Leaving Church - Barbara Brown Taylor [87]
Clarkesville’s history had also led to shared leadership between year-round and summer residents. What is the mix in your own congregation between new members and old guard, both in the membership rolls and in the leadership? What might this mean for your community in the future?
What is the average tenure of pastors or leaders at your own congregation? Do you have at least one leader who has been there for a long time or do you have a large staff with frequent turnover? How has this affected your community?
Chapter 3
For Taylor, lying in a field and being borne up in the pool by her father’s arms are some of her first intimations of God. Can you remember the moment in which you first fell in love with God? What were your first ideas or images of God? How might they differ from your present ideas?
To what vocation, activity, or service have you felt called? Did the call come from the word of another or from inside yourself?
The Episcopal priest tells Taylor she is an “ecclesiastical harlot.” Does this match your own experience, or have you stayed in one denomination all your life? How did you choose or become a part of your current faith body?
Receiving and then putting on the attire of an Episcopal priest evokes many feelings in Taylor. What reaction do you have when you see someone in a clerical collar or robes? Are you apt to treat them differently or act differently around them? What does the attire of the clergy at your church say to you about your church?
Chapter 4
A bishop cautions Taylor that her decision to become ordained will limit her ministry to a smaller box. Why have you chosen the path of lay or ordained ministry? Do you view lay ministry as something less than full immersion, as she did at the time? What do you see as some of the advantages and disadvantages of each path?
When the other priests lay their hands on Taylor at her ordination, the weight of their hands presses on her so heavily that she worries about whether she can withstand it. How do you interpret this experience? Have you ever had people pray for you with a laying-on of hands? How did it make you feel?
On Taylor describes her understanding of the significance of the word priest. What does this word evoke for you? What distinction, if any, do you perceive between a priest and a pastor?
In looking at her own busy schedule of ministry, Taylor mentions the example of Christ, who was always helping people. “Like a single mother,” she writes, “he fed his spiritual offspring from his own flesh and blood until all of his reserves were gone. Then he died….” What do you think of this assessment of Jesus’s ministry? What impact does your understanding have on your life and your ministry? What place does balance have in the life of a Christian?
Chapter 5
The move to Clarkesville is emotional for both Taylor and her husband. What transition in your life has been the most difficult? What was hardest to leave behind, and what did you most anticipate about the change? How well did your expectations match the reality of your new life?
Chapter 6
What is your reaction to the controversy caused by Taylor’s being the first female leader of a congregation in her town? She also writes that in a church used to addressing its male priests as “Father,” she found that many of her parishioners seemed to see her as “Mother.” What kind of effects might such a perception have? Does it strike you as appropriate? Why or why not?
Taylor notes that a number of parishioners transfer their feelings about significant people in their lives to their pastors. Have you ever experienced such a phenomenon? Why do you think clergy members might be particular targets for such emotions?
Throughout the chapter, Taylor mentions all the unexpected items that went into a pastor’s job. What should and shouldn’t be in a pastoral job description? If you were ranking the tasks, which would you place at the top of the