Were people like this always part of the tradition I grew up with? Until Ann Lamott's [b:Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith|10890|Traveling Mercies Some Thoughts on Faith|Anne Lamott|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403182174s/10890.jpg|14837] and Glennon Doyle's [b:Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed|15802944|Carry On, Warrior Thoughts on Life Unarmed|Glennon Doyle Melton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359054516s/15802944.jpg|21526100] I never came across any.

I've stepped away from the "good news" of Christianity several time because it really didn't sound or feel like good news if it meant editing parts of my story, my personality, my brokenness to be part of the community, among the blessed. How good is the good news if it condemns or excludes anyone -- me, you, my gay cousin -- based on who they are?

So I've stepped back. But the story of love and light outlasting hate and darkness draws me again and again. And thanks to writers like Bolz-Weber, the myth of God who becomes human and lives life -- messy, wounded, surprising -- just like all of us, with us, really does sound like good news. A God who loves us, loves us all, and who cannot be made to love us less, or love us more sounds like amazing news.

This is Nadia's story of death and resurrection in ordinary and unexpected places. She pastors her quirky, open and accepting, weird congregation and finds her way as the person who sees God in the midst of every aspect of life. We are not magically spared, but we are never alone. ( )

I have very complex feelings about this book. I want to go back and write a more detailed review, but for now I'll say this book will not be for everyone. I'm sure many of my friends will disagree with Bolz-Weber theologically. And there is liberal use of swear words (want to expand on my thoughts about this...). The thing I liked most was the focus on Grace as central to Jesus's ideas. (more coming soon, I hope...) ( )

Anyone who wants/claims to be called "Christian" should read this book. ( )

When I first saw this book, it was passing through the library for a patron. Out of curiosity, I ordered it, but I never could have predicted the impact it would have on me, how truly moved I would be by her beautiful insights on what it means to be a Christian. I wasn't even sure I'd like it; in fact, I was positive it would be a love or hate thing. I wondered about this hip-looking pastor with her self-proclaimed crankiness. Would she just be promoting a brand of faith she thought was cooler than everyone else's?
Happily for me, it was a love thing, and she had me from the intro.

And this is the story of how I have experienced this Jesus thing to be true. How the Christian faith, while wildly misrepresented in so much of American culture, is really about death and resurrection. It's about how God continues to reach into the graves we dig for ourselves and pull us out, giving us new life, in ways both dramatic and small.

I appreciated the honesty of this book, how she shared not only her path to where she is today, but what she's still learning. I bought this for my kindle before I finished the library copy I had, because there is so much wisdom and goodness in it that I needed my own copy.
Some people might see her views as controversial. They might object to the profanity she uses. But I hope anyone who picks it up will read it all the way through. I loved it. ( )

"Bolz-Weber (Salvation on the Small Screen?) has such a distinctive voice and outlook, it's amazing she hasn't written more books. Perhaps it's because she's been too busy living the checkered and fascinating life that is the subject of her theological memoir. She was a standup comic and an alcoholic before getting sober and becoming a Lutheran pastor and founder of House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver. Bolz-Weber narrates that transformation, larding her story with theology and plenty of truck-driver language. She's honest about her past and her present: it's easy to love tattooed transgender hipsters but not so easy to welcome suburban spiritual seekers. Cranky is a fair self-description, but Bolz-Weber's sardonic humor (her blog is called Sarcastic Lutheran) covers many sins. Here's hoping her authentic voice continues to preach in more books. Agent: Greg Daniel, Daniel Literary Group. (Sept.10) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved." (Publisher's Weekly)