Barbara Brown Taylor is one of the best preachers in the English language, according to Baylor University. I don't know about that, but I do know that she's a good writer and an eloquent representative of the body of Christ in the U.S. Gordon Atkinson (aka Real Live Preacher) was the first of many to recommend Leaving Church to me.
Taylor writes about her tendency to overwhelm herself with the work being a pastor involves. She writes about giving up days off and leaving her own needs behind out of a desire to care for those she had been called to pastor. She writes about her desire to leave the overwhelming busyness of a large suburban congregation to find a small rural church where she might find a more savory pace. Finally she writes about needing to leave the ministry to rediscover herself as a person of faith.
I know many of the frustrations she's writing about - I think they are universal to those of us who feel a genuine call to ministry, whether we do it as a profession or as part of an unpaid volunteer ministry. I'm not sure how I feel about the solution Rev. Taylor employs - but that might have more to do with my own issues and less to do with hers.
I'd highly recommend this book for pastors and for anyone who loves their pastor and wonders how they feel about the ministry. It's a window into the life of a good pastor who left ordained ministry behind to become more true to herself and to her faith.
"She writes about her desire to leave the overwhelming busyness of a large suburban congregation to find a small rural church where she might find a more savory pace." This sentence made me both laugh out loud and grimace. I could teach her a thing or two.
ReplyDeleteI agree with mosup. I think it is a helpful book for all of us to read.
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