Comments on: Leaving Church

By: jimmy

jimmy — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 00:33:06 +0000

To be a minister of the gospel is probably the greatest honour that God can bestow on someone, unfortunately it comes with a pickford van load of pastoral baggage. It is a labour of love – of love for Christ. I once worshipped in a church where I thought the people weren’t being as friendly to me as they might, I prayed quite earnestly about it one day and I felt as though the lord was saying to me – You are not following them you are following me you are not serving them you are serving me – So this made me realise that my Christian faith and life and service was first and foremost to and for the Lord .

By: Chase

Chase — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 05:20:51 +0000

I ran across a video today that is talking about how we should not refer to God as a woman. Trying to get some thoughts on this subject, thought you might have some stuff to say. Here is the link: http://pschase.blogspot.com/2006/10/god-as-woman.html, can’t wait to see what you say.
-Chase

By: Tiffer Robinson

Tiffer Robinson — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 09:26:14 +0000

Looks worth a read. Are there any books by clergy who are lazy – or do they not write books? I just never see myself as a workaholic – if anything I have the opposite disorder. Would be nice to know there was at least a few clergy with my problem

By: Caroline

Caroline — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 20:01:10 +0000

I was touched by the warmth of your review Maggi, I smiled and felt that I probably liked Barbara Brown Taylor.
Just a thought
your use of the word ’season’ struck me. We ordain priests to be all things to all people for all time. That’s a tough ask and this is not just ‘people’s’ misplaced assumptions but a direct consequence of the way the Cof E works.
But for a season.
And then I think of Lindisfarne, Holy Island, with its rhythm of being cut off -time for stillness – and then linked to the mainland – time for getting out and serving
you mention season
The Celtic monks were often wanderers, pilgrims doing what fell in their way …
for a season.
What demands we make of priests-for-life
perhaps we could share as priests for a season

By: Paul Fromont

Paul Fromont — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 18:20:46 +0000

Maggi, what a lovely review. I think you’ve put your finger on why the book appealed in the first place. I’m accutely aware (as an accompanier of many friends who are priests/ministers ) of the:
“tension between living out what you believe you were called FOR, and living within the expectations that others have of a priest (almost invariably not the same thing!) To be a priest with any authenticity you have to be fully human, and yet very often it is the Church community that works against that necessity.
Sometimes people will not accept ministry if you are not a priest, and yet they won’t accept your humanity if you are.
Taylor also relates beautifully and tenderly the tension of living with a sense of calling, and the way in which that can so easily spill over into sheer workaholism and the inability to say “no”.”
I’ve blogged at least once on the relation between “church” and it’s tendency to de-humanise RATHER than “humanise” persons (at both a leadership & congregational level). One of the great sadnesses I have.
Maggi, thanks for taking the time to review the book. Great!

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 17:30:46 +0000

In a week in which the constraints of the institution have weighed quite heavily on me, this was good to read. The book was on my wish list anyway…now heading up the pile rapidly.
Thanks for the tip.

By: bob c

bob c — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:37:11 +0000

What a gorgeous review, Maggi. This line made my heart jump:
break down in some places the undesirable divide between the “professional” and the “rest” and start living as truly interdependent communities
Taylor was on US public radio (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5723546) for an hour – well worth a web listen.

By: Mystical Seeker

Mystical Seeker — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:21:37 +0000

I liked her line in the book that said that she always got invited to the Christmas parties but never the New Years Eve parties.
I felt like she made the point that she translated her love of God into an assumption that this meant she should be a priest; and only later she realized that being a priest required more than just loving God, that it required a set of personality characteristics that she realized she didn’t have. But she also, later in the book, raised a set of theological questions that she didn’t delve into all that much, but it did suggest a more questioning and open theology that was not rooted so much in dogma. And she also made clear that she was not comfortable with a church that was based on a clear division of roles between clergy and lay people. I heard her do a radio interview in which she talked about this; I think she also discussed it in the book–where she wanted to see a church in which everyone rotated and shared the various roles. Given that I have a Quake background, this sounded pretty Quakerish to me, although she probably still likes the liturgy and sacraments that Quakers eschew. Anyway, I felt like in many ways she was dissatisfied with the ways that churches are run now, and so she went farther than just personal dissatisfaction with her life in the clergy and felt that the church experience herself isn’t always what suits her.

By: Chase

Chase — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:02:37 +0000

I did not expect this book to written by a priest. I am rather shocked by this. I might pick up this book merely to get an insight into the mind of a worker of God who leaves the institution of church.
Thank for the thoughts, more yet for the recommendation.
-Chase