Barbara Brown Taylor on Altars

But part of what we've discovered in the past year is that money really does connect us. Who would have thought that the economy of Iceland would collapse because people couldn't pay their mortgages?
   

I have power every day in the way I spend the money I have at my disposal. I need to spend a little more time being reverent about the resources at my disposal that I don't think I think enough about. I stay in this realm of--I want, I don't want, I need--but I don't think about the larger way my hand is on the trigger every day.
   

That question you asked is fabulous: What am I called to be more reverent about that really does have that power of life and death? What am I perhaps even afraid of--but I should turn to in awe and think more about? I'm going to think about that for a while.

DAVID: I love your chapter about coming to terms with our bodies and the way a long life has reshaped our physical forms. You write about scars and accepting even the scars we carry on our bodies.
 I especially love this line you write: "Here I am. ... I live here. This is my soul's address."
   

So, here's the question: What scars are you especially aware of carrying into this new decade?
   

BARBARA: Ha! At my age, my whole body is becoming a scar! (laughter)
  I think one of the gifts of becoming an older woman in this culture is that you have no choice but to become less attached to how people view you. You're not going to match any cultural standards of beauty, but I have come to appreciate what my body represents. There's a fabulous story that goes along with every scar.
   

You know, I did one workshop where I put people into small groups and, you know how you always want to start with a question to get people talking? I asked these people to each show one scar that they felt comfortable showing--without taking your clothes off, you know (laughter)--I didn't want it to get out of hand!
    And, in less than 10 minutes, people went very deep--from cesarean sections in the birth of children to falling off a bike that was held by someone's father who died just recently. People just connected so fast on this deep level and the whole room was talking!
   

So, I hallow scars as a sacrament that says: Great pain often comes with a great story that offers possibly great meaning, especially in the telling and the listening.
   

For me, Meryl Streep is a saint! She's a great help to me because she is aging visibly and publicly! She's someone who has been and continues to be beautiful. And Sam Shepard, too.  Thank God for people who have stayed in the public eye and who have allowed themselves to age visibly. We need more people willing to be there with their wrinkles and their pain!

DAVID: You write about the ancient, timeless value of getting lost. One of the central stories in your book is the ancient patriarch who gets lost in the wilderness, encounters a life-changing visitation from God--and wakes up in the morning to declare, "God was in this place and I ... I did not know it."
    There, he sets up a rock as an altar.
   

So, you actually advise people to--to get lost! You say that even if you enjoy taking walks in the fields or woods, you ought to venture off the beaten paths and get lost. You write, "If you do not start choosing to get lost in some fairly low-risk ways, then how will you ever manage when one of life's big winds knocks you clean off your course?"
    I love that passage, because it's what I find myself doing over and over again. I spot something I want to get "lost in," even when I'm not sure how it can possibly relate to the rest of my life. Then, I find my way back.
   

For instance, this year, I'd like to get lost in Indian food, in comic books, in the spirituality of Alzheimers, in fairies. How do they relate to religion? To my "day job"? I don't entirely understand it.
    My question is: Where do you want to get lost in this new year?
   

BARBARA: Oh golly! What a great question!
    I can say right away: I keep chickens. I do that because I'm interested in things that happen in the barnyard that I can't control, so I keep chickens.
   

Let's see. I like your list so much that my list is going to be terrible compared to yours. But I'll try:

I'm very interested in old printing presses. I've found myself looking online for old antique letterpresses. I see people who make beautiful cards by pressing plates together--I'd love to know more about that.