The Practice of Resurrection
The Practice of ResurrectionI have recently completed the ‘Practice of Resurrection’ which is part of a series of books on spiritual theology written by Eugene Peterson. The book focusses attention on the letter to the Ephesians. However, it was this quote and explanation which I want to share with you.
“The only sadness – not to be a saint” – Leon Boyd
“This phrase has haunted me for most of my adult life. What the man who wrote it meant, I think, is that given the generous extravagance that is the gospel, the rich life that comes from following Jesus, and the companions available to us on the journey, to not embrace and enter into all of this is such a waste. When we squander life on anything less than the God revealed in Jesus and made present in the Spirit, we miss out on life itself, resurrection life, the life of Jesus. When we segregate life in to secular and sacred, we confine the so-called sacred in to what happens on Sundays and in heaven. And when we do that, we are crippled, prevented from enjoying the glory of God that pulsates in the so-called secular. This accounts for the considerable sadness that lies like a blanket of smog over our world.” – Eugene Peterson