Learning to walk in the Dark BBT
“Our light bulbs have burned out and the fixtures are hanging from the ceiling by a bare wire. Before we get more artificial light, see if there is a message in the dark. God has done some of his best work in the dark, including resurrection.” Barbara Brown Taylor, Festival of Homiletics Nashville 2013, from Learning to walk in the Dark.
As I have mentioned, I have learned so much from Barbara Brown Taylor. I read her first book of sermons on the gospel of Matthew, The Seeds of Heaven, in a book group in the 1980’s at St. Mark's that met at their bookstore, The Bookmark. I was magnetized by her use of words and her intimate gospel message. She taught me how to be a narrative preacher, seeing God in the stories of the Bible and how these stories are true in our lives. For years, I have gone to every conference she led about preaching and writing, especially at the College of Preachers at the National Cathedral and Kanuga. I have read almost everything she has published that I could get my hands on. In recent years, she has taught me about seeing God in the world, pluralism, seeing God in people of other faiths, seeing God in the dark. Finally, she has taught me to be me, not a Barbara Brown Taylor copy but to find my own voice and be the person God has created me to be. This is our job as spiritual friends, to help each other become the person God created us to be, not what we think our parents or children or spouse want us to be, not even to be the person we most admire. However, a person we admire may give us a clue about some of the qualities that may be hidden in us that are a part of the person God created us to be, and we daily thank them for it.
Joanna joannaseibert.com