Religion is a very scary thing, because a pastor is in a position of power. And if you use that power badly, you ruin people's lives, and you ruin your own life.
Eugene H. PetersonRead
It is not easy to convey a sense of wonder, let alone resurrection wonder, to another. It’s the very nature of wonder to catch us off guard, to circumvent expectations and assumptions. Wonder can’t be packaged, and it can’t be worked up. It requires some sense of being there and some sense of engagement.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Wonder is an unpredictable and deeply personal experience that cannot be easily communicated to others.
In this quote, Eugene H. Peterson emphasizes the elusive nature of wonder, particularly the kind associated with profound experiences like resurrection. He suggests that wonder is not only spontaneous and surprising but also deeply personal; it defies the confines of expectations and cannot be manufactured or easily described. To truly appreciate and convey wonder, one must engage with it directly, highlighting the unique and subjective nature of such experiences.
Themes
WonderExperienceEngagementResurrectionNature
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a talk about the importance of personal experience in the spiritual journey.
More from Eugene H. Peterson
All quotes →When we sin and mess up our lives, we find that God doesn't go off and leave us- he enters into our trouble and saves us.
Eugene H. PetersonRead
If you don't take a Sabbath, something is wrong. You're doing too much, you're being too much in charge. You've got to quit, one day a week, and just watch what God is doing when you're not doing anything.
Eugene H. PetersonRead
Christians don't simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love, cups of cold water, missions into all the world, healing and evangelism and justice in Jesus' name, hands raised in adoration of the Father, feet washed in company with the Son.
Eugene H. PetersonRead
Exile (being where we don't want to be with people we don't want to be with) forces a decision: Will I focus my attention on what is wrong with the world and feel sorry for myself? Or will I focus my energies on how I can live at my best in this place I find myself?...'I will do my best with what is here.'
Eugene H. PetersonRead
The Latin words humus, soil/earth, and homo, human being, have a common derivation, from which we also get our word 'humble.' This is the Genesis origin of who we are: dust - dust that the Lord God used to make us a human being. If we cultivate a lively sense of our origin and nurture a sense of continuity with it, who knows, we may also acquire humility.
Eugene H. PetersonRead
Similar quotes
Justice is achieved only when injustice is absent.
Frederic BastiatRead
We have to distinguish between a man as he is in essence, and as he is in ego or personality. In essence, every person is perfect, fearless, and in a loving unity with the entire cosmos; there is no conflict within the person between head, heart, and stomach or between the person and others. Then something happens: the ego begins to develop, karma accumulates, there is a transition from objectivity to subjectivity; man falls from essence into personality.
Oscar IchazoRead
Every important cultural gesture comes down to a morality, a model for human behavior concentrated into a gesture.
Hermann HesseRead
It was too late - everything was too late. For years now he had dreamed the world away, basing his decisions upon emotions unstable as water.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
There are little pockets of old time in London, where things and places stay the same, like bubbles in amber,” she explained. “There’s a lot of time in London, and it has to go somewhere—it doesn’t all get used up at once.” “I may still be hung over,” sighed Richard. “That almost made sense.
Neil GaimanRead
Take notice not only of the mercies of God, but of God in the mercies. Mercies are never so savoury as when they savour a Saviour.
Ralph VenningRead