Barbara is a gift. This book was nourishment and felt like a balm for my soul. So needed and so good!

I have read several other of Barbara Tayler's books and loved them, so I was excited to pick this one up. This was much different then Leaving Church and Learning to Walk in the Dark which are my favorites of her collection. In Always a Guest, you will find a collection of thirty-one sermons delivered by Taylor in her role as a guest preacher at various churches and settings. I really enjoyed reading each of the sermons but found the book better to read a bit at a time leaving room to digest what I had read. I ended up using it more like a devotional reading a sermon each morning and then reflecting and praying on what I had read/heard/experienced. It's definitely worth the read.

Thank you to the Barbara Brown Taylor, the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Always A Guest is a lovely, honest collection of sermons and stories that Barbara Brown Taylor gave after retiring from parish ministry. As she describes in the forward, these were given at times when she was the guest speaker at various churches, thus the experience of being "always a guest". I appreciate BBT's fresh perspective and wisdom on Scripture and would definitely recommend this one. Best savored little bits at a time!

I have all of Barbara Brown Taylor's books on my shelf. Taylor’s trademark wit, wisdom, and humor are on full display. This is a book that invites readers into the mystery and possibilities of faith.

Absolutely beautiful title. I read it at night before bed as a devotional. BBT has long been a favorite and her unique perspective on a life of faith is much needed today. This is a title I will be gifting and will reread.

Apparently Barbara Brown Taylor frequently serves as guest speaker for churches and other gatherings. This volume is a collection of her sermons/talks. When I first tried to read the book, I was frustrated by the lack of continuity between chapters, something which should be expected since each one is from a different talk. After I slowed down and only read a chapter at a time, I found that I once again appreciated what I've loved in Taylor's previous works: her deep love for God and her ability to ask questions and look at familiar Bible passages from sideways angles. A book to dip into and savor rather than to rush through.

I love everything BBT writes and this collection of sermons was no exception! She is brilliant and funny and I learn so much from everything she writes.

This book is a collection of sermons she preached as a guest in other churches or in chapel services at Christian colleges and seminaries or at special events.

I will be re-reading this several times!

While I enjoyed this book, it did not captivate me the way I had hoped. I was looking for perhaps the wrong thing, just wNt more soul stirring depth.

Barbara Brown Taylor is a light to the world. This book is all you would expect from her. It is deep and rich with so much truth. This book will make you a better follower of Jesus and will make you want to be a better person. If you have never read a book by BBT, buy this one immediately. If you have ever read anything by BBT, buy this one right now- you know what you are in for!

The publisher made a copy of this available via Netgalley. This is my honest review.

This is a book to be savored. You will not be able to pick it up and read it in one sitting… I mean, I suppose that you could do that, but I think that this is not a book for speed reading through… too much goodness would be missed, too much truth overlooked.

I read it a chapter or two at a time as part of my devotional reading. It is a series of talks/sermons that Barbara gave over the last several years at different churches and organizations. I am sure that each audience where she delivered these messages in person was encouraged and challenged by her words. However, I feel supremely blessed to have been able to read this collection and feel as though Barbara has been pastoring me specifically  over the last month as I have read her words.

She has a way of communicating the truth of Scripture in fresh and relevant ways. Almost every chapter highlighted some thing I had never thought about before, even  when she was discussing Scripture passages I am very familiar with. In many of the chapters, I found myself with tears in my eyes, almost without my permission. There is a tenderness to her words, a “sneaking up on you” of truth.

I think the highest compliment I could pay this book is that although I was given the opportunity to read this book for free through NetGalley, partway through my reading it, I had already purchased the book for my bookshelf,  as I know I will be re-reading it in the future.

Thank you, Barbara, for releasing this collection. It is truly a gift to the world and to each reader who chooses to engage with it.

A great compilation of BBT’s sermons from very diverse settings including Chautauqua. The topics are diverse and really give insight into BBT’s evolving theology and ideology. The compilation is a great option for an essay based approach to BBT. I would read one every morning and then think on it.

I think I'm coming to realize that Barbara Brown Taylor just isn't the right fit for me as a reader. I know she's immensely popular, but this title, as well as others I've read by her, just did not resonate for me. I enjoyed the read, but didn't take much away.

Many of my favorite faith leaders have referenced Barbara Brown Taylor in their work so this was my first foray. I don't think it was a good one to start with. I tend not to like speeches/sermons turned into books. I feel the impact is often lost because of the different method of delivery. I also didn't care for the format and what I felt was a lack of organization/theme, but perhaps it all just went over my head. I just struggled to connect, but I will try another BBT book before I abandon her.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is Barbara Brown Taylor at her best. I loved having such a great variety of her sermons all in one place. It is a lovely book to pick up and read a chapter here or there. Would be a fun gift for any fan of her work as well as any priest or pastor who finds themselves doing a lot of guest speaking :)

Always a Guest is a collection of sermons Barbara Brown Taylor has given over the years as she travels around the country speaking. I have been working my way through them over the past few months. I've been meaning to read Taylor's work for awhile, and this felt like a good introduction to her.

As someone who grew up in a Christian home, I often feel like I've heard every spin on every sermon topic out there. So when a speaker or writer is able to show me something in a way I've never considered before, it is notable to say the least. Taylor did this for me over and over in these pages, in a way that was so refreshing to my spirit. She has a style of speaking right through the "christianese" so many of us are used to having and delivering zingers in a loving, powerful way. She is progressive without being heretical. I will definitely seek out more of her refreshing voice in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Westminster John Knox Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Always a Guest
Well-written and always timely, the author's sermons are worth reading again and again.

I've read several of Barbara Brown Taylor's books and found much to inspire me. Her writing is lyrical, honest, and insightful. Once an Episcopalian priest, Taylor left the church she was shepherding to start teaching about different religions and beliefs.

This new book is a collection of sermons, so I found it best to read a little at a time, rather than straight through. One of the things I appreciate most about her as an author is that she doesn't have all the answers, and she doesn't pretend to. She recognizes and embraces the mysteries of life and faith.

Highly recommended for spiritual seekers.

I've recently discovered this author and have devoured her books. I loved the lay out of this book and the depth it brings to the faith. Authentic, raw and Holy - Loved it!

These 30 collected sermons are full of all the wit and wisdom I’ve come to expect from any Barbara Brown Taylor Book. Her words are truly a light in my life.

Always A Guest : Speaking Of Faith Far From Home by Barbara Brown Taylor is an inspiring and very readable collection of sermons that was published in October 2020. The sermons illuminate thoughts about faith, the Lord, grace, hope and various Biblical passages through Taylor’s perceptive eyes. They were given over the course of twenty years at churches of many different denominations in multitudes of different places and have been compiled together by Westminster John Knox Press. I found them inspirational, insightful, and enjoyable to read.

From the introduction:
“What I value most about speaking of faith far from home is that I have to travel light.  I don't know my hosts well.  There are so many ways of being Christian that I don't even know for sure how the worship service will go.  I certainly don't know who the pillars of the church are, or the troublemakers, or what kind of a week they have all had.  I don't know what turns a stranger's speech into a sermon for them.  I don't know what they depend on it to do.  All of these uncertainties unpack my bags until there are only a few things left: a sacred text, a trust in the Spirit, an experience of being human, and the desire to bear good news."

Taylors sermons include both profoundly deep observations as well as humor. Here is an example of the latter in a sermon about the Beatitudes:

“Since the book of Revelation reveals a different Jesus from the Jesus of the Gospels, I have never spent much time with it. Martin Luther once said that if you weren’t crazy before you read Revelation, you would be crazy after you read it. But if you decide to search out all the beatitudes in the Bible, you’ll find quite a few in that last, crazy book of the New Testament.”

Having studied the book of Revelation in two separate Bible Studies (from which I learned a lot), I identify with her words. You will enjoy reading the rest of that sermon about the more famous Beatitudes found in Matthew’s gospel.

Taylor is a renowned writer as well as a preacher, and has degrees from Emory University and Yale Divinity School.

Thank you Westminister John Knox Press and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book and for allowing me the privilege of reviewing it.