An Altar in the World ..... a review

I am a fan of Barbara Brown Taylor, I appreciate her 'inclusiveness' in her writings. That is to say she is unapologetic in expressing her opinion but at the same time invites you to read her from different perspectives without judgment. Sometimes it take me till the end of the book to really get the theme. First I purchased the book because Barbara wrote it, then I figured it would be a book in which the twelve different chapter stood on their own - and was not disappointed, they do; and in standing on their own this meant I could read them at a slower pace, at my own leisure. The title, 'An Altar In The World' and the subtitle, 'A Geography of Faith' indicated a world view of faith, nothing could be further from the truth, to me the author was talking about a 'personal altar' that included all the areas[geography] of my faith. Let's take a moment to review the concept of 'altar.' The altar is normally thought of in terms of surrender, in gospel terms, at the altar I surrender myself, my agenda, my future to the greater will of God. Second, at the altar there is personal consultation with God and I receive great blessing there, and third at the altar my eternal future is again renewed. All of these often come together in Barbara's chapters as submission results in blessing and blessing
renews not only my future but hope to those who I share with. A couple of my favorite chapters was #10 The Practice of Feeling Pain. Now I find that as I get older pain is becoming a closer partner, and I shrink more from its presence; the macho, when I was younger and in the Army, that I used to call upon as a shield rarely makes its appearance in this latter years. The author has appropriately subtitled this chapter, 'breakthrough.' She writes, 'If you have ever made a graph of your life ...then you are likely to note that the spikes in your pain bear some relationship to the leaps in your growth.'[p.157] She is right, not in the sense of 'no pain no gain' but in the sense of the Apostle Peter telling us that suffering is for our own benefit, i.e. spiritual growth. The whole chapter challenged my mindset about pain. I would like to close these thoughts on this chapter with another quote from it, [p.173] 'For those willing to stay awake, pain remains a reliable altar in the world, a place to discover that a life can be as full of meaning as it is of hurt. The two have never canceled out each other and I doubt they ever will, at least not until each of us - or all of us together - find the way through. Chapter #12 was on the pronouncing blessings. Barbara notes, [p.209] '..the world needs us to bless because there is a shortage of people willing to kneel wherever they are and recognize holiness holding its life-giving hand above our heads.' The author is quick to note that giving a blessing is not bestowing holiness, rather a blessing is a result of holiness. I'm often tempted to grumble when asked at family dinners, reunions, etc. to pray [and even at church socials]; can't anyone else pray I've silently mumbled to myself. AFter reading this chapter, which I'm sure I will do many more times, I'm coming to realize 'to ask the blessing is to be blessed oneself,' to pronounce the blessing may be the only time someone will receive one, to pronounce the blessing is to give thanks for what God has done, or is doing in my life. An honest effort is going to be made to realize that being asked to pronounce the blessing is not a chore, but a blessed opportunity .... that pronouncing a blessing is not something routine, or because of some perceived special relationship with our Creator, but a joy that can only come through a blessing. I don't know if any of this makes sense to anyone else, but it is having a profound effect on my faith. This is a book I will continue to reread - to mark up - to question and research .......... thanks Barbara for drawing my attention to my 'altar' and how it becomes the focal point, how it draws all the areas of my life to one central blessing place.
AN ALTAR TO THE WORLD: A Geography of Faith. Taylor, Barbara Brown. 2009
HarperCollins Publishers. New York, New York. ISBN: 9780061370472
ENJOY