Eric Peterson used to hide from people who his dad was. Not that he was ashamed — his dad was and is his hero — but he needed to establish his own voice and identity.

Now an author and long-time pastor himself, Eric is glad to say, ​“Eugene Peterson, that’s my dad.”

Every day it seems a new scandal breaks that reveals a well-respected Christian leader isn’t who we thought they were. So I found it healing to hear Eric share on the podcast this week that his dad, the pastor and author best known for The Messagetranslation of the Bible, lived ​“as congruent a life of anyone I’ve ever known.”

Years ago when Eric was a new pastor, he reached out to his father for help and they exchanged letters, now published as a book called Letters to a Young Pastor. It’s remarkable how the most personal and specific writing often speaks deeply to many. That’s the case with these letters from Eugene to Eric.

With lived-out wisdom, Eugene writes in one letter about the tension of ministering in suburbia — to people who ​“seemed to have settled for so little.”

One of the greatest things we can do, he says, ​“is to treat men and women with simple dignity… The dignity of souls created by God. Virtually nobody in our culture does that, whether in or out of the church; they are reduced to consumers and ​‘resources’ and victims — defined by their problems or their status or their function. We pastors at least have the context and vocabulary in which we can treat them with the dignity of souls.”

If you only read one thing from this newsletter, make it Eugene’s letter.

And I don’t have space to share how good the webinar was earlier this week with Makoto Fujimura and Margaret Campbell. Mako talks in a similar way about art as Eugene did about people: ​“You can’t use art any more than you can use a human being. It is something beyond utility.” You can find the replay and resources here.

That’s all for now. From one soul to another, I’m glad you’re on this journey with us.