An Altar In The World

In the New York Times bestseller An Altar in the World, acclaimed author Barbara Brown Taylor continues her spiritual journey by building upon where she left off in Leaving Church. With the honesty of Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) and the spiritual depth of Anne Lamott (Grace, Eventually), Taylor shares how she learned to find God beyond the church walls by embracing the sacred as a natural part of everyday life. In An Altar in the World, Taylor shows us how to discover altars everywhere we go and in nearly everything we do as we learn to live with purpose, pay attention, slow down, and revere the world we live in. The eBook includes a special excerpt from Barbara Brown Taylor's Learning to Walk in the Dark.

Tells how a renowned preacher left her ministry to rediscover the authentic heart of her faith. A moving reflection on keeping faith amidst the relentless demands of modern life.

In The Practice of Saying No, beloved author and preacher Barbara Brown Taylor reflects on the meaning of keeping the Sabbath: of saying no to work and doing, but instead celebrating stopping, resting on the porch, and taking the time to recognize our interconnectedness. The Practice of Saying No will appeal to anyone seeking more meaning and spirituality in their everyday lives. Barbara Brown Taylor, acclaimed author of Leaving Church and An Altar in the World (from which this eSelect is taken), writes with the honesty of Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) and the spiritual depth of Anne Lamott (Grace, Eventually) and reveals how to encounter the sacred as a natural part of everyday life.

In this long awaited follow-up to the best-selling An Altar in the World, Barbara Brown Taylor explores ‘the treasures of darkness’ that the Bible speaks about. What can we learn about the ways of God when we cannot see the way ahead, are lost, alone, frightened, not in control or when the world around us seems to have descended into darkness?

Father Kaleeg Hainsworth, an Eastern Orthodox priest with a lifetime of experience in the Canadian wilderness, grounds this manifesto in the literary, philosophical, mystical and historical teachings of the spiritual masters of both East and West, outlining the human experience of the sacred in nature. The spiritual ecology described here is fully engaged with the wilderness beyond our backyards; it is an ecology which takes in nature as "red in tooth and claw" and offers a way forward in the face of accelerating climate change. This manifesto also challenges our modern self-conception as dominators or stewards of the natural world, claiming these roles emerged from western industrial history and are directly responsible for the environmental damage and alienation from nature we know today. The ecological scope of this book begins with a meditation on natural beauty as the divine that breathes through all aspects of life. We discover along the way that awe and mystery are so vital to the human experience of the natural world that without them we are doomed to treat nature as little more than a resource, a science or a playground for recreation alone. Instead, a new role emerges from these pages, one which accounts for the sacred in nature and places us in relationship to the world of which we are inextricably a part. This role is a priestly one, and Father Hainsworth outlines the significance and benefits of it in detail while also offering a vision of life in which a human being stands in the world of nature as at an altar built in the wilderness, a sacred offering in a holy place.

A reminder of the Divine, a space for spiritual encounter, or a focal point for meditation--the altar is a powerful tool for people of all faiths. Sandra Kynes demonstrates how to create personal altars and empower these sacred spaces according to your needs. Discover how to harness energies to manifest change, make decisions, receive wisdom, find balance, explore your soul, and grow spiritually. Kynes's unique approach provides nine overall matrices--each one corresponding to the number of objects placed on the altar--and the numerological significance of each. You'll also find suggested meditations and a wealth of helpful information--spanning chakras, colors, days of the week, elements, gemstones, gods/goddesses, runes, and more--for choosing appropriate symbols and objects that reflect your needs.

"If one suffers, I suffer. If one is chained, I am chained." My faith called me to become a Lance. My compassion drew me into one of the fallen lands. Through my connection with the Chained God, I alone can find and destroy the Horror that stains the land. Death can no longer chain me. But I couldn't have imagined the madness waiting for me in this village. I'm not sure my faith can withstand the secrets I'll uncover. Or that my compassion can survive the violence to come. This Horror may swallow me whole. Death can no longer free me. A creature stalks in the dark. Buildings burn. People die. An altar has been built on the village green.

Long cloaked in protective secrecy, demonized by Western society, and distorted by Hollywood, Santería is at last emerging from the shadows with an estimated 75 million orisha followers worldwide. In The Altar of My Soul, Marta Moreno Vega recounts the compelling true story of her journey from ignorance and skepticism to initiation as a Yoruba priestess in the Santería religion. This unforgettable spiritual memoir reveals the long-hidden roots and traditions of a centuries-old faith that originated on the shores of West Africa. As an Afro-Puerto Rican child in the New York barrio, Marta paid little heed to the storefront botanicas full of spiritual paraphernalia or to the Catholic saints with foreign names: Yemayá, Ellegua, Shangó. As an adult, in search of a religion that would reflect her racial and cultural heritage, Marta was led to the Way of the Saints. She came to know Santería intimately through its prayers and rituals, drumming and dancing, trances and divination that spark sacred healing energy for family, spiritual growth, and service to others. Written by one who is a professor and a santera priestess, The Altar of My Soul lays before us an electrifying and inspiring faith–one passed down from generation to generation that vitalizes the sacred energy necessary to build a family, a community, and a strong, loving society.

The renowned Christian preacher and New York Times bestselling author of An Altar in the World recounts her moving discoveries of finding the sacred in unexpected places while teaching world religions to undergraduates in Baptist-saturated rural Georgia, revealing how God delights in confounding our expectations. Christians are taught that God is everywhere--a tenet that is central to Barbara Brown Taylor's life and faith. In Holy Envy, she continues her spiritual journey, contemplating the myriad ways she encountered God while exploring other faiths with her students in the classroom, and on field trips to diverse places of worship. Both she and her students ponder how the knowledge and insights they have gained raise important questions about belief, and explore how different practices relate to their own faith. Inspired by this intellectual and spiritual quest, Barbara turns once again to the Bible for guidance, to see what secrets lay buried there. Throughout Holy Envy, Barbara weaves together stories from her classroom with reflections on how her own spiritual journey has been challenged and renewed by connecting with people of other traditions--and by meeting God in them. At the heart of her odyssey is her trust that it is God who pushes her beyond her comfortable boundaries and calls us to "disown" our privatised versions of the divine--a change that ultimately deepens her relationship with both the world and with God, and ours.

We all have dreams, talents, gifts and destinies to fulfill. Many times we live unfulfilled dreams because we have not yet ignited nor maintained the fire on our personal altar. Having repeatedly seen this sad occurrence, I was burdened to study the bible with a burning desire to find out why this happens even after the Lord may have given a sure word of prophecy to His children. I diligently read the bible to find out solutions which we can apply to our lives to curb the tendency where an alarmingly high number of people never get to fulfill their destinies. One of the biggest strategies the devil uses to destroy a believer’s life is to ensure the fire on their personal altar dies down. One needs to know that the sole purpose of building an altar of sacrifice in God’s kingdom is not to offer up animal sacrifice but rather to have a quiet place of one-to-one communication with God. It is here that a believer can ask forgiveness of sins, a factor which separates man from God and thereafter proceed to worship Him. Building an altar of sacrifice means you having a sacred or consecrated place of worship and adoration with God Almighty. It is sad to know some believers do not have a personal altar of sacrifice. On the other hand, quite a number of those who have do not take time to keep the fire burning on their altar. Every believer needs to have their private altar of sacrifice and ensure that it is kept burning day and night throughout their lifetime. The specified and acceptable sacrifice to be offered in your altar to God is the sacrifice of a burnt-offering of ADORATION and INCENSE of PRAISE. As the altar of incense burns every morning and evening, so is God expecting your prayers and praises to be raised every time from your altar. If the fire in your altar of sacrifice goes off, your altar becomes dormant and falls into ruins rendering your guiding angel ineffective while at the same time, giving the Devil the opportunity to mess up your life. It is obvious we do ourselves harm if we do not tend daily to our altars to keep the fire burning.

This book is a series of thoughts the Holy Spirit inspired the author to write while serving in Iraq. These spiritually uplifting thoughts bring us closer to becoming an altar for God. This book reminds us of the importance of being stable while living a spiritually consistent life. Being an altar for God enables us to communicate the holiness of God to a generation in need. It makes us more than people who attend church; it makes us people who bring church to our neighborhoods, jobs, and homes. We are answers to the prayers of generations before us. Now it's our time to be vessels God can use to reach and draw people to Himself. David Robinson Jr. is a family man who is in love with God and simply wants to please Him. David has a unique ability to hear the voice of God, compassionately ministering to the poor and those whom society has rejected. He and his family get great joy from providing needed supplies to the less fortunate. While serving in the military, David stood his watch not only physically but spiritually as well. He ministered the Word of God onboard US Navy ships at sea and on land while deployed in Iraq. His teaching has directly impacted thousands of souls as he has built bridges and crossed cultural boundaries, empowering sailors, soldiers, airmen, marines, and civilians with hope and trust in our Lord Jesus.

From beloved writer and renowned preacher Barbara Brown Taylor comes a new collection of stories and sermons of faith, grace, and hope. Taylor, author of the best-selling books Holy Envy and An Altar in the World, among others, finds that when you are the invited guest speaking of faith to people you don't know, one must seek common ground: exploring the central human experience. Full of Taylor's astute observations on the Spirit and the state of the world along with her gentle wit, this collection will inspire Taylor’s fans and preachers alike as she explores faith in all its beauty and complexity.

Learn to create altars and sacred spaces to bring magic into your daily life with The Book of Altars and Sacred Spaces.

Like Annie Dillard's The Writing Life, Taylor emphasizes the holy dimensions of ordinary life and describes the essentials of faith with insight and humor, touching on the vocations, imagination, worship, sacraments, ministry and the Bible as they relate to the life of faith.

Recreating lay people's experience of the religion of the pre-Reformation church, this text argues that late-medieval Catholicism was neither decadent nor decayed, but was a strong & vigorous tradition, & that the Reformation represented a violent rupture from a popular & thoroughly respectable religious system. Previous ed.: 1992.