Having been brought up with a definition of faith as adherence to a set of beliefs, I have more and more begun to turn instead toward a definition of faith as openness to truth, whatever truth may turn out to be. Barbara Brown Taylor More Quotes by Barbara Brown Taylor More Quotes From Barbara Brown Taylor I found myself in a maze where I'd taken the wrong turn. In my wish to do well for that congregation I wasn't doing particularly well for myself or my friends or my family, and I even found that the work for God was taking me away from God. Barbara Brown Taylor mazes taken wish If God is about putting God ahead of myself then I've just quit being religious, because that's what got me into such deep trouble. Barbara Brown Taylor quitting trouble religious Science is not metaphorical. Science is scientific. Barbara Brown Taylor metaphorical To get God on your side is a great way to feel powerful. Barbara Brown Taylor your-side powerful way It's difficult for me to ignore how many conflicts locally and worldwide have religion tagged to them. Barbara Brown Taylor tagged difficult conflict I don't miss the ministry, because I'm completely engaged in it. In terms of parish ministry, I miss the intimacy with a group of people. Barbara Brown Taylor groups missing people I went to the little church in the country after ten years in the city. And part of my dream was to sit on people's front porches with glasses of iced tea, and all that happened. I was able to send birthday cards to everyone in the parish and able to know everyone who was there on Sunday by name. And that was what I'd been looking for. Barbara Brown Taylor sunday dream country The tradition piece is so embedded in me I don't know that I can see it any more, but the community piece is one I've been in danger of losing. Barbara Brown Taylor pieces community losing Church can be extremely boring. It can be very meaningful, it can be character forming, but can be have very little fizz in it. Barbara Brown Taylor church meaningful character To be in the mainline is to have a history and not simply to be an amalgam, a community church of who knows what that came from who knows where. Barbara Brown Taylor community church knows That's enough, and I have a ministry as a neighbor as well. A ministry as a friend and a ministry as an aunt and a godmother, and family is very much in the circle of my vocation. Barbara Brown Taylor godmother aunt circles I decided I got to say whether I was Christian or not, and so I've relaxed enormously since then. I'm the one who gets to say that, and not someone else. Barbara Brown Taylor relaxed decided christian I began to get notes from people saying they were sorry to hear I'd left ministry. And for a while, I halfway believed they were right, that I'd left. Barbara Brown Taylor ministry sorry people You only need to lose track of who you are, or who you thought you were supposed to be, so that you end up lying flat on the dirt floor basement of your heart. Do this, Jesus says, and you will live. Barbara Brown Taylor heart lying jesus The effort to untangle the human words from the divine seems not only futile to me but also unnecessary, since God works with what is. God uses whatever is usable in a life, both to speak and to act, and those who insist on fireworks in the sky may miss the electricity that sparks the human heart. Barbara Brown Taylor effort sky heart The real problem has far less to do with what is really out there than it does with our resistance to finding out what is really out there. Barbara Brown Taylor resistance real doe Prayer is happening, and it is not necessarily something that I am doing. God is happening, and I am lucky enough to know that I am in The Midst. Barbara Brown Taylor lucky enough prayer
