Preach Magazine Issue 1 - Creativity and innovation in preaching | Page 8

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FEATURE

R

ichard Foster wrote his seminal book,
Celebration of Discipline, in 1978 at
the tender age of 36. On the cover of
my own battered and coffee stained
edition, Eugene Peterson says Foster ‘has
“found” the spiritual disciplines that the
modern world stored away and forgot’. His
influence is hard to quantify, but I for one
can testify to the profound impact he has
had on the shape of my own spiritual life.
In the process of rediscovering all this great
spiritual treasure however, Foster was in
danger of forgetting his children. The last
line of the acknowledgements is poignant:
‘My children, Joel and Nathan, were
incredibly patient in allowing their daddy
to cut short games and stories more than
once.’ These well-crafted words hint at a far
from ideal family life.
Nathan, the younger son, has written about
the process of coming to know his father
as an adult in his book Wisdom Chaser.
They spent a decade climbing Colorado’s
14,000-foot peaks; arduous climbs that
gave them opportunity to mend what had
gone wrong betw