Eugene H. Peterson - Living the Resurrection: The Risen Christ in Everyday Life

Eugene Peterson is a man on whom Gods wonder is not lost. Thanks to his pen, not even a day passes that I dont read and sigh, I never thought of it that way.

MAX LUCADO, teaching minister of Oak Hills Church

Make it real. Make it possible. That was Eugenes way, in everything he did. Here, he guides us into the most important power of Christian experiencefinding the resurrection life of Jesus available to each of us, every day. You will love this.

JOHN ELDREDGE, author of Wild at Heart

Eugene Petersons Living the Resurrection is a great giftinspiring a major shift from understanding the Resurrection as an event to experiencing it as a practice we can engage in every day. And the result of practicing resurrection is no less than our transformation into the image of Christ! My heart soared in reading this work that connects dots that so desperately need to be connected; I am confident yours will as well!

RUTH HALEY BARTON, founding president/CEO of Transforming Center, author of Sacred Rhythms

As spiritual formation bids to become a fad among contemporary evangelicals, Eugene Petersons Living the Resurrection offers an alternative path rooted in wonder and gives results that are more than cosmetic.

FREDERICA MATHEWES-GREEN, author of The Illumined Heart

In this work, the Resurrection ceases to be an abstract idea and is released again to be a force of wonder and fear that shapes our practice and life.

JOHN ORTBERG, senior pastor of Menlo Church

Living the Resurrection: The Risen Christ in Everyday Life has had a profound influence on my ministry and writing. Peterson is among the few who write about the Resurrection in the present tenseas a reality for us to live into and experience in the here and now. Im grateful for this summons to not just believe but experience the center of our faithtoday.

ROBERT GELINAS, lead pastor of Colorado Community Church, author of Discipled by Jesus

Our love for the Lord of glory will surely swell to new heights thanks to the wondrous faith displayed in this book that at once instructs and inspires. May our reading of Eugene Petersons heartfelt reflections be an Easter treat all year long.

SUSAN MUTO, cofounder of Epiphany Association Academy of Formative Spirituality

Eugene Peterson is a master interpreter of Scripture, a master teller of tales, and in this book, a master practitioner of resurrection. Peterson enables the Easter faith to become a vivid reality.

WILLIAM H. WILLIMON, professor of the practice of Christian ministry, Duke Divinity School

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Living the Resurrection: The Risen Christ in Everyday Life

Copyright 2006 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.

Foreword 2020 by Eric E. Peterson

A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from NavPress, P.O. Box 35001, Colorado Springs, CO 80935.

NAVPRESS and the NavPress logo are registered trademarks of NavPress, The Navigators, Colorado Springs, CO. TYNDALE is a registered trademark of Tyndale House Publishers. Absence of in connection with marks of NavPress or other parties does not indicate an absence of registration of those marks.

The Team: Don Pape, Publisher; Ron Kaufmann, Designer

Cover photograph of cave by Bruno van der Kraan on Unsplash.com.

Published in association with Alive Literary Agency, www.aliveliterary.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers. Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version.

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is coincidental.

The text of this book is adapted from three lectures given by Eugene H. Peterson on May 1819, 2001, at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia.

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ISBN 978-1-64158-229-2

Build: 2021-04-21 22:30:35 EPUB 3.0

I believe in . .. the resurrection of the body. This creedal affirmation, a cornerstone of Christian orthodoxy, cleverly couples two central pillars of our faith: incarnation and resurrection. The flesh with which Jesus arrived on Christmas Day did not vanish on Ascension Day; he did not morph from a physical into a spiritual being once he was done with this world. From the beginning, the body of Christ has been intimately involved in all the details of Gods creation, Gods revelation, Gods salvation. Even now, that body sits at the right hand of the Father, reigning, praying, preparing. Hes as physically alive and well today as he was at his Bethlehem nativity.

Since the life of faith is nothing if it is not embodied, it must be livedlived in the flesh. While Jesus body has been, for now, returned to heaven, the body of Christ remains incarnated through the church. Manifesting the bodily presence of Jesus, the Christian life is pursued in the ordinary details of the here and now grounded in planet earth. The Holy Spirit (which is the Spirit of Christ) dwells in the baptized, creating a mysterious convergence of all that is past, present, and future, a reality which gets celebrated in the liturgy of the Eucharist: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. For now, he lives in people like you and me.

Living the incarnation and living the resurrection are two sides of the same discipleship coin; it is the union of our mortality and our immortality. It leaves nothing out.

Few gifts in my life compare to that of being with my dad during his dying days. On the afternoon when he was first placed under the care of hospice, I summarized for him the reality of his condition by telling him three things: