Eugene Peterson (1932–2018): Tidbits

Eugene taught me that the pastoral vocation was a call to be relentlessly personal. It meant unhurried conversations marked by listening. It meant preaching to people, not an audience. It meant loving people, not using them. It meant hours of prayer for people and with people.

-- Jamin Goggin

Anyone seeking to have a long obedience in the same direction needs a regular rhythm of stopping. Otherwise, we won’t make it. I’m grateful Eugene gave me a vision of what faithful pastoring could be.

-- Rich Villodas

...more from some of those he impacted here.


Here are some (unrelated) tidbits from Eugene Peterson:

...the goal of reading Scripture was not to know more, but to become more.


There can be no maturity in the spiritual life, no obedience in following Jesus, no wholeness in the Christian life apart from an immersion in, and embrace of, community. I am not myself by myself. Community, not the highly vaunted individualism of our culture, is the setting for living the Christian life.


Sabbath:

• Uncluttered time and space to distance ourselves from the frenzy of our own activities so we can see what God has been and is doing.
• Quieting the internal noise so we hear the still small voice of the Lord.
• Uncluttered time and space to detach ourselves from the people around us so that they have a chance to deal with God without our poking around or kibitzing.

If we pray without listening, we pray out of context.  

-- Eugene Peterson