Leaving Church

At some point I run out of things to say about myself. I know, I know, we all thought this day would come much further on down the line. I'm a little surprised myself! But at least today, I have no news, no new pictures, nothing at all earth shattering or press-stopping to share. Your next question may be,"Then what am I reading this for?" It's a good question. I'm asking myself one like it,"Why am I blogging if I have nothing to blog about?" The answer is,"Because it's been a while!"


So I'll tell you about the book I've just finished. I just finished reading Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor. It is one of the required texts for one of Eric's classes at Lipscomb. It had flowers on it so I picked it up and read it. She is a beautiful writer. She has a great style and does NOT used short, choppy sentences, which I hate. (It is a book of non-fiction which I tolerate from time to time, but mostly I enjoy works (good works, that is) of fiction. I live a very 'real' real life after all, why would I want to spend my precious free time reading about other real life things...I prefer the escape of novels)

Anyway, Barbara Brown Taylor describes her longing to be set apart for God and that leads to her ordination as a priest in the Episcopal church. But after a long time of parish ministry she discovers that being set apart in such a visible way to serve others, keeps her from sharing the human experiences of those she proposes to serve. She winds up leaving church (not THE Church, she just starts teaching at a college instead of preaching (and doing everything else) at church) and finds that she still is able to serve God amongst the people, as one of them, instead of standing in for Him as His spokeswoman. In it she describes how her leaving church precipitates a real struggle in her faith as she finds out what truths are true and what truths have been passed down as a means of self-preservation of the church. She frequently references Matthew 16:25 that says:
"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."
Her point is that our walk is all about losing our life over and over so we can find it over and over. It can be dangerous when we get to a point of saying,"Now I have found my life. It is good, I'm all set." Losing your life implies a surrender that is so hard. But it is all bound up in the trust we should have in a God that is good. In the knowledge of knowing He will catch us when we surrender, when we fall, and set us back up with a life that is richer and fuller. Only to ask us to surrender that after a time, so He can show us more. Do we trust that much? Do I?

I recommend the book for those who are in a searching place in their lives. On the surface it may have the effect of coming off as advocating a 'non-institutional' church kind of slant. I don't think that is her intention at all. Her whole point is that church ought to be a starting point for folks to learn how to encounter human beings by being human, and to come to share what God is doing in the world with other human beings. It isn't supposed to be a place where people come to leave their humanity aside for a while and leave unchanged, at least not in her opinion.

I'll see if anyone feels like mulling this over and commenting about it. I will also get my camera out so I have a, perhaps, more light and easy post next time.

Have a terrific Wednesday!
D