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Mixed Blessings

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What would it be like...to hear Barbara Brown Taylor preaching her first sermons at All Saints Episcopal Church in downtown Atlanta? To be able to hear and see these simple yet profound illuminations of Gospel stories and parables? How often in reading her sermons, do I see and hear in my imagination the first time I heard her in the Lectionary Homiletics Preaching conference of 1995? More than a few times! Here are a few of them in "Mixed Blessings."

She is the epitome of one who can spin a new parable out of her rich creative imagination. She proves one of the demands of a good sermon coming from the overflow of days of prepararion. One of Thomas Long prescriptions of a good sermon - "the exegesis of the Text determines everything about the sermon!"

We approach our choice of Text, Parable, Translation, Outline, Flow, Income, Outcome to draw the listener into the Sermon. Professor Taylor does all of this from her shortest sermon, "The Familiar Stranger" to the longest, "After Words" taking us from Romans 8 to the roof-top of an ancient mansion, "at the end of my rope I prayed and sang to God 'point me to what You would have me do.'" It was her Calling! - All of them are WOW!

My burning criticism is based on only one sermon in what may be an otherwise fine book. But it was so horrible! If the rest of the sermons are excellent, this one should be retracted from future additions of the book. The sermon is titled "Courage to See." The New Testament text is the story of Bartimaeus. Taylor Brown's contemporary analogy is taken from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, the story of the cataract reversal operations that failed, actually a fine story in the hands of Annie Dillard. But in Taylor Brown's hands it goes terribly wrong. In short, there were blind people who got their vision back through operations, but did not like it. Taylor Brown pictures one of these patients saying: 'I think I will go lie down.' To which she replies: 'Lie down? Take heart! Get up..." She repeats the scene twice and makes it the climax of the whole sermon.

She is like a gym coach trying to get a student to press on through pain, to fight through injury. There are three ways in which this life-application is a problem. 1) It is insensitive to the plight of the patients who were displeased with their eye operations. 2) As sermon, it suggests a dysfunctional pastor/congregation relationship with a pastor telling people in her congregation: "Stop complaining and get to work." 3) It utterly obscures the story of Bartimaeus.

In the biblical story, Bartimaeus models of an act of faith out of spiritual poverty asking, "Have mercy on me." Jesus in the story is a model of spiritual gifting, and of a true servant, replying, "What do you want me to do for you?" Taylor Brown's sermon obscures the inspiring models both of faithful acting out of spiritual poverty, ("Have mercy on me.") and of faithful acting out of spiritual gifting ("What do you want me to do for you?").

This is a wonderful little book, full of elegance and grace while addressing important life issues. Very readable. I have purchased several copies as gifts.

Mixed Blessings is a compilation of sermons written by Barbara Brown Taylor (Episcopalian preacher), written in the first few years in her ministry (mid-1980s).

Reading Taylor is like reading candy to me. I appreciate not only her sermon structure (narrative), but also her phrasing and her theology. Specific sermons I felt to be remarkable to me in this read were: "Saving Space" (Isaiah 40:3-8), "Decked Out in Flesh" (Isaiah 9:6), "Blood Kin" (Matthew 26:36-38), "Mixed Blessings" (Deuteronomy 8:2-4), "Are You the One?" (Matthew 11:2-6), although, honestly, I can imagine reading this book again in a matter of months/years and being struck by different sermons.

Reading this book inspires spiritual devotion and purpose in me, as well as gives me a reference to see how sermons are constructed well.

What a blessing! I just can't get enough of her books. My mother-in-law and I have read 5 different books that she has written and her sermons give us much to think about, especially what a wonderful God and Savior we have. I also check out the Scriptures and while she may say something occasionally that I do not agree with, I would say that most of the time I have been drawn to think more about God and what the Scriptures are saying. She brings out the story and that is what I end up meditating on....the stories fill my mind and draw me closer to Him. I highly recommend her. I usually read one sermon a day and then the passage from Scriptures. It becomes much more meaningful to me because it connects me directly to the word of God and not just a person's words or viewpoint. I like to check it out for myself.