I am in a unique position this week. I'm not in my usual routine. I am on vacation, in a sunny, warm and removed place. When on vacation, I try to bring along good reading material, you know, something fun and able to take me out of the ordinary. Someone suggested I read the book, Accidental Saints and I have to say, this so far is a great experience! It's not a novel or romance or thriller. It is a series of short conversations between this woman who is a Lutheran pastor in Denver and the reader. How can you, the reader, have a conversation with the writer of a book? Well, for me, it happens all the time. In my head I agree or disagree with whatever the writer is "saying" at any given moment in a book. And this author, Nadia Bolz-Weber, is definitely speaking to me in her essays. I see myself in her Saints and Sinners analogies and can even envision responding the way she does in certain situations. Oh, man! I can relate so well to what she says, how she reacts and even her inner dialogs with herself.
She is helping me to be a more aware Christian. Aware that God uses us no matter who we are and what we bring to the community of faith. That sometimes our reluctance is as much a part of our gift to others as our enthusiams. That our snarky comments are a part of the fabric of faith as much as our hymns of praise. Because Jesus recruited everyone to the feast, no matter who they were and it wasn't just a fluke. Everyone gets an invitation, and you don't get to make up the guest list. But you do get to show up because YOU were invited, too.
I needed to read this lady, I needed to hear her voice. And I need to come back from vacation with a renewed sense of self. Thanks, Dawn, for your suggestion of this book!
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