Sunday, October 01, 2006

Barbara Brown Taylor (4/21/06) - Trinity Center for Spiritual Development - Portland, OR -- "Faith on the Edge"

These are just some rambling notes that I took at this lecture...what strikes you?

* oppositional identity - "id"ing ourselves by criticizing another's faith

* inside the lit center of the church the light is bright, but it is dim and dark on the outside
*People in the center keep the circle 'steady'
*People on the edge keep the circle stretched
(I will see if I can figure out how to post a picture - I I doodled for this thought soon)

* the church is conservative - it conserves the tradition and faith of the community

* no person of faith gets to skip the wilderness, the edge - to get to the center you must start at the edge

? Who Would Jesus Slap? (ponder it - it makes for some laughter and for some self-reflection)

* the church is on the cusp of a new Reformation - thus we hold onto the certain, the definite

* Wilbur says there are two functions of religion:
*translation - smoothing out, centering
*transformation - shaking up

*there is no filling the hole that was never meant to be filled - rather the hole is meant to be entered into (wilderness)

*those who are seeking the truth tend to leave less bodies behind them than those who claim to already have it

* when did we start valuing certainty higher than awe?

* faith is: not knowing a damn thing, and trusting God anyway

* is it time for us to focus on our practices instead of knowledge?
*act and let the theology follow

* trust the practice and the practice will teach you

* spiritual practices: incarnation, encounter, resistance

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