Practice Resurrection Reflection
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Practice Resurrection Reflection
Peterson Eugene in his book practice resurrection talks about the church in America with a focused analysis of the book of Ephesians. This is one of the great books which have been written which tend to rebuke the nominal American church and how the act of the church taking the route of the secular world is such a big problem. Peterson reflects and points out the issues in the American church using the book of Ephesians and it is a great voice of him trying to correct the pastors of the American church and showing them what they should exactly do. Therefore, the book gives a very detailed and authentic way of looking at Christianity and what ills afflict the American church as well as how these can be dealt with. This paper discusses the book from different perspectives, firstly theological perspective, personal and spiritual application.
The first very important thing in the book is the applicability and the manner in which the book of Ephesians is used to represent the American people and how they need to be rebuked. Peterson chooses the book of Ephesians due to its peculiar characteristics which are very applicable to the American people and their day-to-day life. In Ephesians the Christians whom paul writes to are not very strong in faith and are afflicted by a lot of issues which when compared to American society it is the same. Therefore, using Ephesians as a method and a way of analysis brings out clearly the different parts of American society who go to church, who do not go to church as well as those who go to church but are just dormant in their faith. There is a clear analysis of how American society is affected by the gospel and how there is an assumption that people and the church have to behave in a certain way to have more people come to the church instead of spreading what exactly God wants the American church and its pastors to spread to the American people.
The title of the book in itself is a representation of what is talked about in the book. Practicing resurrection means that Peterson is trying to direct the American church towards a resurrection in the Christianity spirit and their willingness to serve God and do what God requires of them. Resurrection is one of the greatest Christianity concepts and when it is applied to the American church Peterson tries to tell the American church that is dead in sin and trying to compromise to remain relevant all these issues hold the church back in a great deal a lot of them do not realize is already affecting the church and making it ungodly. Therefore, resurrecting practice means that the pastors and the Christians have to live the gospel way of life and actually stop trying to fit into the society, they need to realize who they are and how precious and important they are to God and live according to the biblical values.
Therefore, it is only through this way that the Christian resurrection will be possible. Otherwise, he states that the American church will never truly achieve resurrection and be united with Christ its maker. Peterson refers to the American church as being in its spiritual adolescence. This means that being in spiritual adolescence the church is in turmoil and it cannot decide on what it is supposed to do. Therefore, instead of spreading Christ’s gospel to the people it is caught in the middle of trying to fit in and the willingness to grow and become what Christ needs the church to become. This is a very difficult and a bad part to be as an American church as it is its role to take the people in America to god through helping them to be transformed and if this is not done, then it means that the American church has failed its major role and calling.
The book is arranged in such a way that the reader is able to walk through the book in clear way and follow the different parts of the book that need the reader to follow and study the book of Ephesians in relation to the American society. The biblical scripture is intertwined with stories, metaphor and stories. This is a very important combination for the reader since the reading becomes easy and in fact the reader is able to fully understand the concepts presented because they are clear and understandable as well as arranged in a clear manner. Therefore, the book is not fully a commentary but it provides us with a clear picture of what it is to be an American as well as how the church in America is like.
Peterson describes the American gospel and church generally as the Americanization of the church and he states clearly that the American culture does not allow the church to grow and become what is is supposed to be. Therefore, this means the people who are presented and who are very crucial towards making the American church better should put even more efforts and not just sit idly because if that is the case, there is a very high chance that the American church will remain lukewarm and unable to grow and nurture new Christians. This makes the church just a practice that is totally normal for everyone and which does not have any great importance among the people. A church that is in this way makes no sense because its primary goal of preaching the gospel is first corrupted with things like advertisements and the inability to preach the gospel in the manner required. When gospel is to be preached in such kind of a church the issues presented are the ones that are only emotionally and spiritually appealing to the people rather than what is actually needed to be preached. This kind of environment does not even provide a place for the people of God to grow and be better in their lives since the gospel and the church are too shallow yet there is a certain kind of depth needed for a person to grow in Christ and become a strong Christian.
Peterson acknowledges the importance of difficulties in any journey towards achievement and this is especially when a person is walking towards making positive strides in growth in the spiritual realm. He states that there is a certain kind of difficulty that is needed for a person to grow and become better Christian. This is one element of American church that is missing. A lot of different people do not realize how experiencing difficulties it is in growing and people do not appreciate difficulties in their lives and this is exactly the American spirit of making everything very easy for a fast and good life. However, in real sense when life is easy it gets boring and what happens is that people forget that they need to feel in need for them to experience who they are and recollect themselves towards becoming better and growing in the light of the Christian gospel. With ease in almost everything the spiritual growth is almost impossible and what happens is that the society brings the need for easy things from the cultural perspective towards the church. This makes it very difficult for church and spiritual issues to be done in the right way since there is a ‘pollution’ of making things easy from the common culture in America.
The Americanization of the congregation as Peterson explains is the fact that the church is in dire need of people to go to the church that the main gospel is forgotten. When the main gospel is forgotten people tend to try to live dormant or nominal Christian lives just for the sake of trying to welcome new members. The church gets involved in trying to get new people through commercials and advertisements and the feeling that with few people it is almost like the word of God does not have power to exist and work on those present. These commercials are for the sake of making the church a better place in terms of population but they never look into the spiritual depth of the people who come to the church. Therefore, even though it is an important part of bringing people to Christ, those people brought to Christ should also be trained on what it means to be a Christian and if they are not trained, they remain just outsiders and people of the world who attend church and not really full Christians.
In conclusion, the book presents various issues in the place of church and how the church in America has been fairing on. It is an important thing to notice that the message of the gospel will have different effects on different people. Some pastors might feel that they are insulted by the concepts presented since they attack them because of their nominal Christianity practices while at the same time others might receive it well as change. Those who have been practicing the practices presented in the book are likely to appreciate the comments and be better with time. Generally, it is an eye opener towards American church and how it should change its ways of doing things for a better more deeply Christianized American society.
Bibliography
Peterson, Eugene H. Practice resurrection: a conversation on growing up in Christ. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2010.
Thayer, Jane. “Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ [review]/Eugene H. Peterson.” (2011): 26.
