An Altar in the World: Intro - Chpt. 3

Barbara Brown Taylor begins the introduction to her book, An Altar in the World by citing the popular line, “I am spiritual but not religious.” Personally, I was hooked right in at that point, since that phrase is so often given to me as an offering by those who don’t attend church. Like the author, I’m not entirely sure if this is meant as an excuse, an indictment, or an invitation.

A couple months ago Jieun and I brought together two couples, both of whom were well known and loved by us but completely unknown to each other. When couple A discovered that both members of couple B work for Hallmark Cards, there was an immediate conversation about whether or not and how often Hallmark cards were purchased by couple A. Sometimes I feel like this is what is going on when I tell people I’m introduced to that I’m a priest. “Oh,” they say, “I don’t go to church (I don’t buy Hallmark cards), I’m spiritual but not religious (but I think they’re really great).” Probably there’s more going on here, but that might be some of it.

My original intention with this book study was to pair a real time discussion with an online conversation. Thus I would report here on the blog the contents and interesting questions raised in real time for the benefit of those participating online. It turns out that people are either really busy, unavailable for three weekends in a row, or too polite to take someone else’s spot, because nobody is participating in real time. So instead of reporting online, I’m just offering a bit of commentary and a few of my own thoughts. Hopefully this will spur some comments and we can all share a few reflections.

Taylor’s book is explicitly a book about how to be both spiritual and religious, whether or not you go to church, subscribe to a particular belief set, or believe in a specific creed. The introduction and first three chapters really set up the book and establish her pattern. I particularly enjoyed the second chapter, “The Practice of Paying Attention”. In fact, I found myself trying out the author’s suggestion for grocery store checkout lines and was startled to learn that I never do make eye contact with the checkers. I’m always polite, and was remembering that politeness as being a connection, but when I actually made a connection it was a completely different feeling. This experience in and of itself was pretty interesting, but Taylor connects it to the concept of reverence. This is reverence, she claims, not simply bending a knee towards the altar, but really paying attention to the people around you—recognizing them as fellow creatures.

Chapter three, on Incarnation, ought to be a central chapter for Christians, as it addresses one of the very core doctrines of our faith. I wonder how you found this chapter? Did it clarify anything for you, or perhaps grant an additional insight into how incarnation affects our unique outlook on God? I’m curious as to what you all think.

OK, let’s get this started. Post a comment, ask a question, share a thought. Let us see if this distributed-network-book-study thing will work.