If any of you struggle with 'church', this book is for you.

If any have honestly grappled with Paul the Apostle's meaning in his epistles, never mind whether the bible really cuts it in today's cynical culture, this book is for you.

If any, like the Sunday school child, know the answer is 'Jesus' but can't always see why, or how, or who, this book is for you.

And if any are already practised in the life of resurrection, stepping out on the road to maturity in Christ, this book will bring new perspectives and joy to the journey.

Eugene Petersen writes out of 50 years' experience as a pastor, walking alongside ordinary people such as we all are, trying to make sense with them and for them of God's revelation in Scripture and specifically in the book of Ephesians. The author of The Message is nothing if not honest about what he finds and, with relief, we discover we know what he is talking about. The church is not perfect, nor - it would seem - is it meant to be: it is exactly as God intended, suffused with His generous, abundant gift-giving and interelated in every aspect.

So rich are the author's insights, so sensitive his analysis, so practical his applications, that it won't do to read this book quickly. Relish it day by day, as I have done, and be invigorated by the 'icy, swift flowing river of resurrection'. Sit with him, and the other great writers and poets on whom he draws, for this 'conversation on growing up in Christ', and join him in worship.

Reviewed by Carolyn Scriven