I am almost finished with the book Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson. I have eight pages left. I find myself reading slower and slower. I do not want it to end. I even read the Every Moment Holy liturgy today entitled, Lament upon the Finishing of a Beloved Book.” It captured my thoughts exactly. There is an ache, a longing, a yearning for something more. Something better. Something future. Another world.

It brings to mind the C.S. Lewis quote from Mere Christianity: “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”

Psalm 63 expresses this deep yearning for God: “My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places is divided into three sections: creation, history, and community. Its title doesn’t always roll off the tongue easily. Nor do other Peterson titles, such as, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. But I find myself understanding it better as I go along. It’s from a line of poem entitled “When Kingfishers Catch Fire” (another title of a Peterson book): “for Christ plays in ten thousand places, lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his, to the Father through the features of men’s faces.”

This book makes me want to love better and forgive more. It makes me want to fear God, serve man, and relish in God’s goodness. It makes me want to Sabbath. To wonder. To worship. To work. To remember. To cultivate the Fear of the Lord. To be part of a community. To understand community better. To show hospitality. To listen. And to really hear.

I still have eight pages to go, but I highly recommend this book.