. She prays and reads the… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
O God, when my faith gets overladen with dust, blow it clean with the wind of your Spirit. When my habits of… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“The assumption of spirituality is that always God is doing something before I know it. So the task is not to get… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
The word 'christian' means different things to different people. To one person it means a stiff, upright, inflexible way of life, colorless… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
If we don't understand how metaphor works we will misunderstand most of what we read in the Bible. No matter how carefully… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
The way of Jesus cannot be imposed or mapped — it requires an active participation in following Jesus as he leads us… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share Image
“Forget about deciding what’s right for each other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
Like a child exploring the attic of an old house on a rainy day, discovering a trunk full of treasure and then calling all… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
“Liturgy gathers the holy community as it reads the Holy Scriptures into the sweeping tidal rhythms of the church year in which the story… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
“The core message of the gospel is that God invades us with new life, but the setting for this is most often in the… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
“Liturgy puts us to work along with all the others who have been and are being put to work in the world by and… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
“At day’s end I’m ready for sound sleep, For you, GOD, have put my life back together.” — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
I think pastors are the worst listeners. We're so used to speaking, teaching, giving answers. We must learn to be quiet, quit being so… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
“When I look for help in developing my pastoral craft and nurturing my pastoral vocation, the one century that has the least to commend… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
Religion is a very scary thing, because a pastor is in a position of power. And if you use that power badly, you ruin… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
The vocation of pastor(s) has been replaced by the strategies of religious entrepreneurs with business plans. — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
Repentance is a realization that what God wants from you and what you want from God are not going to be achieved by doing… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
It's essential for us to develop an imagination that is participatory. Art is the primary way in which this happens. It's the primary way… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
“My uncle Ernie didn't believe in God. At least that's what he said. But he always Went to church on Christmas. Which I thought… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
“And the remainder of the Message details God’s intricate and loving plan to redeem, restore, and reconcile creation back to himself after what happened… — Eugene H. Peterson Copy Share
