‘John grew up – Jesus grew up – Paul tells us, ‘Grow up’.’ Eugene Peterson has that in mind as he bases his reflection, his ‘conversation’ on becoming a more mature Christian on the inspiring New Testament Letter to the Ephesians, and in particular the phrase ‘growing up in Christ’. It is when we ‘practise resurrection’ (a phrase Peterson takes from Wendell Berry), that is to say ‘keep company with Jesus’, that we are “kept from attempting to take charge of our own development and growth”. Peterson illuminates the whole of Ephesians, but I found section 4, ‘The Congregation at Work’, particularly helpful. It includes a consideration of love and worship, and of the household and the workplace. Stephenson really stresses the importance of taking seriously the ‘unglamorous ordinary’ and the ‘tedium of dailiness’. Ephesians, says Peterson, shows us how the Holy Spirit makes church out of just such lives as ours, as the ‘holy soil’ in which we may mature. How, he asks, do we acquire maturity in the practice of love? His answer is that ‘we go to church, and worship the God who ‘first loved us’.’ Don’t just enjoy reading this excellent book. You don’t gain maturity simply by reading about it! Do what the book says, through prayer and worship, and by absorbing the message of Ephesians.