Living the Message

“is the right verb: The words are taken in, digested, and put to use. But there is another kind of writing that is itself a way of knowing, the words taking us beyond what we already know, probing mystery, carrying us into the interior of truth where intimacies are developed and covenants formed. This is the way the Word of God works as it is written in our Scriptures—not telling us about reality, but leading us into it, creating it in us. When we are using words this way, we have the sense that we are not so much using words as submitting to them. Writing in this way is a kind of praying: “Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). This is the kind of writing I have always wanted to do; to use words not merely to add to the already considerable accumulation of information in the world, but to its life. If only a few of the words I have written do that, I am content.”

Eugene H. Peterson

“What I have sought to do here is lift out samplers of themes and ideas that are some of Eugene’s “vital statistics.” As you use this book of daily readings, hopefully you will see themes emerge that have been so important to Eugene for all of his adult years of pastoring, teaching, writing, living. Many times in his speaking and writing, I have thought that Eugene’s words seemed like a voice crying in the wilderness, going against the current, refusing the fads. The North American church has, to use the Hosea image, “gone a-whoring.” We have lost our first love and bought into the culture. Many would say that Eugene was not relevant because he stayed with scripture, told stories, and let the scripture and story sink into the marrow of the bone. There weren’t any quick results to show people, nothing to excite them on the surface. During the 1960s, when many pastors turned from the Scriptures to psychology or to topical issues, he stayed with the biblical material. When I asked him why he didn’t preach on fair housing (I was serving on a county fair housing committee), he said, “If people hear the Word of God, they will eventually practice fair housing.” When others preached morality, he simply proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ. When all the programs started being offered in the churches to meet everyone’s needs, he was trying to get people to worship faithfully and then go out to bear witness in the neighborhood, school, home, workplace. Words are important. It is critical that the truth be articulated clearly and accurately. And carefully crafting the words helps them hit the target of heart and mind. The Word was first. God pronounced words in creation: “Let there be light,” and order emerged out of darkness and chaos. We need to be called “Back to Square One” (to use the title of a public lecture) to the Word. The Word was first, which makes every word expressed thereafter carry eternal significance. God spoke his world into being. Our words then become co-creational. For over thirty-seven years, especially as our marriage anniversary rolls around for yet another year, we have both been intentionally aware of serving not just each other but a third party—our marriage. It is in that spirit of being aware of this third party—these words—that I offer this book. But I have had help. I did not want my own favorite passages to dominate, so I invited some friends from around the country who have been faithful readers and encouragers of these words to share some of their favorite passages. So thank you Nancy Billiat, Karen Peterson Finch, Helen Mae (Lu) Gerard,”

Clare Fox Archer

“[A] year of days of divine companionship. No voice is wiser nor so deeply convincing.”

Walter Wangerin

“. . . Living the Message sets before us much of [Peterson’s] piercing wisdom, for our own very great benefit.”

J.I. Packer