I'm a follower of the Christ path, and that opens a huge discussion about what we even mean by words like "Christian." Barbara Brown Taylor More Quotes by Barbara Brown Taylor More Quotes From Barbara Brown Taylor Once I gave up the hunt for villains, I had little recourse but to take responsibility for my choices.... Needless to say, this is far less satisfying that nailing villains. It also turned out to be more healing in the end. Barbara Brown Taylor choices responsibility healing The value for me being in a mainline tradition is history and memory, which is not just Christian tradition but denominational tradition, and characters, you know, with real distinct flavors of ways to be Christian. Barbara Brown Taylor real christian memories The church grew, and I gained a reputation for preaching, and people came, and it was a wonderful community. But we had a building that seated 82 people, and with a congregation then approaching 400 we were up to four services on Sunday, and everyone was tired. Barbara Brown Taylor tired sunday people God does some of God's best work with people who are seriously lost. Barbara Brown Taylor doe lost people I thought being faithful was about becoming someone other than who I was...it wasn't until I failed that I began to wonder if my human wholeness might be more useful to God than my exhausting goodness. Barbara Brown Taylor faithful becoming might The great wisdom traditions of the world all recognize that the main impediment to living a life of meaning is being self-absorbed. Barbara Brown Taylor tradition self world Divine reality is not way up in the sky somewhere; it is readily available in the encounters of everyday life, which make hash of my illusions that I can control the ways God comes to me. Barbara Brown Taylor everyday sky reality I discovered a version of the sinner's prayer that increased my faith far more than the one that I had said years earlier...In this version, there were no formulas, no set phrases that promised us safe passage across the abyss. There was only our tattered trust that the Spirit who had given us life would not leave us in the wilderness without offering us life again. Barbara Brown Taylor offering prayer years The only real difference between Anxiety and Excitement was my willingness to let go of Fear. Barbara Brown Taylor differences real letting-go I have learned to prize holy ignorance more highly than religious certainty and to seek companions who have arrived at the same place. Barbara Brown Taylor holy ignorance religious I live by the simplest, perhaps facile command that Jesus ever gave, which is to love God with the whole self and the neighbor as the self, and I find that's entirely consuming. To do those two things leaves me very little time to do much else. Barbara Brown Taylor self two jesus The poets began drifting away from churches as the jurists grew louder and more insistent. Barbara Brown Taylor grew poet church Beliefs have become unimportant to me. Faith as radical trust became even more important to me. Barbara Brown Taylor radical important belief The abundance of our lives is not determined by how long we live, but how well we live. Christ makes abundant life possible if we choose to live it now. Barbara Brown Taylor determined life-is long When I talk about losing myself, which I did, it's losing my idea of who I was and my idea of what I was supposed to be doing and the idea of what my value was to God. I lost all of that at least. Barbara Brown Taylor losing lost ideas 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. Barbara Brown Taylor mistake book reality There was no time anymore to be quiet or still or pray. So, in many ways, that's what led to my downward spin. Barbara Brown Taylor praying quiet way I didn't want to be a priest. I wanted to do the work that priests do, and that required becoming a priest. Barbara Brown Taylor becoming priests want I think a toxic message in a lot of Christianity has been that the self has to be annihilated in order for God to be found. I think that has been a toxic message. Barbara Brown Taylor self order thinking Humanity can be pretty stinky. Barbara Brown Taylor stinky humanity
