Dr Barbara Brown Taylor Visit

29 May 2010   10am - 4pm   Wellington Cathedral of St Paul

God in Ordinary Time A workshop presented by Dr Barbara Brown Taylor   At least one way Christian communities have survived shifting tides of history and culture is by teaching that the church is the primary place of God’s activity in the world. In this day together, we will suppose the opposite: that the world is the primary place of God’s activity, freeing churches to focus on ways of articulating, celebrating and participating in the divine work that goes on with or without us. Barbara Brown Taylor teaches religion at Piedmont College in rural northeast Georgia and is an adjunct Professor of Spirituality at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur.   She is the author of twelve books, including "An Altar in the World", published by HarperOne in February 2009. Her first memoir, "Leaving Church" met with widespread critical acclaim, winning a 2006 Author of the Year award from the Georgia Writers Association. An outstanding preacher and communicator, an at-large editor of The Christian Century and sometimes commentator on Georgia Public Radio, Taylor lives on a working farm with her husband Ed and a yard full of animals.

Around 230 hardy souls braved the wintery conditions on Saturday 29 May to come to the Cathedral to hear the inspiring and descriptive workshop by Dr Barbara Brown Taylor. The Farmers Market in the Cathedral carpark did a roaring trade on hot coffee and crepes!

Among other things during the workshop sessions, people were asked

“what is the smell of resurrection” and “what is the taste of forgiveness”

to engage all of people’s five senses of sight, taste, smell, touch and hearing as we encounter God in all the “ordinary times” of life. Barbara also had the workshop audience salivating as she described a recipe for key lime pie (use Google for the recipe! Ed) as another example of how we see things not only with our eyes. People were also asked to show their scars (without removing clothing!) to other people, and describe how they see or are touched by God in their scars.

On Sunday Barbara preached at the Choral Evensong at the Cathedral, and a copy of her sermon is available on the Cathedral website. Please click the following link.

Her visit was sponsored by the Wallis Trust, a charitable trust established to further the vision of Margaret Wallis to nurture ecumenical spirituality, knowledge and understanding.

For more information please click on the following link: www.wallistrust.org.nz  The Trustees of the Wallis Trust are Bishop Tom Brown, Mrs Joy Cowley, Archdeacon Judy Hardie and Mr Graham Millar.