All I am saying is that anyone can do this. Anyone can ask and anyone can bless, whether anyone has authorized you to do it or not. All I am saying is that the world needs you to do this, because there is a real shortage of people willing to kneel wherever they are and recognize the holiness holding its sometimes bony, often tender, always life-giving hand above their heads. That we are able to bless one another at all is evidence that we have been blessed, whether we can remember when or not. That we are willing to bless one another is miracle enough to stagger the very stars.
Barbara Brown TaylorSalvation happens every time someone with a key uses it to open a door he could lock instead.
Barbara Brown TaylorAs a general rule, I would say that human beings never behave more badly toward one another than when they believe they are protecting God.
Barbara Brown TaylorI discovered a version of the sinner's prayer that increased my faith far more than the one that I had said years earlier...In this version, there were no formulas, no set phrases that promised us safe passage across the abyss. There was only our tattered trust that the Spirit who had given us life would not leave us in the wilderness without offering us life again.
Barbara Brown TaylorFor a long time I listened to other people to decide whether I was still Christian or not, and I would sort of vet myself by the traditional formulae.
Barbara Brown Taylor