At our Light Party next week (Wednesday 31st October, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m .) we are looking at how God’s light in us influences our lives and shapes our living… and at people who have really influenced us and been heroes to us.
One of my spiritual heroes died this week. Eugene Peterson, pastor, writer and translator of the ‘Message’ version of the Bible, died on Monday, aged 85. His writings have helped me not only to understand many key points of theology, uncovered hermeneutical delights and guided me into a deeper understanding of the pastoral vocation, but have also delighted me through his use of language. Our shared love of language and his insights into the different kinds of language available and how God actually speaks to us through words meant a great deal to me: ‘The Christian conviction is that God speaks reality into being – creation into shape, salvation into action,’ he wrote in ‘Working the Angles’ (P89), and this idea of God speaking today is hugely important to me. His reminder that language is ultimately about relationships and not simply about information is also one I wholeheartedly believe: ‘The primary practice of language is not in giving out information but in relationship. If we read Scriptures impersonally with an information-gathering mind, we misread them.’ (Ibid., P 95) God’s Word is given to to bring us into relationship with Him and is living and powerful. (2 Tim 3:16-17, Heb 4:12)
Another area where Peterson was my hero is his insistence that there should be congruence in how we live, so that our beliefs and our lives match up and there is no dissonance in our lives whereby we try to be one thing when actually we are another. This is obvious when we read Scripture, but his development of the idea (ironically from Nietzsche’s writings!) that there should be ‘a long obedience in the same direction’ has shaped my life profoundly.
Heroes influence us and shape us. A hero is not always aware of that influence, though. I never met Eugene Peterson; he never knew of my existence. Yet his works and words reached into my life and shaped and touched me. Our lives can be like that for others, as we live out the faith God has given us and follow His leading. Let us know your heroes… and let us celebrate spiritual heroes at our ‘heroes’ labyrinth’ next week.
