Thursday, October 10, 2013

Nadia Bolz-Weber interview, blog & sermon links

I found the interview of Nadia Bolz-Weber on Krista Tippett's show On Being here: podcast, video or transcript. THANK you so much, Beth, for mentioning this in your comments! I listened to the podcast on my drive to Rochester yesterday, AND I listened to it again with my husband last night.It was that good.

Intro from the transcript:
Ms. Tippett: The church Nadia Bolz-Weber founded is called the House for All Sinners and Saints. At six feet tall with spiky hair and a body covered in tattoos, she is an original voice in a loosely defined movement called the emerging church.   ...  She spent years as an addict and a stand-up comic before being surprised by what felt like a call to be a minister to people on the underside of life.   ...   These days, convicted felons and elected officials join teenagers with pink hair at this church and others like it redefining what church is and with a deep reverence for tradition.
I would recommend listening to the podcast, rather than reading the transcript, if you have the time. There is so much life and character in Nadia's voice that you miss a lot only reading her words.

A few gems from the interview:
Ms. Nadia Bolz-Weber: I really feel strongly that you have to be deeply rooted in tradition in order to innovate with integrity. So, for example, we celebrate the Easter vigil, where you start with a new fire and you light it and you have this paschal candle and you parade in chanting, and we have these baptisms and we have the Eucharist and it's like amazing.
And...
Ms. Nadia Bolz-Weber: I feel like the Christian life is a life of continual death and resurrection. Also, I think some sectors of Christianity think, well, you're saved and then you're good, right? And then you just lead a really nice life and you're a good person and you're redeemed and you sort of climbed this spiritual ladder so that you're close to God. And that's just not been my experience.
My experience is of that disruption, over and over again, of going along and tripping upon something that I think I know or that I think I'm certain about, and realizing I'm wrong. Or maybe fighting to think I'm right about something over and over and over again until I experience what I call the sort of divine heart transplant.
Also, Tesha mentioned that Nadia's blog seems like it has not been updated recently. I found more recent blog posts and links to sermons (both audio & transcript) here: Patheos.



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