Christ Plays with my Ambition…
August 29, 2008 10:55 pmI recently finished reading a book that made me think a little bit…
Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology
Author: Eugene H. Peterson
Rating: 4
I bought it from Amazon about 2 years ago now, I have a collection of books waiting to be finished dating back better than 5 years now, and I am quite glad that I took my time with this one. I believe what recently spurred me on to finish was a series of interviews with the author, Eugene H. Peterson, through Mars Hill Audio. Peterson has a grandfatherly voice that comes through in his writing, but it is even thicker in his speech. I found myself suddenly trusting him, and looking for some grandfatherly advice.
Peterson is the author of The Message, a contemporary and somewhat controversial translation of the Bible (there are no verse numbers, after all). This tid bit of background information had covertly formed Peterson into a maverick Christian by my estimation. Coupled with my ignorance in never reading The Message, or any other of his books, I had assumed him a pragmatic revolutionary with post modern sympathies. He is nothing of the sort. The one thing he may share with the current bread of post modern Christian authors, i.e. Brian Mclaren, is a decidedly conversational tone and approach to theologically centered discourse. He routinely surrounds Spiritual discussions with the context of “ordinary” life: you know; eating, sleeping, working, and playing.
Peterson speaks with a careful yet firm voice seasoned with a pastor’s experience. When I finished reading, I realized that I had just taken in a thorough description of what it means to be a properly motivated and postured Christian community leader. If I aspire to this calling I will do well to listen to some advice from an old wise sage.
We live in a culture that has replaced soul with self. This reduction turns people into either problems or consumers. Insofar as we acquiesce in that replacement, we gradually but surely regress in our identity, for we end up thinking of ourselves and dealing with others in marketplace terms: everyone we meet is either a potential recruit to join our enterprise or a potential consumer for what we are selling: or we ourselves are the potential recruits and consumers. Neither we nor our friends have any dignity just as we are, only in terms of how we or they can be used.
pg 38
Recent Comments