As many of you will be aware, sadly, Eugene Peterson passed away this week. His books have had a massive influence on me! I will deeply miss his provocation to live as authentic pilgrims passing through this life. This morning I was reading a sermon from his book ‘As Kingfishers Catch Fire‘ and just couldn’t resist quoting the opening. This is Eugene Peterson pastoring and shaping people’s spiritual imagination:

“An ongoing concern I have as your pastor is the unfortunate separation of scripture from prayer; or prayer from Scripture, that is all too common in the Christian way.

The tradition of which we are part doesn’t separate them. Scripture is the Word of God understood, comprehended, honoured. Prayer is the Word of God assimilated, absorbed, lived. Scripture without prayer has no soul; prayer without Scripture has no substance. What I hope to develop in our congregation is a fusion of the two: Scripture-prayer or prayer-scripture. What is the use of knowing Scripture if you aren’t living it? What is the use of praying if you don’t know to whom you are praying?

Worship is the fusion of Scripture and prayer. Our purpose in gathering each Lord’s Day is to prepare us to live what we hear, to get what we hear with our ears into our feet as we follow Jesus”

That is Pastoral Preaching at it’s best!