An Altar in the World

For the next several weeks, we are going to move our devotional blog toward thoughts of Spiritual Practices, as found and experienced in everyday life. In order to do so, we are going to use Barbara Brown Taylor’s An Altar in the World.

The premise of Taylor’s book is that while we as people want Spiritual experiences, we also (at least for now) don’t have the option of having a uniquely Spiritual experience. Everything we experience uses at least some part of the body, so is therefore also at least partly physical. Taylor takes things from our everyday life, such as waking up, walking, paying attention, and eating meals, and helps us to reimagine each of these as opportunities to connect with God.

One of my favorite quotes from the introduction is as follows: “The treasure that we seek requires no lengthy expedition, no expensive equipment, no superior aptitude or special company. All we lack is the willingness to imagine that we already have everything we need.”

This also reminds me of one my favorite verses from 2 Peter, “ His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:3)” It’s such a comfort to know that we have all that we need in order to be a successful follower of Christ, but at the same time it removes any excuses that we may want to use.

My prayer (for myself and for all of us) is that as we work through these practices, our eyes will be opened to how God can use the mundane tasks of being human for His ultimate glory, and that we will grow to experience God’s love in fresh ways, though it might have been there hiding all along.

As we move in to this study, I challenge you to think about the following (and share in the comments if you are comfortable!)

 - Is there a physical place where you tend to experience God more fully? If so, where? And why do you think this is the case?

 - What daily activities cause you to think about God?

Also, if you are interested in purchasing a copy of the book to follow along with study and read the chapters, it can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Altar-World-Geography-Faith-ebook/dp/B001NLKXU2/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=an+altar+in+the+world&qid=1562874304&s=gateway&sr=8-1