Some poignant words from Barbara Brown Taylor’s Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith
These words sink deep.
“The call to serve God is first and last the call to be fully human.”
“I guess you could say that my losses have been chiefly in the area of faith, and specifically in the area of being certain who God is, what God wants of me, and what it means to be Christian in a world where religion often seems to do more harm than good.”
“On the subject of divine guidance I side with Susan B. Anthony. ‘I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do,’ she once said, ‘because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.’ Having been somewhat of an expert on the sanctification of my own desires, I try not to pin them on God anymore. At the same time, I recognize the enormous energy in them, which strikes me as something that God might be able to use.”
“As hard as I have tried to remember the exact moment when I fell in love with God, I cannot do it. My earliest memories are bathed in a kind of golden light that seemed to embrace me as surely as my mother’s arms. The Divine Presence was strongest outdoors, and most palpable when I was alone.”
“As a general rule, I would say that human beings never behave more badly toward one another than when they believe they are protecting God.”
“I know that the Bible is a special kind of book, but I find it as seductive as any other. If I am not careful, I can begin to mistake the words on the page for the realities they describe. I can begin to love the dried ink marks on the page more than I love the encounters that gave rise to them. If I am not careful, I can decide that I am really much happier reading my Bible than I am entering into what God is doing in my own time and place, since shutting the book to go outside will involve the very great risk of taking part in stories that are still taking shape.”
“Once I had begun crying on a regular basis, I realized just how little interest I had in defending Christian beliefs. The parts of the Christian story that had drawn me into the Church were not the believing parts but the beholding parts. ‘Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy . . .’ ‘Behold the Lamb of God . . .’ ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock . . .”
“The easiest thing was to tell [her friends who asked why she resigned from ministry] that I had always wanted to teach college, which was true, but behind the answer lay truths harder to confess. My quest to serve God in the church had exhausted my spiritual savings. My dedication to being good had cost me a fortune in being whole. My desire to do all things well had kept me from doing the one thing within my power to do, which was to discover what it meant to be fully human.”
“With so much effort being poured into church growth, so much press being given to the benefits of faith, and so much flexing of religious muscle in the public square, the poor in spirit have no one but Jesus to call them blessed anymore.”
“Once, when I attended a workshop on teaching religion, a presenter talked about how he took his students on wilderness trips to give them a taste of life nearer the edge. Whether they went hiking or white-water rafting, the point was to step outside their high-carb comfort zones long enough to encounter the untamed holiness of the wild. ‘Excuse me,’ a member of the audience said, ‘but are there predators in those places who are above you on the food chain?’ ‘Well, of course not,’ the presenter said. ‘I wouldn’t put students in danger like that.’ ‘I wouldn’t either,’ the man in the audience said, ‘but don’t lull them into thinking that they have experienced true wilderness. It’s only wilderness if there’s something out there that can eat you.’”
You could have posted nothing better or on target today than this, Mike.
I recently finished this book. And I thought I would be able to quickly read it in a day or two. No, it was one of those books that I had to read slowly, and digest bit by bit, and then go back to. It was a gift from the Lord to read it just prior to the struggle my family is now facing. Thanks for sharing these powerful quotes with us today!
I love the part about “Behold”. That is truly the part that has captured my heart….not the rules.
“My quest to serve God in the church had exhausted my spiritual savings. My dedication to being good had cost me a fortune in being whole. My desire to do all things well had kept me from doing the one thing within my power to do, which was to discover what it meant to be fully human.â€
I can relate, a am thankful Jesus can not.
Yes, great stuff.
Regarding the subjectivity of “the call to ministry,” what could we do to make it more of a community decision? I.e., pick preachers like we pick elders and deacons. Gregory of N. and Augustine of H. were forcibly ordained by people who knew them very well (no resumes or try-out sermons!). Centuries later, we still know who they were.
Church work IS exhausting. But my experience is that going from pulpit to classroom brings only temporary relief. Sometimes, teaching the Bible in an academic setting is kind of like being at the tomb of Lazarus. The resuscitated man is standing there, but you have to leave him all wrapped up. My prediction: Brown will eventually go back to preaching . . . and write another good book.
“As a general rule, I would say that human beings never behave more badly toward one another than when they believe they are protecting God.â€
If you’ve been in ministry for more than 5 days you’ve seen this in action. Especially it seems in our tribe, Mike. Ouch…
Sometimes it’s not what we’re CALLED to do, but what we CAN do. Being a Called woman to the ministry does mean keeping the peace first and waiting for the Lord to open people’s eyes.
Good read.
“It’s only wilderness if there’s something out there that can eat you.”
Sometimes that makes church the wilderness.
> As a general rule, I would say that human
> beings never behave more badly toward one
> another than when they believe they are
> protecting God.
How profound. It should be self evident that God does not need protection, especially not from us.
I think this post on “Out of Ur” has some interesting things to say along these lines, but from the perspectives of non-Christians.
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2007/07/an_excursion_in.html
Wow, that is powerful, I’m gonna need a few more minutes just to digest those paragraphs - thanks Mike!
The sad thing is that there are those who feel the same way about church who are not “professional ministers.”
I agree, Mike. This is a book that does “sink deep” and one that will not let you go easily.
Barbara Brown Taylor is one of the most powerful, inspirational, and compelling voices out there. I love her work for so many reasons.
When did whining become inspirational?
“Whining?” Do tell, Troy.
qb
I am simply getting weary of all of the self-absorbed Christians, who are more concerned about their own meandering journey of faith than whether or not others even know Jesus. You’re not going to inspire anyone with a laundry list of gripes. Who has the leadership to bring forth the solutions? Someone will. Probably not Ms. Taylor.
I have no idea what Ms. Taylor is talking about.
Troy, I hear what you are saying. And I think one of the points in the above quote is that the writer is weary of being asked to bring forth solutions.
Hi Mike
I read the excerpt from Christianity Today and it rang home with me. I remember as a child that our fellowship used to pride itself on the plainess of our buildings of Worship and the lack of razzmatazz in that worship. We proclaimed to all that our giving went to help others not expand our facilities. We said our worship was a model of first century worship. That being said, have we really made a difference in the life of the people around us? When we were still in Michigan our local congregation started an experiment of showing God’s love in practical ways to our neigbors and neighborhood. Our congregation had been built in the country and private homes had grown up around it. We had been there forty years, but when we started doing these practical things, out of love for God and our nieghbor, we were amazed that when asked and told who we were they didn’t know us. Obviously the good in that congregation hadn’t impacted our neighborhood much. So what is the answer? Do we quit or do we pray and search our souls and listen to His words and go into the neighborhoods. I see more congregations struggling to find the way to do this very thing. It gives me new hope that the young ones coming along aren’t satisfied to let the status quo be and just benefit from all they have been given.
Now as to Ms. Brown, I see her courage in admitting what many of us think and struggle with in our walk with God. Please allow her the support of other Christians who privately have many of the same thoughts. We may not be as articulate in expressing them, but if we are honest thinkers , those thoughts are present. I pray that we will be like Micah said, ” to love mercy ‘ and show that same mercy to her as God already does.
Whining to one person may be honest, painful confession and recognition of new truth, broad, wide, liberating truth to another. Troy, live a little longer buddy.
Troy - I do agree that continual griping is not what we’re to be about - but I don’t see that here. If I were to cull down my one gripe with the church it is that leadership has been totally absorbed with “doing church just right” as folks have left in exodus because they grew weary of studying the same few verses and singing the same few songs over and over again three times a week while the world around them knows nothing of Jesus and looks at our activities as something very un-relatable to them.
Laura,
It sounds like your “country” congregation was striving to help others. And I can see how you might feel discouraged when thinking about the tings you mentioned. However, I wonder if you may feel better if you alter your musings to wonder if your neighbors saw Jesus? They may not know you and your congregation, but they may have seen Jesus. And once they catch a glimpse of Him, only God knows where He will lead them.
Thanks for sharing the story of your “church†experience.
Larry-
I appreciate your perspective. You, of all people, should be familiar with the face of discouragement. How many of the people that you have been involved in helping have been able to lift themselves from a desperate situation with doubt and dispair?
Amy-
You’re probably right. However, she was not exactly ministering to Lakewood Church. I looked up her former church website. Their church van was a Toyota Prius. There is something to be said for perserverance.
KentF-
I may just have trouble with books like this. I don’t read them. The launguage is too labored for me. If you’re going to express a cliche, don’t try to disguise it with fluffy speak.
Your point though, makes perfect sense to me. I agree that people are weary with how we do church. They need to know that a true worship service is one that puts service before worship.
***Just as a side note, could it be that God chose not to bless her ministry?